LADY KILLERS Deadly Women Throughout History

Can't get enough stories about serial killers? Telfer's nonfiction survey of 14 multiple murderers does more than enough to fill the bill, and Sarah Mollo-Christensen's tone blends just the right combination of darkness and light. Telfer allows that while most serial killers are male--"vicious, twisted sociopaths working alone"--many less spectacular but equally notorious repeat killers over the centuries have been women. Mollo-Christensen delivers Telfer's thoroughly researched accounts of women whose pleasure came from ridding themselves of husbands, children, rivals, and anyone else who stood in their way. Their sexuality, emotional distress, and tendency to brutality illuminates the pathology of these individual women, and Mollo-Christensen is not squeamish when highlighting the graphic, grisly tortures and horrific killings they committed. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2017]