The Mammoth Book of Women Who Kill

by Richard Glyn Jones (Editor)

A grisly tour of female killers introduces readers to Ma Barker, Lizzie Borden, Myra Hindley, Pauline Parker, and the Roman empress Agrippa, among many other famous and infamous murderers. Original.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History

512 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since this is a collection by various authors, it's a foregone conclusion that the style and quality would be spotty. In this case, however, the writing is almost uniformly bad, with most of the writers favoring a pulpy, overblown style that needlessly sensationalizes salacious detail. The editing is worse, with stories seemingly slapped together with no rhyme or reason. A chronological arrangement would have helped, since many of the articles give no hint to the time period until about halfway through (or more) and even then, the reader is often left to infer the general time period from details. In one area this book really does deliver, however: it really is a mammoth collection of crime stories.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is trying so hard to be scandalous~ that it's hilarious. Lol

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could do half-starts, I would go 3.5 here. This looks like a typical, unimpressive anthology of homicidal criminals. However, this contains better quality writing and centuries spanning rogues' gallery of atypical selections. Glyn Jones is actually the compiler of a the work of several writers which includes participants like J. Edgar Hoover as well and mostly accomplished true crime writers such as Ellery Queen, Rupert Furneaux, and Edward Lea. While the cover features two of the obvious, Family Feud answers for "killer women", Aileen Wuornos and Myra Hindley, this book covers from antiquity (Aggripina) to recent times with a lot of 19th Century and early 20th century black widows, serial infanticides, poisoners, and an axe murderess (Kate Webster) that is not (also included) Lizzy Borden. There are also some of the lonely hearts killers reversing the usual trend, such as Romanian serial killer Vera Renczi and her 35 zinc coffins, arranged for review, of her two husbands, multiple lovers, and her son with arsenic during the 1920s. Also, stretching back from the modern times to antiquity is the curious case of The Cult of Yerba Buena.

[Jeanine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly a mammoth book! It's filled with short chapters for each of the murderess women. Its a fascinating read starting with Agrippa, Nero's mother and ending with Aileen Wuornos.

[kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite difficult to follow as there was no timeline or order and I found that it was poorly written in parts.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of true crime writing, does what it says on the tin. (The headers tell me it was originally published as The Mammoth Book of Women Who Kill.) Glyn Jones has made no effort to find the most up-to-date--or most accurate--versions, so this really shouldn't be relied on as a source. The writing ranges from F. Tennyson Jesse, who is a treasure, to the pedestrian, to the overwrought Victorian. Glyn Jones himself contributed the essay on Rosemary West and proved that this would be a better collection if he'd done all the writing himself.

Interesting for breadth (Agrippina to Aileen Wuornos), a variety of murderers I had never heard of (Zeo Zoe Wilkins, Cordelia Botkin, Louise Vermilya), and the occasional museum piece (J. Edgar Hoover's version of Ma Barker), but extremely uneven in quality and overall disappointing.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to believe that this isn't fiction but based on fact. Inside you'll find the portraits of 48 women and what crimes they committed. Agrippina, Ma Barker, Elizabeth Bathory, Lizzie Borden, Elizabeth Brownrig, the notorious "Kommandeuse" of Buchenwald Ilse Koch and many more you never might have heard of. What do they have in common? Their incredible crimes made a lasting impression in the history of mankind. Extremely exciting collection and shocking stories. Missed pictures of the women or illustrations though. Highly recommended!

[Hannah Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A subject I am really interested in, I have read several books about female serial killers, this one is easy to read, divided into small chapters about each woman and very informative.

Most of these women are poisoners, some such as Lizzie Borden are violent killers, overall each chapter gives a short summary of their crimes and their punishment.

Informative, interesting and macabre, a perfect Halloween read 🎃

[Courtney Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these stories are truly shocking and disturbing. And I watch/read true crime daily.

[Ellie]

I DNFed this

[Ana Valadas · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, but some of the stories were written in a confusing way. They could have put pictures of the assassins.

[Sandy Carmichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at women killers thru the centuries/history. A little tedious at times but informative.

[Christina Getty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like there could have been more details about each criminal. The passages were very condensed and brief.

[CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps if the copy I picked up had still had the dust jacket, or found it under the original/ full title of The Mammoth Book of Women Who Kill, instead of just Women Who Kill, I would have realized more the lurid/ cheap nature of the book. The introduction seems to aim at seriousness and credibility, but the quality of writing in the various chapters was all over the map. A few were well-written, intelligent, and obviously well-researched and well-documented. Some were absolutely, dreadfully poorly written. I saw my first usage of "bamboozled" in a "serious" piece of writing. The first two sections were some of the most poorly written in the book, and I almost stopped reading the book after them.
But I'm glad, overall, that I pushed on through. Despite any dreadful quality of writing, and some odd selections of "Women Who Kill" (The "Vampire of Kansas City" never actually killed anyone, if I read the story correctly.), the book was full of a lot of information. I learned more about criminal justice practices of centuries past (way too much torture and class-partial enforcement). Some of the stories were absolutely horrible and disturbing and I needed to take a break after reading them (Rosemary West, for example, and Elisabeth, Countess Bathory). Others were more tragic, such as the woman who killed her Egyptian husband, seemingly in self defense. I was reminded yet again of how often women of previous times were victims of their circumstances. Not that murder is a good answer to almost any problem--but some of the marital conditions some of the women faced were terrible.
So, overall, interesting, although frustratingly executed (haha, no pun intended). And yes, to the one of the other reviewers on here, it did harsh my vibe a bit at times. :)

[Susannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from a friend and read it rather quickly...but then I started having murderous nightmares and I threw it in a garbage can in a New York Subway Station. Evil Book be Gone!!

It was interesting to read some of the 1,000 pages on hundreds of murdering women, from Lady Dracula to the modern day moors murderer, but it started to harsh my positive vibe dude.

[Laura Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The switching of authors from chapter to chapter made this book impossible for me to finish. Plus the chapters jumped from woman to woman without any reason or rhyme. Some kind of order was needed to make since of the book. The information in each chapter was good and I enjoyed quiet a few of the chapters but together the book just did not work for me. Did not finish the book.

[Dumpster Baby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuckin Awesome! Myra Hindley and Elisabeth Countess Bathory are my heros. I may just name my first born daughter Countess......

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It includes women all throughout history. Very interesting.