First Serial Killer

This book is for listeners of true crime podcasts and audiences of both fiction and true-crime nonfiction. It's the true story of first-generation Irish-American nurse Jane Toppan, born as Honora Kelley. Jane Toppan was absolutely a monster, but she did not start out that way. When Jane was a young child, her father abandoned her and her sister to the Boston Female Asylum. From there, Jane was indentured to a wealthy family who changed her name, never adopted her, and wrote her out of the will.

In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas, was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class.

With a history marred by wild speculation, media sensationalism, and mysteries that have puzzled historians and true-crime fans for generations, the legendary con artist and killer H. H. Holmes has a strange and sinister story to tell. From tales of a gruesome “Murder Castle”, where he would trap his victims to the string of confessions that only served to muddy the waters, Holmes’ life seems to leave us with more questions than answers. Now, this gripping true-crime novel cuts through the hype and speculation, transporting listeners back in time.

Jack the Ripper was probably the first serial killer to appear in a large metropolis at a time when the general populace was literate and the press was a force for social change. The press was also partly responsible for creating many myths surrounding the Ripper. Robin Odell's Ripperology is the first study to present a sequential history of literary investigations of Jack the Ripper's crimes and to address the seven principal phases of Ripper speculations....

The year is 1893, and the vibrant city of Chicago is a buzz of streetcars, horse carriages, magicians, dancers, and excited visitors from all over the world. The Columbian Exposition, or World's Fair, is in town and marking the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the United States of America. While fair-goers are enjoying the sights, sounds, and aromas of the many markets, halls, and walkways in the scenic Jackson Park, a sinister young man is planning his next murder only three miles away.

Terror in the Flesh is a Nia Riddle quick-listen book that dives into the grim world of serial killers, examining the different types of killers, the most famous serial killers, and even how to protect yourself from these skinwalker-like monsters that blend into society effortlessly in some cases.

John Stone was a prolific American serial killer who was found dead from a shotgun wound in Houston Texas in early 2021. In the typewriter next to his corpse, the police found this confession. Stone committed some of the most horrific and disgusting crimes in US history during his 40-year reign of terror.

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.