No comments about The girls in Nightmare house, (Gold medal book).

5 comments about The Scarlet Mansion.

1. I read this book when it first was published in 1985. Though many years have passed, my memory of the story remains vivid. I still wonder why historians do not mention this man more often when discussing serial murderers. Herman Mudget obviously was clever, as the reader soon learns, and no matter the number of people killed, he always should be mentioned in the same breath as Jack the Ripper and other well known serial murderers. Mr. Eckert has done outstanding research into the life of Herman Mudget, and his diabolical schemes to commit murder. Though serial murders are not to be praised in history, their exploits are part of history, and any study of them should be closely reviewed as a lesson from which we can learn, and Mr. Eckert's effort is among the best. Athough I still have my original copy, I am pleased to learn that this book is back in print so readers who have not yet had the opportunity to read this story now will be able to do so.



2. Herman W. Mudgett, better known as Harry H. Holmes, was a true American monster---swindler, thief, and serial killer. Nobody knows how many people he killed at his "Murder Mansion"---a house constructed specifically to make murder easier to get away with---in then-suburban Englewood, Illinois (now part of Chicago). He killed for pleasure, for insurance money, and to avoid paying people money he owed them.

   Robert Bloch tried to do justice to Mudgett in _American Gothic,_ but this book is far closer to the known facts of the case, and I cannot understand why it isn't better-known. I'm delighted to see that it's finally back in print.




3. Excellent book. Read it over 10 yrs ago and lost my copy. Finally found it again on Amazon.com. What a facinating read.
   This man was truely evil incarnate. From the first page it will keep you reading well into the night and early morning.



4. Allan Eckert is one of our great writers of historical fiction. His series about the Western movement is an education in itself and, although he does not use the footnotes here that he used to such good effect in that series, you somehow know that he has written this book with the same scrupulous attention to the facts.
   
   And if you read any book about a serial killer, Herman Mudgett is the one to study. It is foolish to call him a capitalist, for the same reason it is foolish to refer to Bonnie and Clyde as "bankers" just because they robbed banks. But Mudgett was a man of property (albeit stolen) and roots and the number of crimes he pulled off is a real lesson in how primitive law enforcement was in the 19th Century. It relied on society to keep order and, when a man slipped the traces of civilized society, as Mudgett and his henchmen and henchwomen did, society was helpless. Eckert tells this story well.
   
   Why only two stars then? Because Eckert tells the story TOO well. 500 pages with a serial killer is too much. The first two thirds of the book is the worst. Every character is either evil or naive and as you read through Eckert's recounting of Mudgetts various crimes, cons and seductions, you feel that you have entered an unpleasant world without any moral center.
   
   When someone finally enters the book at page 350 or so who is both morally upright and intelligent, it is a breath of fresh air, like opening a window after breathing 300 plus pages of stale air.
   
   Perhaps this is all a reason to read this book, but be forewarned.



5. I guess I just didn't get this book. I know nothing about Herman Mudgett aside from this book, but it's "True Crime" label doesn't seem to be accurate. According to Eckert's story, Mudgett was only tried for (and would not confess) to one murder, and he didn't tell ANYONE things he had done. That means the entire book is completely, totally, and utterly fabricated. Eckert simply made up elaborate stories about people who just happened to know Mudgett and disappeared. No proof. Nothing. Not even a questionable confession from Mudgett himself. To further this, in the author's note, Eckert writes, "...the people mentioned are, in large measure, real people who lived the roles in which they are depicted." 'In large measure' the people you've just read about are real.
   
   Eckert writes pointless scenes i.e. telling what a victim does when alone *immediately* before dying, which I understand give the book a narrative flow, but they drag at times. Then there are some bizarre scenes that are something out of a romance novel. By this I mean parts where, for no reason, we go off on a tangent describing sex in depth. Step-by-step.
   
   I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone. It's an overly dramatized, romanticized version of Herman Mudgett's life. Not one alleged crime written about is based on proof or confession. I think Eckert would have been better off writing a work of pure fiction *based* on the life of Herman Mudgett, though that seems pretty much what he did here. Maybe next time he should label it as such.
   
   **EDIT**
   I have since read "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America." I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a factual account of Herman Mudgett's crimes. There is also a lot of information on the building of the World's Fair and about Chicago in general at this time.

5 comments about Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer.

1. Author Harold Schechter has made a successful career of writing books with titles like Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho, Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster, Fatal : The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer, Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer and so on, all about American serial killers. In Depraved: The Definitive True Story of H.H. Holmes, Whose Grotesque Crimes Shattered Turn-of-the-Century Chicago, he takes us to visit the bustling, largely newly-rebuilt Chicago of the 1880s, the trolling grounds of Herman Webster Mudgett, better known to history as Dr. H. H. Holmes.
   
