In July 1991, research chemist Lionel Dahmer was informed by the Milwaukee Police Department that they were investigating a homicide involving his son Jeffrey. Dahmer initially thought Jeffrey was a murder victim, not a murderer. He learned the grisly details of his son's crimes during the trial which he was found to be legally sane and sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1992.[6]

A Father's Story runs chronologically from Jeffrey's birth until his arrest and imprisonment. Dahmer tries to figure out what made his son commit murder, practice necrophilia and cannibalism. He scrutinizes every possible contributing factor to his son's psychosis starting with himself. Dahmer judges himself a poor father because he was emotionally distant towards his son. While reflecting, he "speculates that his own youthful shyness, fascination with bombs and fears of abandonment added up to a monstrous genetic inheritance."[7]

A Father's Story is a memoir written by Lionel Dahmer, father of American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The book was published in 1994 by William Morrow and Company.