once i realised that one of the authors of this is a tumblr user who got a book deal, i was a bit apprehensive about how well written it would be. thankfully, i was surprised. it’s very well researched, the graphic design is beautiful and most importantly it is respectful to both the victims and their families.

my only gripe with this is that all 20 of the cases are the same few famous mysteries being rehashed for the umpteenth time. i do wish that at least four or five lesser known murders were covered in this book but unfortunately not. it’s still a worthy read though. i’d recommend it to anyone just starting out in true crime because as mentioned above, it covers the more well known cases.

I thought this book was so interesting and loved the writing style of it!

Overall I greatly enjoyed this book. The writing was clear and concise without glamorizing horrible events. There are helpful diagrams and maps as well to make often redundant seeming actions clear. Crime scene pictures are included but nothing is too graphic or exploits the victims. It is rather dry in parts but is factual and the few quotes included come from publications, law enforcement, or victims families.

This book is clearly about unsolved murders so the opus is on suspects instead of one devious killer. Because of this there is no obsessive cult of personality in the text as you often see in writing about Ted Bundy or Charles Manson. Unfortunately some chapters didn't focus on the victims as much as I might have liked.

Four out of five stars.


The following are chapter by chapter notes that I was afraid to losing.

The Shrouded House: Villisca Ax Murders, 1912 🔥

Weird having visited Villisca recently
Purpose of bludgeoning faces beyond recognition in a town that size combined with obvious location? How were Ina and Lena Stillinger possibly misidentified?
Concealment of mirror/windows, hiding in attic, most blows was to J. B. Moore.
Nothing missing
Cleaned and left murder weapon in house
Four pounds of bacon left on the wall, single piece on piano--table had full plate and bowl of bloody water.
Oldest GIRL in the house, Lena (11) found with nightgown pushed up but hadn't been assaulted--checking for sexual maturity? Pedophile?
Theory involving serial killer Henry Lee Moore (unrelated) who favored axes. (Credit to the book [b:The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery|32919543|The Man from the Train The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery|Bill James|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505658828s/32919543.jpg|53537279] for a different man, German man Paul Mueller with same MO)
Self inserting Reverend Lyn George Kelly-later diagnosed as schizophrenic by Ed Epperly, PhD--also accused of being a pedophile and a peeping-tom
1917 Kelly is indicted, deadlocked 11 to 1 for acquittal, second jury acquits

A Hollywood Whodunit: William Desmond Taylor, 1922

African American valet, Henry Peavey, finds the body like it died of natural causes-then told to clean up and remove bootleg liquor or "compromising materials"
Taylor shot in the back
Taylor potentially inappropriate with teenage girls, bi/gay rumors
Taylor actually an Irish immigrant who abandoned wife and daughter for Hollywood

The Bodies in the Barn: The Hinterkaifeck Murders, 1922

Hinterkaifeck, Bavaria, Germany
Grandparents, daughter, two grandchildren, and a maid
Incest between Andreas (grandpa) and Viktoria (daughter)-served time for this
A Munich newspaper was found in the house despite it not being locally circulated.
Family and previous maid all mentioned something in the woods near the home
Neighbors found all doors locked
All six victims had fatal blows to the head-maid and 2 year old boy in house, other four in the barn, it was the maid's first day
Killer remained at the farm for several days-signs in feeding and milking of animals, missing food
Records as well as victim's skulls went missing from police evidence during WWII.

The Impossible Murder: William Wallace Case, 1931

Liverpool, England 1/20/1931
Indoor/outdoor lock switching
William goes to meet stranger, returns to find his wife, Julia, bludgeoned to the point that her skull cracked open-points out to the neighbors that you can see her brain. (Yikes!)
House drains were all dry, believed killer left covered in blood
William arrested in 1933 for the murder, sentenced to gallows after four days, conviction is dismissed a month later



Coogee, Sydney, Australia
Father and son catch a 14'6'' tiger shark-8 days in Sydney Aquarium before shark coughs up a human arm with rope burns
Edwin Smith calls authorities, recognizes tattoo on the arm matching his missing brother, James
Decided arm was severed with a knife
James Smith had mob connections
Shark killed and dissected looking for clues, none found
Mobster Reginald Holmes found attacked, points to Patrick Brady who rented a house that was mysteriously cleaned and had random objects missing and replaced
Court decides missing an arm does not equal a dead body so trial cannot proceed

Panic in the City: Cleveland Torso Murders, 1934-8 🔥

Torsos preserved with chemicals
9/23/1935 Two men are found decapitated and emasculated, decapitation was cause of death
1934 Eliot Ness transfered to Cleveland
13 victims, only 2 were positively identified (potential victim was Rose Wallace, a black woman, meaning both race and gender lines were crossed)
Ness had Kingsbury Run shanty town burned, runs arrests and fingerprinting, this ends murders
1939 Slovak immigrant Frank Dolezal (52) is arrested for the crime but evidence is all circumstantial, today he is considered innocent
Ness had a secret subject who he kept in a hotel for weeks-Dr. Francis McSweeney

Scandal in Shangri-La: Happy Valley Murder, 1941)

Colonial Kenya
Basically wealthy, annoying white people in Kenyan highlands swinging.
Lady Carberry was character witness
Victim had potential connection to the Germans/Nazis

The Skeleton in the Wood: Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?, 1943 🔥

Hagley Woods, England
Taffeta stuffed in Bella's mouth, potential strangulation
Bella estimated at 35, irregular teeth, light brown hair, 5ft, given birth once
No dentist in the area recognized teeth
Christmas 1943 first graffiti appears but called "Luebella"
Fake wedding ring?
Anthropologist, Professor Margaret Murray is the first to question Hand of Glory ritual about bones around tree
German Spy? (Una Mossop)
Josef Jakobs (convicted of espionage ring) is the last man executed at Tower of London

Death of a Dreamer: Black Dahlia, 1947

Elizabeth Short
Police believed she had been hung upside-down by her feet and tortured.
Hyper sexualized after her death
How was all her blood drained?
LAPD Steve Hodel suspects his father Dr. George Hodel (tried for incest with his own daughter, brought up Black Dahlia in transcripts)
Physical evidence has gone missing from police holdings

Did Sam do it?: Murder of Marilyn Sheppard, 1954

Sam is (doctor) is husband
Ernest Hemingway wrote about this case
Bay Village, Ohio
Sam was having an affair with medical technician Susan Hayes, Marilyn was 4 months pregnant
1954- Sam is convicted, freed 9 years later
2000- son brings case to court to clear Sam's name, this fails
DNA experts 90% sure that Richard Eberling, local cleaning man, left blood in the house
F. Lee Bailey won Sam's second acquittal

Last Bike Ride: Murder of Lynne Harper, 1959

Steven Truscott (14) youngest inmate on Canada's Death Row
Lynne Harper (12) hitched a bike ride from Truscott- ends up raped and strangled with her own blouse
Did she get in another car after Truscott dropped her off or did the boy kill her?
Found 2 days later even with early search parties, maggots already present
Truscott released from prison in the late 60s
2006- case is reopened, Truscott clears name, modern science says she was killed later than maggots suggested at the time
3 fringe suspects all pedophiles
2007- Truscott is acquitted of all charges, Harper family maintains it was him

Campsite Murders: Lake Bodom Murders, 1960 🔥

Finland's Lake Bodom
Maila Björklund and Anja Mäki (15) and boyfriends Seppo Boisman and Nils Gustafsson (18)
Nils is only survivor
Bludgeoning and stabbing/slashing, no weapon discovered
Nils' girlfriend, Maila, got the worst of the attack
Investigators determine attack started from outside the tent- stole motorcycle keys but not the bikes, flea scene wearing Nils' shoes, stolen items found a short way away
Karl Gyllström (Kiosk Man, suspect) previous slashed other tents, filled well on his property shortly after, wife says on her death bed it was him
Man with the Blond Hair- alleged KGB spy named Hans ASSMANN, climbed to have been a guard at Auschwitz, went to the hospital next day with a fake name, similar looking man attended funerals, linked to other murders
WAS ASSMANN THE ONE WITH THE MASK FACE?
2004- case opened, Nils finally arrested as suspect, sperm on pillowcase matches neither Seppo nor Nils
Nils spends 500 days in custody, acquitted, awarded 44,900 in compensation

