Killer Women

The Chilling Inside Story of Women Who Are Driven to Kill Killer Women are the most disturbing yet compelling of all criminals, representing the very darkest side of humanity and subverting the conventional view of women as the weaker sex. From Elizabeth Bathory, 'The Bloody Countess' whose vampire-like tendencies terrorised sixteenth-century Hungary, to the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley and the Florida Highway Killer Aileen Wuornos, these women transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity. Most chilling is the fact that many of their victims represent the most vulnerable in society: babies, the ill and infirm, and the elderly. In some cases their methods of disposing of the corpses fall nothing short of ingenious: meet Leonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio', who used the fat from her victims' bodies to make soap and teacakes to sell to unsuspecting customers. These killers' backgrounds, methods and their crimes are described in forensic and gripping detail. 50 terrifying cases of killer women are brought to life, including: Elizabeth Bathory 'The Bloody Countess' Amelia Dyer, The Reading Baby Farmer Jane Toppan, 'Jolly Jane' Juana Barraza, The Old Lady Killer Leonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio' Bonnie Parker, 'Bonnie & Clyde' Rosemary West Myra Hindley Aileen Wuornos

Women are killers too and throughout history there have been many, inside is a collection of these notorious killer women

In the bestselling Deadlier Than The Male and Female of the Species, Wensley Clarkson revealed the terrifying truth of the horror that women can inflict upon their men. Now he brings you a new volume that is more compelling than ever before. The horrifying truth of the world's most dangerous women is revealed in these pages. They come from every cross section of society, and whether young or old, rich or poor, they are united by one thing - murder. This is a collection of darkly readable tales, and if they make you feel uncomfortable then remember that they are made all the more sinister by the fact that each one is completely true...

In this fascinating book, Peter Vronsky exposes and investigates the phenomenon of women who kill—and the political, economic, social and sexual implications buried with each victim. How many of us are even remotely prepared to imagine our mothers, daughters, sisters or grandmothers as fiendish killers? For centuries we have been conditioned to think of serial murderers and psychopathic predators as men—with women registering low on our paranoia radar. Perhaps that’s why so many trusting husbands, lovers, family friends, and children have fallen prey to “the female monster.” From history’s earliest recorded cases of homicidal females to Irma Grese, the Nazi Beast of Belsen, from Britain’s notorious child-slayer Myra Hindley to ‘Honeymoon Killer’ Martha Beck to the sensational cult of Aileen Wournos—the first female serial killer-as-celebrity—to cult killers, homicidal missionaries, and our pop-culture fascination with the sexy femme fatale, Vronsky not only challenges our ordinary standards of good and evil but also defies our basic accepted perceptions of gender role and identity. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

John Martin Crawford is a serial sex killer, but his crimes have gone almost unnoticed in the media and he is currently serving out his three concurrent life sentences in virtual anonymity. In addition to a prior sentence for manslaughter, Crawford has been convicted of three murders, all of them women, all of them Native. He is also suspected in at least three other murders or mysterious disappearances of aboriginal women. His name should be as notorious as those of Paul Bernardo and Charles Ng, yet few people have heard of him. Author Warren Goulding raises disturbing questions about racism in both the police force and the media treatment of John Crawford and his victims. He lays bare the assumptions and attitudes that resulted not only in Crawford's obscurity, but the public dismissal of the deaths of Mary Jane Serloin, Shelley Napope, Eva Taysup, and Calinda Waterhen. The result is a gripping and disquieting book that questions the value a predominantly white society places on aboriginal lives.

The surprising true story of Mexico’s hunt, arrest, and conviction of its first female serial killer For three years, amid widespread public outrage, police in Mexico City struggled to uncover the identity of the killer responsible for the ghastly deaths of forty elderly women, many of whom had been strangled in their homes with a stethoscope by someone posing as a government nurse. When Juana Barraza Samperio, a female professional wrestler known as la Dama del Silencio (the Lady of Silence), was arrested—and eventually sentenced to 759 years in prison—for her crimes as the Mataviejitas (the little old lady killer), her case disrupted traditional narratives about gender, criminality, and victimhood in the popular and criminological imagination. Marshaling ten years of research, and one of the only interviews that Juana Barraza Samperio has given while in prison, Susana Vargas Cervantes deconstructs this uniquely provocative story. She focuses, in particular, on the complex, gendered aspects of the case, asking: Who is a killer? Barraza—with her “manly” features and strength, her career as a masked wrestler in lucha libre, and her violent crimes—is presented, here, as a study in gender deviance, a disruption of what scholars call mexicanidad, or the masculine notion of what it means to be Mexican. Cervantes also challenges our conception of victimhood—specifically, who “counts” as a victim. The Little Old Lady Killer presents a fascinating analysis of what serial killing—often considered “killing for the pleasure of killing”—represents to us.

Whether a side-street skirmish or an all-out war, fight scenes bring action to the pages of every kind of fiction. But a poorly done or unbelievable fight scene can ruin a great book in an instant. In Fight Write you'll learn practical tips, terminology, and the science behind crafting realistic fight scenes for your fiction. Broken up into "Rounds," trained fighter and writer Carla Hoch guides you through the many factors you'll need to consider when developing battles and brawls. • In Round 1, you will consider how the Who, When, Where, and Why questions affect what type of fight scene you want to craft. • Round 2 delves into the human factors of biology (think fight or flight and adrenaline) and psychology (aggression and response to injuring or killing another person). • Round 3 explores different fighting styles that are appropriate for different situations: How would a character fight from a prone position versus being attacked in the street? What is the vocabulary used to describe these styles? • Round 4 considers weaponry and will guide you to select the best weapon for your characters, including nontraditional weapons of opportunity, while also thinking about the nitty-gritty details of using them. • In Round 5, you'll learn how to accurately describe realistic injuries sustained from the fights and certain weapons, and what kind of injuries will kill a character or render them unable to fight further. By taking into account where your character is in the world, when in history the fight is happening, what the character's motivation for fighting is, and much more, you'll be able write fight scenes unique to your plot and characters, all while satisfying your reader's discerning eye.

As the saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The phrase is never more true for the women covered in this book, all of whom harbour a lust for blood and the willingness to kill. Read about the horrific true tale of Karla Homolka, a dangerous manipulator who helped her husband rape and kill numerous young girls - one of them being her younger sister. There's also the peculiar yet disturbing case of Nannie Doss, the seemingly sweet older woman who had a penchant for snuffing out her husbands as well as her own children. Then there's the chilling case of Stephanie Lazarus, a police officer who not only managed to keep her murderous secret hidden for over two decades, but also managed to become a high-ranking police officer. These, plus five more cases of women who kill are collated in this book, shedding light on a fascinating category of true crime. While female killers may be considered rare, when they do strike, their cunning and callousness make their crimes all the more shocking. Psychopathy and violence are categories often reserved for men, but as this book will show you, women can be just as evil as their male counterparts.