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Don't even think about missing out on this beautifully brilliant, bananas book."- Sarah Weinman, editor of Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 1950s, " The Man from the Train is a beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative of a man who may have killed 95-or more-people, dating back more than a century, mostly in small-town Middle America. That they also fingered the culprit and name him is an even more shocking bonus. Could the notorious Villisca Murders of 1912, an unsolved crime so well-chronicled over the past century, really be the work of a killer whose victims numbered well into the dozens? But by the end, Bill James & Rachel McCarthy James totally sold me on their reasoning, exhaustive research, and their sly, sober portrait of a justice system totally overmatched by the techniques and monstrosities of a man fitting the serial killer prototype we know almost too well. Brilliantly researched and written in James' snappily conversational style, The Man From the Train is a stunning feat of detection, an un-put-downable read, and a major contribution to American criminal history."- Harold Schechter, author of The Serial Killer Files and Th e Mad Sculptor, "I began The Man on the Train a skeptic. The result is his discovery of a previously unknown serial killer who roamed-and terrorized-the country a century ago. Not only has he solved one of the most tantalizing mysteries in the annals of American crime-the sensational case of the 1912 "Villisca Axe Murders"-but he has tied it to a long string of equally savage, though completely obscure, atrocities.
Either way, the final twist in the story-set 10 years after the Villisca murders on the other side of the Atlantic-gave me chills." - Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Bill James, with his daughter, Rachel, has done something truly extraordinary. Did they get it right? I'm pretty sure they did. And solve it they do - after 400 pages, when Rachel discovers the killer's first crime way back in 1898. Like the recent Netflix documentary 'The Keepers,' it's fun to watch these amateur detectives solve a puzzle. The book shines when we get to see the Jameses' thinking.
#UNSOLVED SERIAL KILLERS THAT WERE EVENTUALLY SOLVED SERIES#
James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. In turn, they uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. But few people believed the crimes were related. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth.
Between 18, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe.
#UNSOLVED SERIAL KILLERS THAT WERE EVENTUALLY SOLVED CRACK#