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In the Mind of a Female Serial Killer
Walk into the darkest side of human behavior. In the Mind of a Female Serial Killer is a forensic investigation into the lives and crimes of four violent female serial killers who were active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using original research based on family owned primary sources and government files only recently made available to the public, Stephen Jakobi delves in to the grisly psyche of these infamous murderesses.
Meet Agnes Norman, the most successful known mass killer of her generation, yet who was only convicted of one attempted murder. With Louie Calvert, Stephen launches an investigation into the truth of her unique death cell autobiography, leading to her only known photograph and a third murder victim. Kate Webster committed one of the most notorious murders by a woman in the nineteenth century. Was she also responsible for the early Thames torso murders, a Victorian crime sensation which rivaled Jack the Ripper? Finally, meet the mysterious Mrs Willis, the baby farmer whose last ‘confession’ of her true identity proved false.
Meet Agnes Norman, the most successful known mass killer of her generation, yet who was only convicted of one attempted murder. With Louie Calvert, Stephen launches an investigation into the truth of her unique death cell autobiography, leading to her only known photograph and a third murder victim. Kate Webster committed one of the most notorious murders by a woman in the nineteenth century. Was she also responsible for the early Thames torso murders, a Victorian crime sensation which rivaled Jack the Ripper? Finally, meet the mysterious Mrs Willis, the baby farmer whose last ‘confession’ of her true identity proved false.
- GenresTrue CrimeCrimeHistory
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 5, 2018
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107 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 26, 2017
It is a very detailed and well expressed account into the crimes, conviction and execution of 4 female criminals who all paid the ultimate price for their behaviour.
I liked the effort and evidence of research undertaken to achieve what the title sets out to achieve. However, it is the lack of written accounts and eye witness accounts other than some court proceedings and home office 'death files' that restrict the responses to mere hypotheses and conjecture. Indeed, the many changes of name and relationships these women undertook, confuse the most studious researcher and I welcomed the honesty and openness of the author.
Stephen Jakobi is an authority on the judicial system and his details about court times and sentencing was appreciated and aided my reading experience. His speculation over the labels we would use today to describe such individuals and the criminality stereotypes was fascinating as was the brief passage on damage to the frontal lobe.
He seemed to refute the generalisations that crime is born out of social depravity but there are only 4 cases on which to support this view; but interesting none the less as was the scoring of the emotional disconnect with morality, social empathy and personal responsibility.
Great introduction to this aspect of interest for the general reader as well as the more academically minded. It is a book that takes us back into a time when capital punishment existed and executions had only recently been taken out of the public domain. The interest remains in modern TV programmes going into US penitentiaries to talk with convicted criminals.
The fact remains however that from this brief study many of these women were compulsive liars and unable to hold to the truth preferring to live in a partial fantasy world.
A short book worth spending some time with if you are interested in this subject area.
I liked the effort and evidence of research undertaken to achieve what the title sets out to achieve. However, it is the lack of written accounts and eye witness accounts other than some court proceedings and home office 'death files' that restrict the responses to mere hypotheses and conjecture. Indeed, the many changes of name and relationships these women undertook, confuse the most studious researcher and I welcomed the honesty and openness of the author.
Stephen Jakobi is an authority on the judicial system and his details about court times and sentencing was appreciated and aided my reading experience. His speculation over the labels we would use today to describe such individuals and the criminality stereotypes was fascinating as was the brief passage on damage to the frontal lobe.
He seemed to refute the generalisations that crime is born out of social depravity but there are only 4 cases on which to support this view; but interesting none the less as was the scoring of the emotional disconnect with morality, social empathy and personal responsibility.
Great introduction to this aspect of interest for the general reader as well as the more academically minded. It is a book that takes us back into a time when capital punishment existed and executions had only recently been taken out of the public domain. The interest remains in modern TV programmes going into US penitentiaries to talk with convicted criminals.
The fact remains however that from this brief study many of these women were compulsive liars and unable to hold to the truth preferring to live in a partial fantasy world.
A short book worth spending some time with if you are interested in this subject area.
October 28, 2018
In the Mind of a Female Serial Killer explores the lives of four women and the shocking crimes they committed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in England.
Jakobi's impeccably researched book examines the lives of four notorious female murderers:
*Agnes Norman, who murdered five children but was only convicted of one attempted murder.
*Louie Calvert, whose preferred crime was theft before she turned to murder.
*Kate Webster, who (after being fired) killed her employer and disposed of the body in a grisly way.
*"Mrs. Willis", who adopted babies—and killed them.
Consisting of only 147 pages, this true crime offering packs a great deal of information between its covers. Each section begins with a timeline listing notable dates in the women's lives, including the dates of their crimes. This is followed by brief chapters detailing what is known about the woman in question, followed by the chilling details of the murders committed. Facts about the arrests, trials, and sentences (all but one being death) were no less intriguing.
All in all, this proved to be a fascinating book. I definitely recommend it to true crime readers.
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Pen & Sword Books.
Jakobi's impeccably researched book examines the lives of four notorious female murderers:
*Agnes Norman, who murdered five children but was only convicted of one attempted murder.
*Louie Calvert, whose preferred crime was theft before she turned to murder.
*Kate Webster, who (after being fired) killed her employer and disposed of the body in a grisly way.
*"Mrs. Willis", who adopted babies—and killed them.
