A History of British Serial Killing: How Britain's Most Famous Serial Killers Were Identified, Caught and Convicted

I nearly wrote the whole review in my title, but fortunately I have some other good things to say about this book. 1. The author makes a concerted effort to find an unusual angle to present with the more frequently written about cases, such as Jack the Ripper and Reginald Christie. That is not easy, but he mostly succeeds. Having read every book about Jack the Ripper that I can get my hands on, I was still interested in what Fido had to say. 2. Between major chapters he touches on other multiple murderers whose crimes or their detection was of interest. There have been whole books written about Dr. Thomas Neil Cream, Crippen and George "Brides in the Bath" Chapman, so those who find these murders of interest can follow up with other authors. 3. The detail the author brings out on the early life of George "Acid Bath" Haigh-- funny how the acid bath part of this case remains in the mind while the vampiric aspects fade-- are quite interesting. (As an aside, bits of this case were used to good effect in Colin Wilson's novel Hopjoy Was Here and the subsequent television program based on the novel.) 4. With regard to Reginald Christie, I had the impression that the author had some problems with laying the Timothy Evans issues-- did Christie or did Evans kill Evans' wife and daughter?-- but the situation is confusing given the opinion of the various writers and the conflicting eye-witness reports. Certainly Evans swung for the two murders. 5. The information provided on the Moors Murderers is presented in an atmospheric way that definitely reminded me of the late and lamented ITV show Wire in the Blood Anyway, this is a good book to have on the British murder shelf along with the FAMOUS TRIALS series.