True Crime Book Club - Past Titles: Feb. 2023

Inspired by author Tori Telfer's Jezebel column "Lady Killers," this thrilling and entertaining compendium investigates female serial killers and their crimes through the ages.

When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we're comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, "There are no female serial killers."

Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsébet Báthory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction.

Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different subject, and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media, as well as the stereotypes and sexist clichés that inevitably surround her. The first book to examine female serial killers through a feminist lens with a witty and dryly humorous tone, Lady Killers dismisses easy explanations (she was hormonal, she did it for love, a man made her do it) and tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch), delving into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, Lady Killers is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness.

1. Have you ever heard of any of these female serial killers before reading the book?
2. Which (if any) of the killers did you associate with most? Why?
3. Do you believe that women are capable of crimes more or less in today’s society?
4. Why do you think that female killers are often overlooked in true crime circles?
   1. ‘“Women like to know, so they stay ahead of the curve,” Telfer said. “It makes them feel safer to know about these incidents because women are so often the victims of these crimes.” According to Telfer, this suggests that many women exist with an inherent mechanism of mistrust, one that may be essential to their survival.’ (The Last Bookstore)
   2. Do you think that’s the reason that females read more true crime than men? 
5. Which of the killers discussed in the book do you think was the worst? Why?
6. Did you find yourself researching more about any of the killers? Why did they intrigue you so much?
7. Why do you think female killers get non-threatening nomenclatures (Giggling Grandma) while men get more intense names (Night Stalker)? Where does this sexism come from?
8. Do you think there’s an economic or personal reason for some of these killings? Or were these just sadistic women who enjoyed killing?
9. Did you enjoy the deep dive into the historical context of each killer? Or would you rather have had more focus on the blood-and-guts murders?
10. Did you notice any similarities between each of these killers?
    1. “Many male serial killers exhibit a common pattern of behaviors, known as the MacDonald Triad, or the triad of sociopathy when they are kids. This triad includes arson, cruelty to animals, and enuresis or bedwetting, all of which appear to contribute to the likelihood of homicidal actions in adult life. In contrast, Telfer did not find any prominent patterns in killings committed by women, only common themes of desperation or twisted senses of love and altruism”. (The Last Bookstore)

• Graduated from Northwestern with B.A. in creative writing
• Was a teachers and children’s book publisher
• Lives in New York City
• Written from numerous magazines (online and print)
• Wrote an award winning screenplay, Detective in the City of Beautiful Women
• Written, directed, and produce two plays
• Hosted three podcasts (Criminal Broads, Red Flags, & Why Women Kill)
• Lady Killers was first published Oct. 10, 2017 (first book)
• Confident Women was published Feb. 23, 2021 (second book)

Other Writings:

Lady Killers

Confident Women

Breakfast Around the World

• “This is my book about real, often-forgotten, pre-1950s female serial killers.” (Telfer)
• Inspired by author Tori Telfer's Jezebel column “Lady Killers,” this thrilling and entertaining compendium investigates female serial killers and their crimes through the ages. (Bank Square Books)
• Telfer, based in New York City, began writing an online column about criminal women in 2014. She covered women like Tillie Klimek, who became known as a husband killer in Chicago and was sentenced to life in prison in the 1920s. (Daily Gazette) 
• I just stumbled into it honestly. The [website] The Awl was looking for historical columns and I had just discovered this controversial figure on Wikipedia, Erzsébet Báthory, this Hungarian countess from the 1500s who maybe killed 600 girls. Obviously, that was interesting to me, so I pitched the idea of a column on female serial killers. That’s how I got here today. It became a column in The Hairpin and I started getting interest from editors. I didn’t realize what a market it was, but that’s what led to my book. (Daily Gazette) 
• There were a lot of female serial killers that I left out just because I couldn’t find enough material or they would have made the book redundant or they didn’t fit within my time period. I stopped in the 1950s, so I didn’t include Aileen Wuornos, who [killed] in the 90s. The parameters that I set for myself naturally eliminated some people. But I went down this path for a while [researching] this Japanese female serial killer from the World War II [era]. I even had a friend in Tokyo digging into Japanese sources because I couldn’t find a lot on her in English. So I had him dig into Japanese archives and he couldn’t find [very much either]. We eventually theorized that World War II must have distracted everyone, which is understandable. [But] she was really horrible. She wasn’t the only one who’s done this, but [she had] this baby hospital where the babies went missing. But there wasn’t a lot of [material on it]. To come up with 5,000 words on these women I had to have a lot of material and especially in other countries, I was not always able to access the material I needed or even know if it existed. (Daily Gazette) 
• Telfer talks about how men in power have carefully constructed their own narrative around each of these female killers. Uncomfortable with the idea that a woman could kill in cold blood, they rewrite the story. For instance, the infamous Erzsebet Bathory was a “vampire” or a “seductress”, when in reality she probably just enjoyed murdering people.  Even the names given to certain killers, like Nannie Doss, the “Giggling Grandma”, is meant to lessen the impact of what they did.  Telfer provides a critical analysis of why humanity is tempted to reason away the acts of female killers, and it’s really quite fascinating a read for those interested in sociology and psychology. (Power Librarian)
• So how do we take female serial killers seriously? “You have to see them as human,” Telfer says, “and I don’t mean treasure them as human beings but understand that a fellow person is capable of this and what may bring them to that point. Old journalists would talk about these women as if they were unholy demons or, to quote one directly, ‘beasts from the depth’ which is to laugh them off. They’re unhinged or act in extreme ways but they are still governed by their own agency and systems. These reactions to circumstances make them human and female serial killers keep getting dismissed.” (Paste Magazine)