Consisting of only 147 pages, this true crime offering packs a great deal of information between its covers. Each section begins with a timeline listing notable dates in the women's lives, including the dates of their crimes. This is followed by brief chapters detailing what is known about the woman in question, followed by the chilling details of the murders committed. Facts about the arrests, trials, and sentences (all but one being death) were no less intriguing.
All in all, this proved to be a fascinating book. I definitely recommend it to true crime readers.
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Pen & Sword Books.
December 9, 2017
The histories of four female killers is discussed in this book.
The writing was incredibly dry / academic and there was no real analysis of the woman or the times that they lived in.
The epilogue was reasonably interesting.
The writing was incredibly dry / academic and there was no real analysis of the woman or the times that they lived in.
The epilogue was reasonably interesting.
March 6, 2020
Incomplete Histories of Female Killers
This book provides limited insight into the minds of serial female killers. The historical information is limited. The characterizations of the women as liars is based on courtroom statements and the criminal nature is based on arrest records, and courtroom proceedings. A reproduction of confession while awaiting execution is the basis of guilt for murder. Women awaiting execution may have seen confession as a way to get a reprieve from the death sentence. Then again, it may have been the admission of guilt. These reproductions of confession are presented with grammatical errors. The discussion of each case is mostly factual, with some conjecture added.
The actual view of the serial killer mind is presented in last part of book. It is limited and offers little insight into the motivations or drives compelling the women to commit their crimes.
This book is a shallow review of crimes that involved "serial" female killers. The psychological background presented is certainly much less than the title leads the reader to believe. I would not recommend this book to anyone seriously examining abnormal behavior.
This book provides limited insight into the minds of serial female killers. The historical information is limited. The characterizations of the women as liars is based on courtroom statements and the criminal nature is based on arrest records, and courtroom proceedings. A reproduction of confession while awaiting execution is the basis of guilt for murder. Women awaiting execution may have seen confession as a way to get a reprieve from the death sentence. Then again, it may have been the admission of guilt. These reproductions of confession are presented with grammatical errors. The discussion of each case is mostly factual, with some conjecture added.
The actual view of the serial killer mind is presented in last part of book. It is limited and offers little insight into the motivations or drives compelling the women to commit their crimes.
This book is a shallow review of crimes that involved "serial" female killers. The psychological background presented is certainly much less than the title leads the reader to believe. I would not recommend this book to anyone seriously examining abnormal behavior.
January 2, 2018
First read of 2018🎉 I went for In The Mind Of A Serial Killer by Stephen Jacobi.
This book is a forensic investigation into the lives and crimes of four violent female serial killers who were active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With the use of resources from family based research and recently made available government files, we delve into the psyche of these famous serial killers.
The book introduces us to Agnes Norman a famous mass murderer who was only convicted for one murder, Kate Webster who committed the most notorious murder in the nineteenth century and was responsible for the early Thames Torso murders. We also meet Louie Calvert and Mrs Willis. The book journeys into the bowels of each of these serial killers crimes. We read about testimonies, behaviour, written confessions, false statements and diaries. I enjoy reading into criminal psychology and this book have an insight into the crimes from the past. It is heavy on timeline dates and statistics but these are essential to the research and made for an interesting read.
This book is a forensic investigation into the lives and crimes of four violent female serial killers who were active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With the use of resources from family based research and recently made available government files, we delve into the psyche of these famous serial killers.
The book introduces us to Agnes Norman a famous mass murderer who was only convicted for one murder, Kate Webster who committed the most notorious murder in the nineteenth century and was responsible for the early Thames Torso murders. We also meet Louie Calvert and Mrs Willis. The book journeys into the bowels of each of these serial killers crimes. We read about testimonies, behaviour, written confessions, false statements and diaries. I enjoy reading into criminal psychology and this book have an insight into the crimes from the past. It is heavy on timeline dates and statistics but these are essential to the research and made for an interesting read.
June 24, 2019
It was an OK book. Difficult to follow at times due to the fact that the author took the original writings and put them in the book exactly as they were written, with all of the original mistakes in them and the poor writing - the women were not educated at that time in history.
I do see that the author tried his hardest to get all the details about these women, but so much was missing about them that it was difficult to piece together what really happened. There were no forensics at the time and no one really tried to find out why the women did what they did, so I don't know that "in the mind of" really fits. The book is more a chronology of what happened with some guesswork tossed in.
Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it? Not as a forensic book or even a psychological book. Maybe as a "hey, this is something that happened" book. But it won't stay on my Kindle as a "read again" book.
I do see that the author tried his hardest to get all the details about these women, but so much was missing about them that it was difficult to piece together what really happened. There were no forensics at the time and no one really tried to find out why the women did what they did, so I don't know that "in the mind of" really fits. The book is more a chronology of what happened with some guesswork tossed in.
Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it? Not as a forensic book or even a psychological book. Maybe as a "hey, this is something that happened" book. But it won't stay on my Kindle as a "read again" book.
September 5, 2022
I had really high expectations from this and sadly while Jakobi did present a lot of detail and investigative and court materials on each of the four women he covers, there is little in the way of insight and analysis beyond that which can be immediately gleaned from the documents themselves. I was hoping for more background information on each of the women, what led them to the situations they found themselves in, how societal views affected how they were treated, tried, and judged etc. Unfortunately what little there was came across as brief and quite shallow. A second or third going over of the information and more thorough analysis around each woman and an overall review of their cases might lift this work up a bit.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews