Serial Killers

True Crime books about serial killers, which would you read?

Fatal

In an era that produced some of the most vicious female sociopaths in American history, Jane Toppan would become the most notorious of them all.

AN ANGEL OF MERCY
In 1891, Jane Toppan, a proper New England matron, embarked on a profession as a private-duty nurse. Selfless and good-natured, she beguiled Boston's most prominent families. They had no idea what they were welcoming into their homes....

A DEVIL IN DISGUISE
No one knew of Jane's past: of her mother's tragic death, of her brutal upbringing in an adoptive home, of her father's insanity, or of her own suicide attempts. No one could have guessed that during her tenure at a Massachusetts hospital the amiable "Jolly Jane" was morbidly obsessed with autopsies, or that she conducted her own after-hours experiments on patients, deriving sexual satisfaction in their slow, agonizing deaths from poison. Self-schooled in the art of murder, Jane Toppan was just beginning her career -- and she would indulge in her true calling victim by victim to become the most prolific domestic fiend of the nineteenth century.

Infamous Murders

Men kill each other for many reasons, but the two most common motives are greed and passion. Policemen and criminologists know that murders involving money and desire tend to be the most violent, for both impulses can drive the slayer to insane lengths. This book investigates nineteen of the most brutal murders ever committed by man. Readers will be shocked but fascinated by the black and sadistic trail of the Manson 'family'; Lizzie Borden, whose story has passed into folk history; Peter Kurten, the 'Vampire of Dusseldorf' and Leopold and Loeb, wealthy and well-born, who killed for amusement.

Each story in this disturbing but compelling book is fully illustrated with black and white photographs and diagrams.


The Verdict

I'm not sure I could read either one, without reading the other. Could you?

My copies sold before I could read them you will have to let me know what you decide!

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