This book is a bit of a stumper. The research linking this series of family murders between 1898 and (possibly) 1922 is prodigious, and it is the research that reveals the patterns of a serial killer. But this book is organized in such a complicated way, that by the time the Jameses reach their conclusion, you’ve forgotten the details of each family’s murder. The tone of the writing is often excessively jokey, even sophomoric, given the topic: turning one victim’s surname into a pun about “when the Schmidt hits the Pfan,” for example. And there isn’t single footnote or reference to follow up, an incredible frustration for a historian who wants to admire what they’ve accomplished.

There are some really useful insights here, however, into the history of criminal detection, life in small towns, early 20th-century drifters, and private detectives.

Bill James and Rachel James, consider publishing an online list of sources at least!