Tori Telfer

Lady Killers

Notify me when the book’s added
To read this book, upload an EPUB or FB2 file to Bookmate. How do I upload a book?
Inspired by author Tori Telfer's Jezebel column “Lady Killers,” this thrilling and entertaining compendium investigates female serial killers and their crimes through the ages.
When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, “There are no female serial killers.”
Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsébet Báthory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction.
Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different subject, and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media, as well as the stereotypes and sexist clichés that inevitably surround her. The first book to examine female serial killers through a feminist lens with a witty and dryly humorous tone, Lady Killers dismisses easy explanations (she was hormonal, she did it for love, a man made her do it) and tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch), delving into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, Lady Killers is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness.

This book is currently unavailable
384 printed pages
Publication year
2017
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
👍👎

Impressions

  • al mshared an impression5 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💀Spooky
    💡Learnt A Lot

    Very well written and very enjoyable (if you enjoy this kind of reading. I do)

  • Alesi Mshared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading

  • Anamu Khawajashared an impression6 years ago
    👍Worth reading

Quotes

  • circehas quoted4 years ago
    These are not names calculated to keep us up at night; they’re punch lines to the great overarching joke that is female aggression.
  • Alesi Mhas quoted4 years ago
    Nothing was more intolerable than a wealthy woman!
  • Liv Marei Thobo-Carlsenhas quoted4 years ago
    One stat that does get confirmed again and again in various studies is that the majority of serial killers, both male and female, are white.

On the bookshelves

fb2epub
Drag & drop your files (not more than 5 at once)