No comments about The Boston Strangler.

No comments about The Boston Strangler.

No comments about The Boston Strangler.

No comments about Boston Strangler.

5 comments about The Boston Strangler.

1. The persons who wrote the negative reviews on this book don't seem to have actually read it. The reason Albert DeSalvo was never tried for the stranglings was due principally to the skillful maneuvering of his attorney, F. Lee Baily. Anyone who reads Gerold Frank's The Boston Strangler cannot help but come to the conclusion that DeSalvo was the right man. But there are people who have an interest in casting doubt on the facts. If my brother, or son, or spouse had committed such horrible crimes, I would try to bring up such doubts myself. Or if I wanted to write a book about the case, using sensationalistic hogwash about another killer or killers. I first read Gerold Frank's book in the late sixties. Recently I came across it again, and reread every word. It is a fascinating story, a masterpiece of reporting, with elements of the supernatural, turbid politics, and police bungling. For, despite the fact that Albert DeSalvo was arrested for a violent rape, in which he had entered a woman's home under the pretext of effecting repairs (after he had already committed the murders), yet they did not investigate him as a possible suspect in the stranglings. The final pages of the book present a repelling, yet fascinating, picture of a sick soul, the depths of hell in the mind of a seemingly pleasant and affable man. And those final pages also fully explain why Albert DeSalvo was never tried for the murders.



2. A pretty gripping read back in its day (1966)--but in the 40 following its original publication, plenty of evidence has surfaced strongly suggesting that self-confessed killer Albert deSalvo WASN'T the real deal--or even close. (According to some reports, author Gerald Frank later admitted he'd been conned by deSalvo's bogus admissions.) Creepy reading--but file this one under FICTION.



3. Even when I first read this book as a teenager, something didn't sit right with Albert DeSalvo being pegged as the killer. The "old women" and "the girls" cohorts of victims propagated subconscious disconnections between factors being treated as the work of a single perpetrator, as did the case's sudden wrap-up. The psychoanalysis sessions, looking back at them, appeared laced with manipulation, and subsequent examinations of the Strangler case substantiate that: DeSalvo was prompted to be the killer, because they needed a killer to blame.

   Still, the portions about the investigation before DeSalvo's appearance are fascinating -- the crime scene descriptions, the victim timetables, detectives and their occasional dead ends. The tale is quite interesting, but should be absorbed only in combination with other writings about the Strangler case(s). It only makes you wish they had had, in the early 1960s, the same forensic techniques we have today. They really might have caught the guy(s).




4. While this book is interesting reading, one can only wonder at the overly one-sided tone. This is not just a retelling of the facts. This author, while using true sources, obviously has a certain idea in his head as to how to present the material. Granted, all historical writing has a bias to it, but this one seems written more for the hype than the truth.

   Despite all that, the book is an interesting read and an informative look into the details of the horrendous murders and the detective work employed to find the killer(s).




5. i was reading this book all about this psycho who no one can catch that strangles chicks.the cops cant pin it down on anyone so they start getting thier suspects under hypnosis and seeing what theyd say then.but as everyone knows......post hypnotic suggestion is very powerful and thats exactly why albert desalvo "became" the boston strangler.just another cop book where someone goes down for something he probably didnt do at all.its pretty sick and graphic as the killer had a thing for kinky details,so be afraid!be very afraid!

2 comments about Search for the Strangler: My Hunt for Boston's Most Notorious Killer.

1. I was surprised and disappointed to find that this was actually the same book that came out just last year from a university press when it was called, A ROSE FOR MARY, one of the very best books of the year, Did Warner Books think they had to spice up the cover so that people would know it was all about The Boston Strangler?
   
   Or maybe some were disappointed in the previous title, A ROSE FOR MARY, and they thought it was about ROSEMARY'S BABY. In any case I think it's a cheap shot when a paperback changes the name of the hardcover because there will be many, like me, who buys both books falling for the misleading new title and thinking it a new book.
   
   What's great about Casey Sherman's book is that, although he's a little fellow, he had this great determination to avenge the death of a woman who died before he was even born, his mom's sister Mary, who died in January 1964. Casey isn't a midget per se but he brings up his perceived lack of height several times in the book, leaving the reader feeling that this is indeed an issue in his life. He is a powerful writer and delivers a book filled with regret and rage, and the eerie silence of a family touched by crime. For in the Sullivan family there was a great loss, an empty space where once Mary had laughed and sang. He digs up a certain amount of DNA evidence that makes it seem as though, whatever else he was guilty of in his crazy life, Albert De Salvo certainly didn't kill Mary, even though he was implicated in her death. Casey Sherman analyzes the corrupt state of the police back in the 1960s and the ways in which pressure was put on top politicians to "bring in the killer" and it seems clear they didn't mind if they fried an innocent one, as long as the murders stopped.
   
   It was like JAWS in that, so many women were being killed in Boston, that tourism had come to a complete halt!
   
