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  • The Pied Piper

  • Bloodlands collection
  • Written by: Harold Schechter
  • Narrated by: Steven Weber
  • Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

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The Pied Piper cover art

The Pied Piper

Written by: Harold Schechter
Narrated by: Steven Weber
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Publisher's Summary

With makeup and an affected Elvis pout, Tucson’s Charlie Schmid was a crude parody of a bad-boy heartthrob. In 1964, he still had a hold on girls who’d follow him anywhere. He murdered three of them.

It was the dawn of the free-love movement - perfect for a magnetic madman who’d also foreshadow its end a few years later in the malignant charisma of Charles Manson. The inspiration for a classic story by Joyce Carol Oates, Schmid, the most bizarre serial killer of any era, was the epitome of a narcissist flattered into believing he could get away with murder.

The Pied Piper is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation’s murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.
©2018 Harold Schechter (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Criminology True Crime Essays United States Serial Killers True Crime Nonfiction Crime
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What listeners say about The Pied Piper

Average Customer Ratings
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Profile Image for Paul

Very interesting

I knew nothing of this man, and considering how bizarre he and the story is, is odd.
This is a very well written condensed story and great performance of narration. I could listen to many more of these stories, as I find many others suffer from detail overkill.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Story
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Profile Image for Lisa R

Short and sweet

I'd never heard of this guy before and I consume a lot of true crime. The story hit all the high points and didn't go into boring information.

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