How to Catch a Killer: Hunting and Capturing the World’s Most Notorious Serial Killers

Ramsland (The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds) surveys in this engrossing account the methods used to catch serial killers, retelling the capture of famous, and not so famous, murderers. Sometimes, it’s just dogged police work that results in the capture, as with the case of 10-year-old Grace Bud, who disappeared in 1928. It wasn’t until 1934 that police finally arrested Albert Fish, based on a handwriting sample. Not only had he killed and eaten the girl, he was a pedophile whose victims might have numbered 100. For the charismatic Ted Bundy, it was sheer luck when he was pulled over for a traffic stop in 1975 and police matched him to a series of rapes and murders. Ramsland also charts the way the science of catching killers has improved over time. In 1988, Colin Pitchford became the first person to be convicted of murder based on DNA evidence. And in 2005, Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer who operated for 20 years, was caught using digital forensics after he sent a floppy disk to the police and they were able to trace it back to the computer at the church where he worked. Ramsland writes knowledgeably in an accessible style. This is a welcome addition to the true crime shelf. Agent: John Silbersack, Bent Agency. (July)