   Mary is smiling now that justice has been unearthed. Good for you, Casey. Warner Books, stop chiseling money out of the pockets of the citizenry!



2. I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked learning about the Boston Strangler story and the theories surronding the killings. I also enjoyed Sherman's investigations. Great book!

No comments about The Boston Strangler (New England Remembers) (New England Remembers).

5 comments about The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert Desalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders.

1. Susan Kelly is a Boston area author with a deep and extensive knowledge of local police matters. She uses this information to get to the heart of a strange and shocking miscarriage of justice. It's a great book--clearly and vividly written, closely argued, brilliantly researched: an unflinching look at a brutal series of crimes, and a shameful coverup that followed. Anyone interested in true crime or indeed American social history will love this book. Fast-moving and very exciting on all levels.



2. I read this book several years ago--and I am shocked to see it is no longer available. This is the definitive examination of the case: author Kelly looks at all the evidence, the sensationalism, and DeSalvo himself, with a scholar's objective eye. Her conclusions are disturbing and cannot be ignored. If you want to have a genuine sense of the terror in Boston from those days, this is the book. Some publisher ought to put this book out and give it the attention it so deserves.



3. I was barely a teen in the Boston area when The Boston Strangler murders started. Recently DeSalvo's family asked to have the case reopened, no doubt due in part to this book. Their request prompted me to find more info, if any, about this case and I found this book in a library. Could not put it down. Expected the usual fact-packed but dry true crime book. Kelly has not only written a very readable and entertaining book, she has also made her case, namely, that there was more than one "Boston Strangler," and that DeSalvo was not one of them. Who some of the Stranglers might have been makes for a chilling surprise I won't give away here. Also, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the early career of F. Lee Bailey. Wish I could buy this book. It's a keeper.



4. I have just acquired a copy of this book from a second-hand bookseller, and am astonished to find that it's out of print and there has apparently never been a paperback edition. I followed the Strangler case as each new murder was reported in the UK press, and it remains the archetypal horror story for me because it proves conclusively that one isn't safe even (above all) at home. I also read Gerold Frank's account of the affair very soon after it was published in the UK and re-read it last year; I have the "confessions of the Boston Strangler" in French translation.I have never been even half-way convinced that DeSalvo was guilty, and I always doubted that only one killer was involved. (The "psychological explanation" cited by Frank as to why the killer suddenly switched from older to younger women struck me as perfectly ludicrous 30 years ago, and many recent books on profiling have merely strengthened this view).

   It would be easy enough to write a book which simply challenged the official solution, but that is not what Susan Kelly does. She provides overwhelming evidence not only to demolish it, but also to explain how and why it came about in the first place. This is a book with an index, a bibliography, acknowledgments which help the reader by indicating the author's sources (most acknowledgments seem only to explain who made the coffee and watered the plants while a book was being written) and careful indications of when exact quotations from transcripts are being used. It assumes no previous knowledge of the case or the "cast", and its procedural details are much clearer than Frank's. Also, Susan Kelly is literate, and she has a dry, ironic sense of humour.

   I checked the book's listing in Amazon because I wanted to know what other people thought of it. I had hoped that, unbeknown to me, the Boston Strangler affair had been rewritten and DeSalvo belatedly exonerated. Apparently this is not so. I would be interested to know if anyone (apart perhaps from F. Lee Bailey, Esq.) has challenged Kelly's arguments and, if so, on what basis - though I doubt whether that could be done. If it can't, I hope the book will soon be reissued and properly publicised. It would also be interesting to have someone re-open the only murder case in which DeSalvo was certainly involved - his own.




5. I, for one, was one of those who thought Albert DeSalvo was guilty. I reached this conclusion after watching the movie many years ago and reading Gerold Frank's book. Over the years, I had heard that Albert may not have been guilty after all. After reading this book, I am convinced that Albert never was the actual Boston Strangler.
   
   Kelly lays out the proof from court transcripts and interviews many of the detectives that originally investigated the case. The evidence she presents is quite convincing that others had firm motives for being the Boston Strangler.
   
   The only bad part of the book, which almost caused me to give up reading it, was Kelly's over-reliance on court transcripts. In some chapters, she goes on and on with quoted court transcripts that become boring to read really quickly! The book would have been much better if she had summarized the proceedings instead on relying on court transcipts.

5 comments about The Boston Stranglers.

1. Susan Kelly's "The Boston Stranglers" is a truly suspenseful detective story, filled with amazingly lucid and memorable details. The portrait of Albert, that odd, pathetic, yet charismatic misfit, grows on every page. The author's voice is reassuringly immediate and comfortable in this sad tale of legal details, names and events. Ms Kelly's research is truly commendable, as it brings the story to life for the reader of an American 'true crime' icon. The "Update" section at the end is filled with moments of hillarity, very much needed in the bizarre and gruesome set of circumstances. This is a "can't-put-down- read" by a very talented writer.