Killing for Fun: The Zodiac Killer, 1968-9

7 victims, 18 letters, 5 key suspects, 1 bomb ass movie
Letters to San Fransisco Chronicle, Examiner, and Vallejo Times-Herald- specific details and code
Code broken by Mr and Mrs Donald Harden, says he was collecting slaves for afterlife
Calls in his own attack of Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell
Potentially called in to a TV show insisting that he just wanted to kill kids
How long was Zodiac actually active? 1966? 1963?
January 1974- SF Chronicle gets last confirmed letter, claims he killed 37 people
Arthur Leigh Allen- suspect named by author/Chronicle cartoonish Robert Graysmith, identified by survivor Michael Mageau
Earl van Best Jr- suspect, traveling book salesmen with rage issues
Louis Myers- confessed on his death bed, connections to some victims
Ross Sullivan- suspect, bipolar and schizophrenic, wore similar boots
Donald Lee Bujok- felon in Montana for 11 years, details harkening back to what Bryan Hartnell remembers from his attack

Stranger Danger: Oakland County Child Killer, 1976-7 🔥

Oakland County, Michigan
2 male victims show sign of sexual assault, 2 female victims do not- all were bathed and dressed neatly before dumping, white dog hair on all 4
Mark Stebbins (12), Jill Robinson (12), Kristine Mihelich (10), and Tim King (11)
King's mother begged him to come home with the promise of KFC, Tim killed an hour before being found, last meal was fried chicken
Birmingham, Michigan PD Chief Jerry Tobin believed killer was seeing a psychiatrist, being protected by someone close to him
Conspiracy theory that it was John Wayne Gacy shut down in 2013 using DNA

Death at the Drug Store: The Tylenol Murders, 1982 🔥

7 victims, 5 stores
Potassium cyanide
NORTHWEST COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
Copycats across country
"Within days of the deaths, legislators proposed new laws requiring manufacturers to seal drug containers." (129)

A Christmas Nightmare: Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, 1996 🔥

Boulder Colorado- John and Patsy, Burke (9), JonBenét (6)
Marks on her face could have been made by a stun gun or a piece of track from Burke's electric train set
Body on it's back, arms raised, duct tape on mouth, blanket over body, white cord on wrists and neck, garrote make with a broken paintbrush (other half with Patsy's art supplies), blow to the head- John immediately takes off tape and holds body- autopsy says she was asphyxiated
Pineapple in stomach eaten within 2 hours of death- Patsy and Burke have prints on the pineapple bowl
Police bow under John and Patsy's power/influence/money
JonBenét was a chronic bedwetter (common in cases of abuse)
DA Alex Hunter refuses to sign indictments of John and Patsy in 1999
Family photographer says the year before Burke hit JonBenét in the head with a golf club out of rage

Drive By Shootings: Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, 1996-7

9/7/1996 Tupc (25) is killed in Las Vegas, dies 6 days later
3/9/1997 Christopher Wallace "Biggie Smalls" (24) shot in his car in LA
Bad Boy Records (Sean "Puff Daddy Combs, Crips) vs. Death Row Records (Marion "Suge" Knight, Bloods)
Tupac's mom, Afeni, had been a Black Panther

Shot in Broad Daylight: Murder of Jill Dando, 1999

Television presenter killed on her London doorstep
Ironically worked on a show called "Crimewatch"
DOA at Charing Cross Hospital
Gun had been pressed to skull when shot
Theory that she had been killed by Yugoslavian or Serbian assassin after appeal for Kosovo-Albanian refugees on TV (anti- Slobodan Milosevic)
Theory it had been someone she exposed on "Crimewatch"
Theory of an obsessive stalker
Somehow it is all pinned on Barry George, a man with Asperger's who was obsessed with Freddie Mercury- I find this flimsy as hell
George is acquitted in 2008 after seven years in prison

