The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans

Having provided many fascinating accounts of gruesome true crime in his excellent A Treasury of Victorian Murder series, Rick Geary skips ahead in time to the days of WWI and chronicles the unsolved rash of axe murders committed by the titular killer. As the Jazz Age dawned in rollicking New Orleans, an unknown assailant targeted immigrants, mostly of Italian origin, broke into their homes and brutally assaulted them, resulting in grievous injury and several corpses. Clues are sparse; the police are baffled; and the general populace is thrown into a vortex of paranoia. But what was the Axe-Man's motive? The answer to that question will likely never be revealed, but Geary presents all of this with his signature appealing art style and expected well-researched text, including a fun and evocative history of New Orleans from its founding through 1918. The result will appeal to true crime buffs and armchair detectives as well as Geary's already loyal audience. (Aug.)