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Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology | Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz
6 posts | 6 read | 4 to read
In the spirit of Devil in the White City comes a true detective tale of the highest standard: the haunting story of Eliot Ness's forgotten final casehis years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run," a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the Great Depression, and tormented Ness to his dying breath. "A careening read thats full of surprises. ... Collins and Schwartz deliver a nimble, taut tale. More importantly, they offer a portrait of a complex crime fighter who believed in science and reason at a time when most officers smacked suspects around with a blackjack, a portrait set against a backdrop of ethnic and class collisions, labor unrest, and political intrigue." Kirkus Reviews In 1934, the nations most legendary crime-fighterfresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American historyarrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness's greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartzthe acclaimed writing team behind Scarface and the Untouchableuncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research. Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the Untouchables, which helped put Chicagos Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition," which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a womans body began washing up on the Lake Erie shorefirst her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then ten, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways. As Ness zeroed in on a suspecta doctor tied to a prominent political family?powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monsterby turns horror story, political drama, and detective thriller?Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.
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Rachel.Rencher
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I've been wanting a good true crime lately, and something tells me this will be it!

perfectsinner This looks good 👀 adding to the tbr 7mo
59 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Pogue
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Mehso-so

This was an audiobook and it was ok. It just was not as interesting as some of the other true crime I had read.

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KateD1
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Pickpick

This book was incredibly interesting.
I do think the title is misplaced; it features Ness‘ hunt for the Butcher, but the book focuses on Ness‘ life after Chicago and the work he did in Cleveland.
Ness had a modern idea of what policy should be and his aspirations are what we should seek police to be today.
#Historical #Criminology #EliotNess

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RainyDayReading
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Mehso-so

Between a pick and a so-so. Extremely well researched and provides a fascinating look at the life of Eliot Ness after Capone. But the case of the mad butcher was more a footnote rather than a focus of the book like the title led me to believe. This reads in a way more like a biography rather than a true crime. Which is fine, but it‘s not what I expected. This is a case where the title is definitely misleading.

RamsFan1963 Yeah a more accurate title would have been The Rise and Fall of Eliot Ness: The Cleveland Years After Capone. Maybe too long and boring, but definitely accurate. 4y
RainyDayReading @RamsFan1963 Long and boring perhaps but I like that title better than the one they chose. Still a great read, but I was hoping for something that was far more true crime and less biography. 4y
31 likes2 comments
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RamsFan1963
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Pickpick

I'm not sure serial killer devotees will enjoy this book, the title is misleading. Yes the Mad Butcher case is part of the book, but only a small part. More of it is about Ness's efforts to clean up Cleveland's criminal elements, and update the police force. Ness was way before his time, introducing many elements that are now part of every day policemen/women lives. 4👮‍♂️👮‍♂️👮‍♂️👮‍♂️
9th book #ShutdownReadathon #Round2 @Squidget (46:41:59)

DieAReader 👏🏻👏🏻 4y
Andrew65 Great start 👏👏👏 4y
62 likes3 comments
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RamsFan1963
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They made a strange pair - the broken down businessman, honest to a fault, and his sportswriter acquaintance, bullshitter to the core.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

TorieStorieS That‘s a fun first line! 4y
40 likes1 comment