Killer Women: Chilling, Dark and Gripping True Crime Stories of Women Who Kill

by Nigel Cawthorne

The Chilling Inside Story of Women Who Are Driven to Kill Killer Women are the most disturbing yet compelling of all criminals, representing the very darkest side of humanity and subverting the conventional view of women as the weaker sex. From Elizabeth Bathory, 'The Bloody Countess' whose vampire-like tendencies terrorised sixteenth-century Hungary, to the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley and the Florida Highway Killer Aileen Wuornos, these women transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity. Most chilling is the fact that many of their victims represent the most vulnerable in babies, the ill and infirm, and the elderly. In some cases their methods of disposing of the corpses fall nothing short of meet Leonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio', who used the fat from her victims' bodies to make soap and teacakes to sell to unsuspecting customers. These killers' backgrounds, methods and their crimes are described in forensic and gripping detail.50 terrifying cases of killer women are brought to life, Elizabeth Bathory 'The Bloody Countess'Amelia Dyer, The Reading Baby FarmerJane Toppan, 'Jolly Jane'Juana Barraza, The Old Lady KillerLeonarda Cianciulli, 'The Soap-Maker of Correggio'Bonnie Parker, 'Bonnie & Clyde'Rosemary WestMyra HindleyAileen Wuornos

Genres: True Crime

240 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 20, 2018

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great for information although I felt that quite a few big cases were missing - such as Rose West.

One point I did like was that while there were little windows of related information separate from the rest of the chapter the other information wasn't interrupted midsentence for the sections. I hate when non-fiction books do that!

However I can say one thing with certainty - fire the editor. It's an author's job to write it and an editor's job to edit, and yet this was an absolute mess in terms of editing.

[Syeda Sumayya Tariq · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to read something like this, true crime focused on women (not just as victims!), and I was so excited to get into this one and for some reason I thought this would include photos too, lol!

This is like an encyclopedia of women who were convicted of murders (and not always rightly! 😪) from the earliest record available till very recently. Quite detailed but I found it all very dry and repetitive. Also, no photos! 😬

I dnfd it half way through, might pick it up later. I kinda found all these murderous accounts more sad than anything else. There's a very common pattern that turned all these women into killers which could have been easily avoided in most cases really!

"But perhaps the female of the species is deadlier than the male".

[Michelle’s Library]

The Alphabet Project: K | Reading Vlog | Booktube
https://youtu.be/uYtDrsn11X4

[Marilyn Sue Michel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The material deserves better writing. It appears that Cawthorne did his own editing, and not a good job of it. He makes no effort to psychoanalyze his subjects, little interest in motivation. Sometimes he recognizes childhood abuse, sometimes he avoids it. Just because Joanna Dennehy lied about the cause of her prison sentence, doesn't mean she was lying about being sexually abused by her father commencing age six.

[Ebb · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit repetitive. If the author had taken out half the poison/arsenic cases and fleshed out the other types of murders this would have been a more engaging read.

[Lily Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great concept but very repetitive. Too many stories about arsenic, author could have take many of them out

[Kathryn Minn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, however, I thought that it would have been even better (I would have given it another star) if there was a little bit more information on each of the women. I found that even though there are 50 different chapters on 50 seperate women killers, there wasn't much information on each of them. As I enjoy true-crime and have read rather a lot of different books on the subjects of killers, even women killers, I know that in some of the chapters there could have been some more detail on the killers. Overall though it was a well written book which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in true-crime. I've found that there aren't many books on women killers so this one was a good addition to the few I have found.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the whole a good book with a fair bit of information given in small chapters. There could be a follow up book with some more of the high profile killers mentioned. Some of the chapters could have been a little more detailed and the additional info boxes would have been better at the end of each chapter rather than cutting up the flow of the chapter.

[Jessica Huntley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Only my second true crime book so I'm no expert. Although the stories were horrifying and interesting it was a bit "they did this" and "then did this". As it's non fiction I won't go into more detail.

[Danial Qazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beware of your food.

[Tori Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Round up to 3.5

[Robyn Heigold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has a few spelling and grammar mistakes
Ends very suddenly with no real conclusion

[Holly Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite gruesome
Didn’t really like that it was only a few pages about the stories would of been interested in reading more about the situations and what made them do it

[Megan Wintrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it had some women in it that I hadn't heard of. Lots of women have been using poison to kill their victims which is kind of common. It was a great read.