Book Description

Four turn-of-the-century fiends whose “crimes, even by today’s standards, are still shocking—because they were committed by women” (Yorkshire Magazine). Their names may not be as familiar as such notorious female serial killers as Aileen Wuornos, Myra Hindley, Martha Beck, or Belle Gunness. But more than a century ago they made headlines and enthralled a bloodthirsty public. Now, venturing into the darkest side of human behavior, journalist Stephen Jakobi unearths the life and crimes of four of history’s most twisted women: Agnes Norman, a London servant girl whose victims of choice were children, including three infants. Most startling is that Agnes was a child herself—only fifteen-years-old. Louie Calvert, a prostitute condemned for only one murder. But her unique death cell autobiography revealed much more to her story. Kate Webster committed one of the sickest slayings of the Victorian era. Was she also responsible for the Thames Torso Murders which rivaled Jack the Ripper? Finally, the mysterious Mrs. Willis, an English “baby farmer” whose services included foster care, wet-nursing, and infanticide. Using original research based on family-owned primary sources and government files only recently made available, In the Mind of a Female Serial Killer delves into to the grisly psyche of these infamous murderesses.