   Holmes, like his contemporary Jack The Ripper became nefarious. Holmes is known as "America's First Serial Killer." Doubtless, he was not the first true American serial killer, but he was both grotesque and gothic, and became famous in part due to the reflected fame of Jack The Ripper. Like The Ripper, it could be said that he gave birth to the twentieth century.
   
   Holmes was exhaustively covered in the contemporary press. This highly cultured, well-dressed Victorian gentleman of impeccable manners and seemingly independent means was a con man, thief, bigamist, rapist and killer. Unsurprisingly, he was not a doctor, though he amassed and kept a collection of skeletons in his closet (literally) that he donated to medical schools around the Midwest.
   
   No one is really certain how many people Holmes killed. His lair, near downtown Chicago, was a large building with crenellated corner towers, known colloquially as "The Castle." Holmes turned The Castle into a true house of horrors with heremetically sealed gassing rooms, greased body chutes, hidden trapdoors and secret passages, and a large furnace in the basement for burning bodies. Chicago, being what it was at the time, attracted transients, ne'er-do-wells, working girls, itinerant laborers, immigrants, country folk relocating to the city, the unemployed seeking jobs, and pinch-penny tourists. Seeking cheap accommodations near the heart of the city, these people were attracted to the available space in The Castle. How many guests Holmes entertained over the years is anyone's guess, but for certain, far fewer checked out than had checked in.
   
   Holmes' murderous career might have continued indefinitely, had he not overreached himself in an insurance scam called the "Dead Man's Shuffle," in which a nameless corpse is presented in place of a still-living insured who then collects his own life insurance proceeds. Holmes became greedy. Not only did he kill the living insured, Benjamin Pietzel, and steal his share, he killed several of Pietzel's children. Mrs. Pietzel, hearing nothing from her family, but plenty of excuses from Holmes, went to the police. Although initially unwilling to prosecute the well-known and respected doctor, Holmes' own inconsistent alibis alerted the police that not all was well. Holmes was arrested for murder, The Castle was "tossed," and evidence of multiple murders came to light.
   
   It was after his arrest that Holmes wrote a lurid book, claiming that demonic possession was the cause of his crimes. These stories made him more famous. He even wrote undeliverable letters to The Ripper.
   
   Holmes was eventually executed, but his bizarre career was fodder for the tabloid press and a template for serial killers of the 20th Century.



2. I like this book. It gives a good review of the times. It is more of a Novel than an informative peice on H.H.Holmes like the Devil in the White City was. Of course that was a good book if there wasn't two books thrown together.
   So if you like to read to enjoy, this is a good book. If you are just looking for quick information like I was, it is a mediocre book.
   Enjoy



3. Harold Schechter is the very best true crime researcher. He digs-up info on 100+year old crimes and makes you care about the victims and criminals as if it happened yesterday.
   This book compelled me to visit Holmes grave in suburban Philadelphia. If you go,you'll need to get a cemetary map at the front office - its an unmarked grave, which adds to the creepy reputation of the murderer.



4. I have read two other books about this serial killer and they are much more detailed. There's a sense of not capturing the man here...suggest one read, "The Devil in White City," instead.



5. I'm sold on anything from this author! The details and story presentation makes the historical facts read like a fiction thriller.

5 comments about Devil's Disciple: The Deadly Dr. H.H. Holmes.

1. This book reads more like a novel than dry non-fiction. I was hooked at the opening paragraph and couldn't put it down. It's one thing to read about a person from an outsider's view, but this author uses Dr. Holmes's own words to allow the reader to delve into the mind of this serial killer and see him for the devil he is. The blood lust of this murderer, combined with his charm and intelligence, can only make a person feel fortunate they never met him. The story is enlightening, creepy, and an excellent read.



2. This was a very good book about the serial killer, Dr. H.H.Holmes.
   I had been looking for a book about this subject for a few months and finally decided to purchase this book. I wasn't disappointed. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the life of Dr. H.H.Holmes.



3. This was an excellent book. I found it hard to put down. Her research on the serial killer Dr. H.H.Holmes was well done and complete. The writing, photographs and drawings help the reader understand the unpredictability of the criminal mind and the person who committed the crime of the century.



4. H.H. Holmes was one of the worst serial killers I have ever heard of! He would kill ANYONE. Men, women, and children! He also killed in very gruesome ways. Gas, acid, fire, asphixiation, stranglation, etc. He even built a "castle" with all sorts of greased chutes, ovens, acid vats, etc to help out with his murderous urges.
   The book was good and informative, but could have been written in a more entertaining way. But, if you enjoy reading about real life monsters, I would recommend this book.



