Unsolved Murders

by Emily G. Thompson

This true crime book makes you the detective, investigating some of the most infamous unsolved cases of the 20th and 21st centuries.

MURDERS THAT DEFY DETECTION.

Discover the stories behind some of the most infamous unsolved murders of the last century, including the Black Dahlia, the Zodiac Killer and the JonBen�t Ramsey case.

Detailing essential evidence.
Profiling key suspects.
Tracking police investigations.

Sorting facts from speculation.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

224 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2020

About the author

Emily G. Thompson is an author and freelance writer based in Northern Ireland.

Her first book, Unsolved Child Murders, was published by McFarland in 2017, followed by three more books published by Dorling Kindersley: Unsolved Murders: True Crime Cases Uncovered, in 2019, Cults Uncovered: True Stories of Mind Control and Murder, in 2020, and Mysteries Uncovered: True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained, in 2020.

Thompson is also the founder of the true crime website and award-winning podcast, Morbidology, which won the "Best International" podcast at the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in January 2022. The weekly true crime show takes a look at cases from all across the world, and highlights systemic failures in various systems.

In addition to writing for her own website and podcast, Thompson is a freelance writer for Crime + Investigation, Law & Crime, A&E Network and other true crime podcasts.

Reviews

[Joshua Jonah · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Written review pending

[Hew La France · Rating 5 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. If you're looking for something that goes super in-depth into these cases, this book isnt it.

What the authors of this book have done is taken 21 interesting, high-profile unsolved murders and present the reader with a 6-7 page write-up on each. They present how the victim was discovered, who some of the suspects were at the time, and mention other potential suspects hypothesized by other authors who have researched and written an entire book on that specific case.

which, I think drives home what this book is: a taste-testing menu which can point you in the direction of a book which goes into greater detail on a case, if that specific case interested you enough. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and would strongly recommend.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a Criminology major and find a lot of interest in reading true crime books. By far this is one of the most interesting reads. I was aware of many of these cases before due to listening to podcasts and Netflix documentaries but I was amazed at how much detail the authors put into writing these cases out and providing details on the cases and suspects. The pictures were just an added bonus!

[Leslie Jonsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent look at unsolved murders.

[Bill reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Villisca, Iowa is up first and I had read The Man from the Train which dealt with this still unsolved case from 1912. Bill James believed that a German immigrant named Paul Mueller was responsible for this crime and several other ax murders.
William Desmond Taylor was a successful film director who was shot dead in 1922. The list of suspects is a long one. An actress confessed to a priest on her deathbed but we will never know who killed the man.
The Cleveland Torso Murderer is one of the better stories and I knew of it from a book on Eliot Ness who was unable to solve the case. Ness was originally hired to cleanup corruption in Cleveland and did so but regretted never finding the Torso Murderer.
The Black Dahlia case remains an open one with endless speculations. Elizabeth Short was an aspiring actress whose severed body was discovered in an L. A. park in 1947. A book by Steve Hodel, Black Dahlia Avenger is a good one. The retired detective gives evidence that his father, a doctor, murdered Elizabeth.
Dr. Sam Sheppard was convicted of killing his wife and later freed. The story inspired the TV series The Fugitive and later a film of the same name. The most likely suspect was Richard Eberling whose DNA matched a bloodstain at the Sheppard house.
The Zodiac Killer taunted the police with cryptic messages and we have another case with a number of possible suspects. I was not impressed with the Graysmith book.
Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey are words that disgust me. The mothers and fathers who exploit their children all belong in prison. Seeing young children preening across a stage in heavy makeup would not be tolerated by any decent society. The girl was killed in 1995 and it has only led to numerous conspiracy theories.
The book ends with the Gilgo Beach murders. Lost Girls by Robert Kolker is referenced and all of the suspects he named had nothing to do with the deaths. Rex Heuermann was captured and is presently awaiting trial in New York.
Unsolved Murders is a quick read and a barely passable diversion.

[Georgi_Lvs_Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books has made my top 10 of 2021!

There are 21 cases, 20 of those provided with pictures (some quite graphic) and each case around 10 pages.

This book has now extended my TBR. I tabbed the cases that I found most interesting and I plan to do some research and see if I can read any others books on them.

