| Edition |
First Scribner hardcover edition. |
| Description |
xi, 464 pages : map ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Preface -- Villisca -- Section I. 1909 to 1912 -- The bloody penny -- Logan's turnpike -- The scandalous Schultzes -- Marshalltown -- The New Orleans axeman -- Which is not really a chapter -- Martin City -- The Casaways -- Oregon -- The double event -- Monmouth -- Ellsworth -- Paola -- Section II. Summer 1912 -- Villisca 2 -- Villisca 3 -- Villisca 4 -- Villisca 5 -- Dynamite Pfanschmidt -- Section III. 1900 to 1906 -- Stepping backward -- Trenton Corners -- Standing by Henry -- An uncertain set of names -- Just when you thought this story couldn't possibly get any uglier -- Hughes -- The Christmas Day murders -- West Memphis -- Jacksonville -- Cottonwood, Alabama -- Murder in the cold -- The worst one ever -- The Lyerly family -- Section IV -- Hiatus -- The crimes of 1908 -- Section V -- Conversation with the reader -- Hurley -- Beckley and beyond -- The Zoos and the Hubbells -- Clementine Barnabet -- Harry Ryan -- The first crime -- Brookfield and Villisca -- Where the evening is spread out against the sky -- Hinterkaifeck. |
| Summary |
A celebrated baseball statistician uses his analytic skills and interesting sleuthing techniques to uncover the culprit in a 100 year-old cold case involving a spate of axe bludgeoning deaths across the country, from Iowa to Louisiana. |
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"Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villisca, Iowa murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated baseball statistician and true crime expert Bill James first learned about these crimes, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the analytical acumen he brings to baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. 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, and in turn, uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in American history"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Serial murderers -- Iowa -- Villisca -- History.
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Mass murder investigation -- Iowa -- Villisca -- History.
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Mass murder -- Iowa -- Villisca -- History.
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Serial murderers -- Middle West -- History.
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Serial murder investigation -- Iowa -- Villisca -- History.
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Mass murder -- Middle West -- History.
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Mass murder investigation -- Middle West -- History.
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HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology.
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Serial murder investigation -- Middle West -- History.
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TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers.
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| Genre/Form |
True crime stories.
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| Added Author |
James, Rachel McCarthy, author.
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| Other Form: |
Online version: James, Bill, 1949- author. Man from the train New York : Scribner, 2017 9781476796277 (DLC) 2017023689 |
| ISBN |
9781476796253 (hardback) |
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1476796254 (hardback) |
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9781476796260 (trade paperback) |
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1476796262 (trade paperback) |
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