5. This is the third book I have read concerning the evil DR HH Holmes.I actually learned a few more things about this proliferic killer in this book.I would recommend this book for a quick easy read of the subject.

4 comments about The Torture Doctor.

1. Very well organized and written account of the life of Herman W. Mudgett, alias Dr. H. H. Holmes, who is credited with as many as 300 murders in the late 1800s. Most of those murders took place in his "torture castle" in Chicago. This book, in this reader's
   humble opinion, is better organized and livelier than Harold Schecter's later work, DEPRAVED.



2. The Devil in the white City does not have enough information, for any one who only wants to know about the Holmes Case. The best books to buy is Depraved and the Torture Doctor. I highly recommend these books!!!!!!!



3. Meet Herman Mudgett...This guy was seriously a nut job. And what was hard for me to grasp was the fact that he was so calm and collected in everyday life you never would have expected it. Completely jammed full of information on one of the first serial killers in the US (Late 1800's). It tells about the "Castle" he built with torture chambers and secret passages, his forms of torture and eventually murder. With single women coming to Chicago for jobs, and the Worlds Fair drawing so many people he had all the victims he could ever want. While completely gross, it is none-the-less, a riveting read. Highly recomended.



4. I was so excited to read the torture doctor because I read other reviews saying that he was so messed up and he tortured his victims and so on and so forth. What I found out when I got to the end of this book was that he was just another killer who murdered people. He did not torture them whatsoever. I was hoping to read a novel that would disgust me by the way he killed his victims but it didn't. This book is about the life of Herman W. Mudgett, alias Dr. H. H. Holmes and about his murder spree throughout his life. So, he killed people, mostly for their money, nothing more. He did this all in a calm manner which is not that strange considering most serial killers have that kind of personality. Everything in this book was boring and read like a dictionary. I was hoping to read about a man who tortured victims in his "castle" but this book was not like that at all. All it talked about was him and his history, and I was so bored by it. They didn't talk at all about the murders. They did mention some but none of them were at all that gruesome. He was just money hungry and that resulted in murder. I mean this guy was absolutely a nut case but I don't know why they call him the torture doctor when he did not even torture his victims. Maybe a little bit of torture went on but that doesn't give the right to label him as a the torture doctor. I was so bored I ended up skimming most of it until I got to interesting parts. I only recommend this book if you like to know the history of Herman W. Mudgett and his life. To tell you the truth most of this book was about the trial of Herman and the detectives looking for the two bodies of Mrs. Pitzles children. Don't expect to find anything that disturbing in this book, or any torture.

5 comments about The Beast of Chicago (Treasury of Victorian Murder (Graphic Novels)).

1. Rick Geary, The Beast of Chicago (ComicsLit, 2003)
   
   Man, this is a brilliant idea: a graphic novel about H. H. Holmes, who after decades of obscurity has returned to prominence thanks to The Devil in the White City. (Put aside that Allan W. Eckert attempted to revive the Holmes mystique in the thrilling The Scarlet Mansion twenty years before, one of the formative books of my childhood and youth, and one that desperately needs to come back into print at this particular point in history.) Think of all the fun stuff you could do with a serial killer graphic novel! Oh, wait, you don't have to, you can read From Hell. (And you should.) But, let's face it, we know a lot more about H. H. Holmes, and we suspect even more, and all the great floor plans for that fantastic house are simply begging for graphic novel treatment.
   
   So why is Geary's attempt at the subject matter a paltry, albeit quite gorgeous and wonderfully packaged, eighty pages long? I've no idea. (As a side light, this is the first graphic novel I've read recently where the people who catalog this stuff at the library shouldn't be fired outright for putting it in the YA section, which is rather ironic given its subject matter.) He could have spent eighty pages just on drawings of various aspects of the house, with all its twisting passageways, secret rooms, laboratories, and the like. Instead, the Castle itself gets about a fifth of that, with Holmes' exploits both before and after taking up considerably more room.
   
   His is worth checking out, because it is quite beautifully drawn and does shed light on a much-neglected chapter of American history, but it seems more like a skeletal outline than a finished product. Hopefully, there will be a revised, expanded edition somewhere down the line that does Holmes-- and his victims-- the justice they deserve. ***



2. After reading Erik Larson's non fictional/fictional Devil in the White City book which received critical praise I decided to look at Rick Geary's pictoral novel. Recommended for children in 8th grade i feel this book fails to deliver alot of the back ground information into the 1893 World Fair nor H.H. Holmes. Instead this book gives anyone interested into learning more about both topics alot of holes in the story making it hard to completly understand H.H. Holmes and his murderous rage he left on Chicago. For those who have background knowledge on this subject thi book acts as a quick refresher. Those looking to know the real story of H.H. Holmes I recommend reading The Devil in the White CIty.