Staircase of Death: Murder of Kathleen Peterson, 2001 🔥

Kathleen found dead at the bottom of her North Carolina home (shared with husband and novelist Michael)
When running for mayor Michael had said he earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam but he actually got it for a car accident
Medical examiner determines she died of a beating rather than a fall baed on slices in her head
16 years before Elizabeth Ratliff (43) died in a similar way while teaching on an American military base in Frankfurt, Germany- she had been a friend of Michael's who was living there with his previous wife and two sons- Michael helped plan her funeral and then ADOPTED HER FUCKING DAUGHTERS
Elizabeth's body is exhumed in Texas for another autopsy, determined she had also been beaten
Micheal had been soliciting sex from men online, gay porn
10/10/2003 Michael is sentenced to life- 2 days later his team starts prepping appeals- overturned in 2011 for use of outdated methods
Michael takes an Alford plea to manslaughter
"The Staircase" documentary is what started the owl theory, brought up my Michael's friend Larry Pollard in 2003


Lost in the Marshland: Long Island Serial Killer, c.1996-2010 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

SOMEONE CALL THE KILLING SEASON
Also known as Gilgo Beach Killer
Killed between 10 and 16 people associated with sex work
May 1, 2010- Shannan Gilbert (24) a Craigslist escort disappears after running out of Joseph Brewer's home- he claims she was erratic, knocked on neighbors doors begging for help
December 2010- 4 bodies are found along Ocean Parkway on Gilgo Beach- Amber Lynn Costello (27, missing since September 2010), Melissa Bathelemy (24, missing since July 2009), Maureen Brainard-Barnes (25, missing since July 2007), and Megan Waterman (22, missing since June 2010)-ALL had been Craigslist escorts, wrapped in burlap sacks
6 more victims found a mile east-4 women, a female toddler, and an Asian man dressed in women's clothing (trans? forced sex act?)- only one has been identified, Jessica Taylor (20, missing since July 2003)
Taylor's torso dismembered found in Manorville, New York, skull/hands/singular forearm found in Gilgo Beach
Jane Doe Number 6 also found dismembered between Manorville and Gilgo Beach
December 2011- Gilbert's purse, lip gloss, phone, jeans, shoes found in marsh near Oak Beach- Remains found on December 13, 2011 in a shallow mash near where she disappeared- authorities say she drowned by the family slams this
Gilbert family hires a forensic pathologist, Michael Baden, to autopsy remains- he says there is no evidence of natural death, drug overdose, or drowning- insufficient information to name cause of death- found deformed hyoid bone in her neck which is often a sign of strangulation
Snuff films?
"One of the more likely theories was that the killer was a police officer-or an ex-police officer- with extensive knowledge of law enforcement techniques." (169)
Melissa Barthelemy's sister, Amanda (16), gets calls from LISK asking if she knew what her sister was doing, calls come from busy places like Madison Square Garden and New York's Penn Station and all are under 3 minutes
Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke steps down in 2012, arrested for assaulting a man named Christopher Loeb who stole a duffle bag of porn and sex toy's from Burke's car- escort comes forward to say Burke was into rough sex
Suspect Dr. Peter Hackett- physician and neighbor of Joseph Brewer, called Gilbert's mom the day after she went missing claiming to run "a home for wayward girls" but denies this call despite phone records
2017: Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla names suspect John Bittrolff- carpenter who beat two sex workers to death in 1993 and 1994, lived near Manorville

Jim Clemente ❤️ (criminal profiler)🍑 makes a profile with Scott Bonn (assistant prof. of sociology at Drew University) and Fred Klein (former Nassau County DA)-killer was likely... white male, mid 20s to mid 40s, married or had a girlfriend, intelligent, articulate, decent job with access to burlap sacks, lived/once lived near Ocean Parkway
Theory of serial killer Joel Rifkin- 1989-1993 he killed at least 9 women in New York and Long Island using the same hunting ground as LISK- he denied it, called proximity of bodies "sloppy"
As of writing, 6 more cases being reviewed for a link to LISK