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Cover image for Eliot Ness and the mad butcher : hunting America's deadliest unidentified serial killer at the dawn of modern criminology
Title:
Eliot Ness and the mad butcher : hunting America's deadliest unidentified serial killer at the dawn of modern criminology
Summary:
In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter–fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history–arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness's greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz–the acclaimed writing team behind Scarface and the Untouchable–uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research. Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the “Untouchables,” which helped put Chicago’s Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition," which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a woman’s body began washing up on the Lake Erie shore–first her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then ten, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways. As Ness zeroed in on a suspect-–a doctor tied to a prominent political family--powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monster--by turns horror story, political drama, and detective thriller--Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.-- Amazon.com.
Edition:
First edition.
Physical Description:
xii, 558 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Personal Subject:
Geographic Term:
Publisher:
HarperCollins,
Publication Date:
2020
ISBN:
9780062881977

9780062881984
Publication Information:
New York, NY : HarperCollins, [2020]
Call Number:
364.152 COLLINS
Holds: Copies: