DS Book Reviews

Serial Killer Reference Books

Here are a few different reference type books about serial killers. Most include information and stories about various serial killers, unsolved crimes and more.

The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World’s Most Terrifying Murderers :  Hollywood’s make-believe maniacs like Jason, Freddy, and Hannibal Lecter can’t hold a candle to real life monsters like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and scores of others who have terrorized, tortured, and terminated their way across civilization throughout the ages.
Rigorously researched and packed with the most terrifying, up-to-date information, this innovative and highly compelling compendium covers every aspect of multiple murderers—from psychology to cinema, fetishism to fan clubs, “trophies” to trading cards. (I own this book and highly recommend it. It’s my “go to” when I’m writing new posts for Dead Silence. It’s a great peice to have in any serial killer/true crime book collection.)

Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters :  In this unique book, Peter Vronsky documents the psychological, investigative, and cultural aspects of serial murder, beginning with its first recorded instance in Ancient Rome, through fifteenth-century France, up to such notorious contemporary cases as cannibal/necrophile Ed Kemper, Henry Lee Lucas, Ted Bundy, and the emergence of what he classifies as the “serial rampage killer” such as Andrew Cunanan.

The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers :  The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers is a lighthearted but reasonably tasteful collection of information about serial killers, by a respected historian of crime (Harold Schechter) and the author of Human Monsters (David Everitt). It includes individual entries devoted to the most famous killers from all over the world, and amusing sections devoted to such topics as black widows, bluebeards, killer couples, Lustmord, Nazi buffs, power tools, pyromania, and trophies. There are also useful tips for further ventures into art, movies, books, zines, music, and tourist attractions devoted to serial killers.

Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters :  From history’s earliest recorded cases of homicidal females to Irma Grese, the Nazi Beast of Belsen, from Britain’s notorious child-slayer Myra Hindley to ‘Honeymoon Killer’ Martha Beck, from the sensational murder-spree of Aileen Wournos, to cult killers, homicidal missionaries, and the sexy femme fatale, Vronsky challenges the ordinary standards of good and evil and defies the accepted perceptions of gender role and identity.

All information above came from Amazon.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under Book Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.