The ones that I’m interested to learn more about are…

The Villisca Axe Murders 1912
The Hinterkaifeck Murders 1922
The Black Dahlia Murder 1947
The Lake Bodom Murders 1960
The Jonbenet Ramsey Murder 1996
The Kathleen Peterson Murder 2001 (this is a tv series on Netflix)

[Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The majority of these unsolved murders are pretty well known but regardless Emily G. Thompson's book is a good highlight (for lack of a better word) reel.
I really enjoyed the Black Dahlia chapter and I learned a few tidbits I wasn't aware of.
I will be looking forward to reading more of Ms. Thompson's books.

[Rachel Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading true crime novels so when I saw this in my local bookstore I had to have it! So many unsolved murders to read about and wondering who do it. I love these types of books because they always have me trying to look up every last detail online because I need to know more! Unfortunately I could only give this book 3 stars. Even though every story was gripping I just felt like they could’ve had more information to give us (yes I know it is called ‘unsolved’ murders). But still I found it an interesting read.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written collection of unsolved murder cases throughout the world. I just didn't find this book really interesting because the cases are all so high profile they have all been extensively covered in other books, podcasts and Netflix documentaries. This book does a good job of briefly covering a large handful of popular unsolved cases, going into the most detail with potential suspects for each case.

[Chloe Hollis]

Quite enjoyed this book.
I have a love for true crime, watching crime shows and reading crime books so I liked reading this. Very interesting with all the unsolved murders out there, and when they started. Also can’t believe there’s such monsters out there that would do some of these things described in the book to other people

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short summaries covering a variety of different unsolved cases. Not too information heavy, so fairly easy to read. As long as you aren’t expecting any in-depth analysis this book is great for what it is, i.e a simple presentation of educational recounts of homicides.

[Rob Cruickshanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

It doesn’t really shed much light on events, but if you’re just starting your murder interest journey, you may find it interesting

[David Blevins]

An interesting book I was engrossed in it. particularly enjoyed the 1912 axe murders the Black Dahlia Zodiac Killer Jill Dando and Long Island Murders

[Taylor Batstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Not completely in depth into the murders but just enough to satisfy. Definitely want to read more books like this one.

[Skelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voting only 4 stars, due to a whole page of mistake.
Other than that, it was good.
Learning about things I didn’t originally.

[Rhiannon Peace · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many unsolved murders that I haven't heard of. It's a book that you want to keep reading and never put down

[Haley Grannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was an okay book. Found it at Five Below. No information I didn’t already know.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book to read, an insight to some of the well known unsolved murders.

[hi · Rating 4 out of 5]

informative but bad format

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
Actually, this had quite a few cases I don't typically read about when I read True Crime.
Well written and a fast read.

[Tanya Hunter-Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easy read for me. I love anything related to True Crime so having a book made up of different cases was really easy for me to digest. This book details cases from Tupac and Biggie, to Jonbenet Ramsay to The Zodiac Killer and includes unsolved murders from across the globe. The writing is clear and concise and whilst a lot of these are well known cases, I enjoyed reading the detailed summary of each. I also have ‘Cults Uncovered’ written by the same authors on my bookshelf and after reading this title, I’m looking forward to giving that one a go soon.

[Georgie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unearthing some of the most famous unsolved crime cases. We find out about the cases of the Zodiac Killer, the murder of Black Dahlia, the murder of Jon-Benet Ramsey, the murder of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the murder of Jill Dando, and many more.

This book does what it says on the tin. We are given an insight into a variety of unsolved crime cases which have taken place over the last century. Each case is given a few pages, whereby the case is described, suspects are named, and theories are provided. It is a good reference book if you are wanting to read a short summary of a case. Being a prospective forensic psychology master’s student, I just prefer to have more depth rather than details being skimmed over.

I did like how Hunt and Thompson discussed global cases from a variety of countries, as social media is typically dominated by US and UK cases. There were therefore quite a few cases I was unaware of and were interesting to read about.

[Megan Wintrip · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an okay book apart from some spelling mistakes and some areas there weren't spaces before starting the next word. I would probably recommend it to someone who was just starting to get interested in true crime. I feel like it's like a starter book for a newbie rather than someone like me who is really interested in true crime. I don't like the layout of the book; however I do appreciate that there were pictures added. Although the pictures from the case stories that you talk about in the book are clumped together and mixed up in the middle of case stories. For example you started a case story about Black Dahlia and you threw in pictures from the past 8 case stories which seemed a bit weird. I would have put the pictures with the correct cases in each case rather than throwing them in there. I also I didn't like that you added websites after the case it makes it feel like a dissertation. I don't think that is needed as it makes the books seem like a Wikipedia link.