3. As always, Rick Geary's art is stupendous, yet as other reviewers have noted, much more could have been done with this graphic novel. The bizarre nooks, crannies, and asphyxiation rooms of H.H.Holmes' castle would have made for a visual feast, but unfortunately Geary focuses on these matters relatively briefly, choosing instead to spend time following Holmes step-by-step as he abandons one wife and child after another and murders his way through most of the children in the Pietzel family. Still, a competent introduction to one of the more horrifying figures of 19th century America.



4. Artist/storyteller Geary does what might be called documentary graphics novels of the macabre and sometimes gory variety. Here he's concerned with Herman Mudgett of New Hampshire, who, under the name "Dr. H. H. Holmes" (among many others), cut a bloody swath through the crowds of visitors to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He's often regarded as "America's first serial killer" -- or at least the first we know about. He was married to (at least) three women at one time and often put them up in hotels near each other, he built a "murder factory" in the suburb of Englewood with secret rooms, drop-shafts, and a basement crematory, and he was responsible for the deaths of at least three dozen men, women, and children who can be identified. (The total was probably more like a hundred victims and may have been nearly twice that.) In a day of casual identification, and relatively slow travel and communications, Holmes was able to disappear people without much trouble, and his apparently winning personality convinced others to accept his explanations. Geary has a very precise black-and-white drawing style perfectly suited to the Victorian world of which he writes and his books -- and the research behind them -- are always fascinating.



5. I always enjoy Rick Geary's books and will continue to be a big fan. This one wasn't as good as some of the others, though; the story-telling falls flat towards the end. Is this because the story itself ends with a wimper? Could be, but there should be a better way of ending the story.

5 comments about The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America.

1. I did not receive the book I ordered. When I contacted Thrifit they responded very quickly and refunded my money immediately. Based on their customer service, I would give them another try.



2. This book alternated between the construction of the Chicago World's Fair and the story of H.H. Holmes a serial killer operating in Chicago at the same time.
   
   I was a lot more interested in the serial killer story line than the World's Fair construction story line. It brought back my high school days when I read true crime almost exclusively. Because the serial killer part was less than half of the book, I didn't feel like it was developed as it could have been.
   
   Architecture buffs will like the construction story line more than I did I'm sure. I had trouble keeping all of the different men who were involved straight and some of the more technical references went over my head.



3. I expected to like the serial killer aspect of this work the best. However, I found myself totally captivated instead by all the details of getting the World's Fair of 1893 underway in Chicago. The Ferris Wheel was invented for this fair as American engineers vied to come up with something at least as good as the Eiffel Tower, made for the Paris Expo (by Ferris of Pittsburg). Bill Cody had his Wild West show next door to the fair and it was wildly successful. The planning for the fair was incredible. The difficulties were enormous. Health problems affected the project on every level. On one hand, there were constant worries about protecting against typhus and cholera outbreaks. On another level, the men in their 50s and 60s in charge of the fair had medical problems which couldn't be fixed so they just suffered or, even worse, one of them would just die upon getting anything the least serious. One pivotal person was knocked out just by needing an appendectomy. It killed him. Although the city was covered in grime from coal and gas lamps, electricity was brought to the world's fair. That alone made everything look spectacular. I would love to get into a time capsule, see the fair for a day or two, get right back in and come back to modern life. This is because the fair is super intriguing and it would be quite an experience. However, we would find the privations of living back then unendurable for more than that. There is a serial killer with his own hotel adjacent to the World's Fair. He's pretty interesting but not really necessary to the outstanding detail of the World's Fair.



4. Set in the chaos of late nineteenth century Chicago, Devil in the White City is one of the most meticulously researched and engrossing books I've read in years. It's a page turner. I would be reading on a week night and look up to find it was 4 am. The book hones in on two fascinating events of the late 1800s: architect Daniel Burnham and the construction of the World's Fair, and the notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes. Chicago at the time was full of dualities, simultaneously a place of wild possibility and total despair. Burnham (and many others, including Olmsted, who designed Central Park) set out to achieve the impossible against all odds, creating a "white city" set against the backdrop of a dark and rough metropolis. Concurrently, Holmes preys on naive young women coming to the city seeking adventure and opportunity, constructing a "murder castle" in which he would slowly lure in his victims and murder them.
   
   Recommendation: This book encompasses so many interesting facts and subjects, it's got something for everyone. Highly recommended.



5. My wife's book club thought this was a winner. It cascaded to me after she read it. It is a gripping story for both men and women. Not a light read. It teaches lessons about about building things and human nature. After reading the book you will want to talk about it with friends or your spouse. Any city who builds for an event, World's Fair or the Olympics, can be put in perspective by this book. Times may have changed but human strengths and weaknesses are timeless.