My guest is the prolific true crime author Harold Schechter, who returns to talk about his latest book, "Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men". He tells the story about the legendary Norwegian immigrant serial killer who lured men to her Laporte, Indiana farm and murdered them, before a fire finally destroyed the farmhouse and killed her children, and allegedly her as well.

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My guest is Karen L. Cox, author of "Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South". She tells the story of Jennie Merrill, an aged Southern belle who was murdered in her home in 1932 Natchez, Mississippi. Two of the main suspects against her were her neighbors: Octavia Dockery (aka " Goat Woman") and Dick Dana (aka "Wild Man"), who lived in the notorious ramshackle mansion nicknamed "Goat Castle".

The author's website: https://karencoxhistorian.com/

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True crime history enthusiasts are devouring TNT's "The Alienist", the television show based on the popular Caleb Carr novel. Richard Zacks, the author of "Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York" joins me to talk about this crazy era in the New York City's history, and how reformer and newly minted police commissioner Teddy Roosevelt attempted to curtail the power of corrupt Tammany Hall politicians and police officers, who profited from the lax law enforcement of brothels, saloons and gambling joints.

More about the author and his work can be found here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/34037/richard-zacks/

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From December of 1884 to December of 1885 a serial killer terrorized the city of Austin Texas. He had multiple nicknames: the Midnight Assassin, the Intangible Nemesis and the Servant Girl Annihilator. Journalist Skip Hollandsworth, author of "The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer", shares the story of this brutal murderer's killing spree, the suspects, the hapless police department who pursued him, and the rumors that the killer was none other than Jack the Ripper.

More about the author here: https://www.texasmonthly.com/contributors/skip-hollandsworth/

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Historian James L. Neibaur, author of "Butterfly in the Rain: The 1927 Abduction and Murder of Marion Parker", talks about the horrific kidnapping and murder of little Marion Parker in Jazz-age Los Angeles.

Also, Mark Lee Gardner joins me for a chat about the latest rash of Billy the Kid photographs that have surfaced and their legitimacy.

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1952 post-war London was a city in the throes of tragedy. Thousands were sickened and killed from a great filthy smog that choked the city. In the meantime a serial killer named John Reginald Christie was lurking in Notting Hill, murdering multiple women over years and burying their bodies in his backyard, under floorboards and behind walls. Author Kate Winkler Dawson tells these two parallel stories and their ultimate repercussions for the country in her book "Death In the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City."

More about the author here: https://www.katewinklerdawson.com/

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Perhaps the most notorious killer in 19th century America was H.H. Holmes, a man who committed fraud and murder with cold abandon across the United States. His infamous Chicago "murder castle" is legendary in true crime lore. My guest, Adam Selzer, author of "H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil", tells Holmes' story and breaks some myths about the murderous scoundrel.

More about the author here: https://adamselzerchicago.wordpress.com/

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My guest is former criminal defense attorney Mark Shaw, author of "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen". He talks about the life of Pulitzer nominated reporter and television star Dorothy Kilgallen, who was allegedly on the brink of breaking wide open a story about John Kennedy's assassination before her mysterious and suspicious death abruptly ended her investigation.

The author's website: https://markshawbooks.com/

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My guest, Jay Atkinson, author of "Massacre on the Merrimack", tells the notorious and controversial story of Hannah Duston. After members of the Abenaki tribe captured her and her newborn infant in March of 1697, they killed her baby on a forced march north. Duston got her revenge by killing and scalping ten of her captors, including six children, and fleeing by canoe back to her home in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

More about the author: https://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/people/writing-program-faculty/jay-atkinson/

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