2. I very much enjoyed this extremely well-researched, suspense-filled account of the saga of Albert De Salvo. The writing is marvellous - one forgets that this is non-fiction, as it runs as smoothly as a novel from evidence to evidence and crime to crime. It really reads like a superb piece of detective fiction. I am impressed by the research involved, and by the wealth of detail that never bogs down the reader, but rather keeps us turning pages. The "Update" is particularly interesting, as it combines a suspenseful journey with gruesome detail and real hillarity. This is a standout in the works of true crime.



3. I was blown away by the last chapter, which describes in detail....wait, I don't want to spoil it. Read it for yourself!
   
   This book is very well-written and documents years of painstaking research.
   
   Particularly fascinating to me was the section on how the film version got it entirely wrong. It makes me wonder how many other films embedded in our consciousness are wildly different from the true events that took place.



4. I read a number of books about this subject, and this is one of the best written. Susan Kelly interjects humor and irony at just the right moments and for a true crime account, it reads more like a novel. I truly enjoyed this book.



5. This book is obviously extremely well researched, and the narrative is easy to read, but only 100 pages into it I am finding it necessary to make my own lists, timelines, and charts to keep track of the players and events. She failed to provide any, even though she introduces multiple threads. She discusses at least three sets of victims (DeSalvo's, Nassar's, and the Boston Stranglers'); several players at several levels of police, judicial, and political jurisdictions; several attorneys, and several different political factors, including cross-jurisdictional squabbles and who gets what kind of publicity. Nevertheless, the reader is given no tie-backs to help keep all of those straight, including which names belong to which set of victims or law enforcement agency, even though 50 pages and multiple other players frequently separate references to specific individuals or significant factors.

5 comments about A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler.

1. I was interested in this book because I had read some other books about the Boston Strangler. So hearing from someone who was related to the case might have been interesting. It was not. The book seems to be more about the author -- and not the topic. Sherman seems to have a large ego and is more interested in making up things that might have happened. He also invokes talking ghosts, which is very weird and doesn't ring true for a supposed newsman interested in the truth. Also, if he works in the news business, why does he need a writer? I don't get it. Very disappointing for true crime fans. There are better books - there is one that came out a couple of years ago about the fact that there was more than one strangler and it is very well-researched, called The Boston Stranglers. Sherman's book seems destined for the remainder table.



2. This book took me down a path I have rarely gone before with True Crime. It not only concerns the serial murders of the century, but also the accounts of the grieving families on both sides of the crime and the heroic account of a relative, not known to the last victim (Mary Sullivan) who's quest for the truth pitts him against the long standing belief that Albert DeSalvo was the killer and the authorities (then and now) who want to keep it that way. It reads like Sam Spade meets CSI except these people are real heros! I would hope that anyone who likes reading period pick up this book. I read it in one sitting and, like the Maltese Falcon, plan on reading it again and again. It's really that good! If you're fascinated with the Strangler case I'd skip the rest and start here. Good job, Mr Sherman!



3. A Rose for Mary is a thrilling roller coaster ride that left me completely breathless at the end. Sherman uses the Boston Strangler case as a disturbing backdrop for political intrigue. I think this young man is an amazing writer who is keenly able to explore the dark corners of the mind. Run to pick up A Rose for Mary. You will be glad you did.



4. Re-examining the decades-old strangulation murder of his late Aunt Mary, a 19-year-old career girl widely believed to be the last victim of self-confessed "Boston Strangler" Albert DeSalvo, author Casey Sherman makes a fairly compelling case that the killer was actually someone else and that DeSalvo was simply a convenient fall guy for baffled cops and stymied politicos. Unfortunately for Sherman, writer Susan Kelly presented a far more compelling (and far more professional) case in "The Boston Stranglers" nearly 10 years ago. Perhaps too close to the story for his own good, Sherman whitewashes, sidesteps and simply ignores the more unsavory aspects of the victim's life (all detailed in Kelly's book in a non-judgemental fashion), in the process unwittingly stripping the deeply-troubled young woman of any recognizable humanity and turning her into an unbelievable martyr-like cipher who never comes alive for the reader. Ardent true crime buffs will also be see the non-conclusive nature of this story a mile away; Sherman telegraphs the ending by pointedly assigning a fake name to a key suspect early on, always a tip-off that the cops couldn't make a case. Amateurish as this is (when he isn't pushing for exhumations and DNA tests, Sherman actually communes with his late aunt's ghost!), anyone seriously interested in the Strangler case will find this book intriguing, especially after comparing it to the considerably meatier account in Kelly's book--which actually names the suspect in question.



5. I'M A HUGE DENNIS LEHANE FAN & PICKED UP THIS BOOK BASED ON LEHANE'S RECOMMENDATION. I LOVED IT! IT WAS A FAST MOVING BOOK THAT READ LIKE A MYSTERY NOVEL. MYSTERY FANS SHOULD GOBBLE THIS ONE UP.