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Summary: Want to meet some real female serial killers? Read on...
Review: "Murder Most Rare: The Female Serial Killer" by Michael D. & C.L. Kelleher, Dell Publ., 1999, ISBN: 0-440-23473-5 is a 304 page softcover pocket book having 3 appendices, bibliography & index.Authors have provided excellent compilation of 88 known female serial killers (FSK) of the 21st. century, contrasts them with male serial killers (MSK), divides them into 9 classes based on motive (Black Widow, Angel of Death, Sexual Predator, Revenge, Profit, Team Killer, ? Sanity, Unexplained & Unsolved), and provides a uniform summary chart for each FSK (includes birth information, age of activity, victim information including methods, motives & case disposition). The book has a wealth of information, useful statistical data on frequency of FSK subclasses and primary weapons (guns, poison, lethal injection, suffocation, etc.) and 5 pages on the novel Munchausen sydrome by proxy (MSBP) and an alphabetical listing of FSK. We are informed that the most rare (1 case!) of "Murder Most Rare" FSK in America is the Sexual FSK (Eileen "Lee" Wuornos). The book is an easy-to-read relatively non-technical discourse on FSK. The only grammatical gaffe is the serial confounding (and disconcerting) use of the word "systemically" for the intended "systematically." The pleonasm, verbal effusion and prolixity sets it apart from most technical manuals, but this is patenly something the authors may have done for a perceived or needed additional emphasis (or clarification) and may be relished by many readers. For anyone interested in criminal profiling (FSK or not), this book is a must have and must read, and at a bargain. I wished I had gotten the hard cover edition.
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Summary: Read more about "Murder Most Rare" in The New Yorker 3/9/98
Review: "The two Kellehers are the encyclopedistes of female violence. Not only have these diligent authors collected a vast number of gruesome tales; they have also drawn up a taxonomic chart for each killer....In putting together their survey, the Kellehers' principal aim seems to have been thoroughness: they have tracked down and categorized every female serial killer they could get their hands on." -The New Yorker "[T]he Kellehers...detail each [serial murderer] with a relish and breezy objectivity....The cumulated savagery is what horrifies, as tables rounding up malefactors' motives, methods, and backgrounds abound. This is a fine true-crime entry, tasteful when possible and engrossing as either reference or episodic reading...." -Booklist "Michael Kelleher has explored violence and murder in several works...he now offers a rare, mostly clinical overview of the female mass murderer. The book profiles nearly 100 deadly women....The grim succession of murder accounts here...cuts an often shocking swath of feminine terror." -Publishers Weekly
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Summary: media hype
Review: as a criminologist, i can tell you that all of the women in this book are not considered to be serial killers by the fbi. aileen wuornos is the 35th documented serial killer. media hype and exagerated journalistic views make this book interesting, but if you are writing a college paper, i would not site this book in your bibliography.
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Summary: A one-of-a-kind read
Review: As a criminologist, I give this book excellent marks as an objective and informative look into a secret and violent world. The authors have stayed the course on keeping to the facts and have done an outstanding job of profiling an aspect of violent crime that has been long overlooked. A great read!
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Summary: Michael & C.L. Kelleher Need To Do More Research
Review: Having made a study of criminology for many years now, I was very dissapointed in "Murder Most Rare". While the authors have listed many resources, I find it hard to believe that they ever actually read or studied any of them. As my arguments against the author's statements are many, I will limit myself to three: 1. Ethnic Cleansing (Genocide) is NOT serial murder. (p. 2 & 3 the authors claim that the Holocaust was a case of serial murder). 2. Sexual Homicide (whether serial or not) is committed for the sole purpose of sexual gratification. To claim that a killer who murders for profit is a sexual predator merely because she made her living as a prostitute is sadly erroneous. (see Aileen Wuornos pp. 108 -120). 3. Steven Parent (a victim of the Manson clan) was NOT a guest of Sharon Tate (as claimed on p.224), but rather a guest of the young man (caretaker) who lived in the guesthouse behind the main house. Frankly, this book fails as a creditable study of serial murder, and should be given a wide berth by serious readers.
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Summary: Another great read . . .
Review: I discovered this book after reading the author's latest, "This is the Zodiac Speaking," which I loved. This book is just as strong and interesting. If you like to read something genuinely new, this is it. I doubt that many Americans are even aware of the number of female serial killers among us. I certainly wasn't. This book covers it all -- the women, their motives, and their crimes. Also, like the author's other book, this one goes outside the box and takes up new possibilities when looking at female serial killers. The typology that is used (something new) is fascinating and seems much more comprehensive than what is usually thrown around in profiling circles. Moreover, it just makes good sense. Don't pass it up.
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Summary: Another great read . . .
Review: I discovered this book after reading the author's latest, "This is the Zodiac Speaking," which I loved. This book is just as strong and interesting. If you like to read something genuinely new, this is it. I doubt that many Americans are even aware of the number of female serial killers among us. I certainly wasn't. This book covers it all -- the women, their motives, and their crimes. Also, like the author's other book, this one goes outside the box and takes up new possibilities when looking at female serial killers. The typology that is used (something new) is fascinating and seems much more comprehensive than what is usually thrown around in profiling circles. Moreover, it just makes good sense. Don't pass it up.
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Summary: A complete waste of my time.
Review: The book reads like a badly-written term paper. The cases are presented in a summarized format, lacking the definite details to merit the "shocking facts" and "grisly details" hype on the back of the book. Although I applaud the writer(s) for doing research in a little known area about female killers, I felt the book over-romanticized their images to the extent that it was unnecessarily dramatic and repetitive. This is one small description of the "Angel of Death" from page 89: "Like Azrael, she has the outward appearance of a caring benefactor, however, like that messenger from God, she carries a weapon of lethal destruction at her side and is willing to preside over the question of life or death for even the most innocent of charges." The overwhelming majority of their notes from each chapter are derived from the Internet and the same CD-ROM. There is no evidence of first or second hand experience which significantly lowers their credibility because it seems like one big term paper based on resources from the internet and a few other books that can be found in the true crime section. Think of it as "Real TV" or "Cops" with cheesy, over-the-top narration and you get the idea.
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Summary: Error-ridden book
Review: This book could have been an excellent resouce for those interested in serial female killers, a subject that has been poorly covered prior to this time. However, I have personal experience as a forensic pathologist in two of the cases in the book. In one case involving a nurse murderer, the authors erroneously described her murders as occurring in a hospital, when, in fact, the deaths occurred in a nursing home.They also incorrectly documented the time line of events. Further, they wrongly listed the number of deaths she was charged with, and to which she pleaded guilty, as being one when it was in fact four! They ignored the count of attempted murder to which she also pleaded guilty. In the Aileen Wuornos case, they had locations wrong, listing the wrong interstate more than once in indicating where she had encountered her victims. This type of poor research, leaving the reader with wrong answers, is a disservice to the attempt to correctly document these types of crimes. Finally I am very disappointed as, when I find a book where I know there are mistakes in cases with which I was intimately involved, I have to wonder just how many others with which I am not familiar have suffered the same fate. A book like this should be very carefully written and documented. Sadly, this one was not!
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Summary: Bland, and redundant
Review: This book really doesnt go in depth into any of the cases, just gives a brief summation and rating as to the profile of the killers. I want something with more grit and substance. If you are merely into skimming the subject, then this is the book for you.
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