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The Dark Fountain
Bible-toting Earle Leonard Nelson fancied himself a man of mission. The Lamb of God, in fact, divinely empowered to cleanse the world of sin. But the priesthood that carried him across the country from San Francisco to Buffalo and ultimately into Canada during the 1920s assumed grisly proportions—the brutal strangling and violation of twenty-two helpless and unsuspecting women. Landladies mostly, but each, in Nelson's deranged mind, an incarnation of the Bibilical harlots he both loathed and coveted.
Earle Leonard Nelson actually lived. And killed. In The Dark Fountain, famed crime historian Jay Robert Nash tells how and why with chilling realism.
Beginning with Nelson's sadistic marriage to a frightened San Francisco schoolteacher, Nash's fictionalized chronicle traces the path of Nelson's bloodlust to its riveting conclusion. His story illuminates not only the dark drives that compel the psychopath to slaughter, but also their effect on a relatively innocent America. While speakeasies, flappers and floozies were staples of the Jazz Age, mass murder was not, and Nelson's rampage shocked and confused an entire nation.
Nash captures this sense of national outrage in his vivid portrait of Sergeant John Davis, the detective who stalks Nelson with an obsessiveness equal to that of his prey. Infuriated by Nelson's uncanny ability to escape apprehension, Davis also suffers from the impotence of the outmoded investigative techniques characteristic of the period which Nash describes in fascinating detail.
The Dark Fountain completely displays the touch of a master storyteller. Whether mapping the terrible geography of Nelson's disordered mind or the progress of his murderous odyssey, Jay Robert Nash expertly blends horror, suspense and the bizarre to create an atmosphere both repellent and unbearably intriguing.
Earle Leonard Nelson actually lived. And killed. In The Dark Fountain, famed crime historian Jay Robert Nash tells how and why with chilling realism.
Beginning with Nelson's sadistic marriage to a frightened San Francisco schoolteacher, Nash's fictionalized chronicle traces the path of Nelson's bloodlust to its riveting conclusion. His story illuminates not only the dark drives that compel the psychopath to slaughter, but also their effect on a relatively innocent America. While speakeasies, flappers and floozies were staples of the Jazz Age, mass murder was not, and Nelson's rampage shocked and confused an entire nation.
Nash captures this sense of national outrage in his vivid portrait of Sergeant John Davis, the detective who stalks Nelson with an obsessiveness equal to that of his prey. Infuriated by Nelson's uncanny ability to escape apprehension, Davis also suffers from the impotence of the outmoded investigative techniques characteristic of the period which Nash describes in fascinating detail.
The Dark Fountain completely displays the touch of a master storyteller. Whether mapping the terrible geography of Nelson's disordered mind or the progress of his murderous odyssey, Jay Robert Nash expertly blends horror, suspense and the bizarre to create an atmosphere both repellent and unbearably intriguing.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 3, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2016
Nash takes on the story of serial landlady strangler and Bible-thumper, Earle Leonard Nelson. He really fills out the story nicely for you and gives you a flavor of the times the people lived in. Very well done.
January 7, 2019
Novelized true crime story of serial killer Earle Leonard Nelson who conducted his twisted reign of terror in the 1920s. Suffering a head injury as a child and raised by a religious fanatic, Nelson's principal targets were landladies; he would rent a room and almost immediately murder them, stealing their jewelry and oh yeah, engage in necrophilia. His known crimes occurred in a relatively brief span and ranged over the midwestern/western US and Canada.
Nash's book portrays the diligence and frustration of a fictional detective who begins pursuing Leonard in San Francisco and finally to Winnipeg, Canada, where Leonard is finally caught. The detective seeks to employ relatively unknown and mostly unused scientific methods to identify and track Leonard. The detective alienates his bosses and colleagues due to his tenacity and scientific approach. Adding to his woes are his fiancée's family, who do not like the idea of their daughter marrying a policeman.
This is a pursuit story, of course, and Nash does an excellent job of maintaining the tension and the two principal characters are well drawn. There is a fair amount of interior monologue provided for Leonard, but this is not overdone. I was surprised that the book was this good, having read some of Nash's sloppy and somewhat disreputable non-fiction efforts.
People cashing checks want us to believe that criminal profiling is a modern and highly reliable crime solving technique (somebody actually takes credit for inventing this "science"), but the efforts of the detective in Nash's 1982 book show that trying to understand and identify a criminal based upon their behavioral peculiarities was very likely a technique that could be employed by anyone pursuing a serial criminal (in any era) if the detective chooses to look carefully at the evidence. What seems very realistic in this book and so-called real life is that this character / behavioral analysis can go only so far. Leonard is captured because he commits a blunder that neither he nor his captors could possibly foresee.
In sum, a very enjoyable page turner and an interesting look at the law enforcement culture of the times.
Nash's book portrays the diligence and frustration of a fictional detective who begins pursuing Leonard in San Francisco and finally to Winnipeg, Canada, where Leonard is finally caught. The detective seeks to employ relatively unknown and mostly unused scientific methods to identify and track Leonard. The detective alienates his bosses and colleagues due to his tenacity and scientific approach. Adding to his woes are his fiancée's family, who do not like the idea of their daughter marrying a policeman.
This is a pursuit story, of course, and Nash does an excellent job of maintaining the tension and the two principal characters are well drawn. There is a fair amount of interior monologue provided for Leonard, but this is not overdone. I was surprised that the book was this good, having read some of Nash's sloppy and somewhat disreputable non-fiction efforts.
People cashing checks want us to believe that criminal profiling is a modern and highly reliable crime solving technique (somebody actually takes credit for inventing this "science"), but the efforts of the detective in Nash's 1982 book show that trying to understand and identify a criminal based upon their behavioral peculiarities was very likely a technique that could be employed by anyone pursuing a serial criminal (in any era) if the detective chooses to look carefully at the evidence. What seems very realistic in this book and so-called real life is that this character / behavioral analysis can go only so far. Leonard is captured because he commits a blunder that neither he nor his captors could possibly foresee.
In sum, a very enjoyable page turner and an interesting look at the law enforcement culture of the times.
July 7, 2026
Very well written crime novel.
JRN sets you in Industrial Revolution era San Fransicso where a sadistic killer is brutally murdering boarding house landlords.
If you're into noir, model-Ts, and homicidal maniacs I recommend a read.
JRN sets you in Industrial Revolution era San Fransicso where a sadistic killer is brutally murdering boarding house landlords.
If you're into noir, model-Ts, and homicidal maniacs I recommend a read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews