Depraved: The Shocking True Story of America's First Serial Killer

Herman Mudgett, born in New Hampshire in 1860, purportedly achieved worldwide notoriety as the serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes. He certainly made an impression in Chicago, where he built a ``castle'' filled with soundproof rooms, stairways that went nowhere and chutes leading to huge vats in the basement. How many women died there is unknown. Ironically, a case of insurance fraud that was no fraud at all resulted in Holmes's arrest, conviction and hanging. He had talked his aide, Ben Pitezel, into getting an insurance policy on his own life, assuring Pitezel that they could render a cadaver unidentifiable, pass it off as Pitezel and collect $10,000. Then he killed Pitezel and, subsequently, three of his five children. Schechter ( Deviant ) has done a masterful job of reconstructing Holmes's killing spree and detailing the detective work that led to his apprehension. Illustrations not seen by PW . (Sept.)