The Shadow of Death: The Hunt for a Serial Killer

Between 1979 and 1983, three young girls, ages 11-13, were abducted and killed in the Connecticut River valley of New Hampshire/Vermont. Eventually a serial killer was caught and sentenced. But the killings did not stop. Older women (late teens to 30s) began to go missing, their bodies turning anywhere from the next day to 2 years later. Eventually it became clear that there was another serial killer working the valley and that, when some earlier cases were attributed to the one still at large, their killings had for a time overlapped. Philip Ginsburg's SHADOW OF DEATH tells the story of the search and capture of Gary Schaeffer and of the lengthy and ultimately futile search for the second killer. (I present this information only because the author also does so on the book's first page.) The story is told from the points of view of the detectives who worked the cases, and also from the point of view of psychologist John Philpin. Philpin was requested in 1981 by the police to try to create a profile of the killer of 12 year old murder victim Theresa Fenton. The profile was found helpful enough that Philpin became a regular consultant in the attempt to solve the killings. Philpin became more and more proficient and more and more emotionally involved in his work as the investigations continued, and his increasingly detailed profiles along with the effects the work had on him are among the main focal points of the book. Also presented in considerable detail is background material on three men who were among the more serious suspects. Ginsburg, as he showed in his fine true crime work, POISONED BLOOD, is an excellent writer/reporter/researcher. The book is in one respect disappointing in that the second killer remains unknown - or did so at least as of 1993 when the book was published - but this is not a criticism of Ginsburg and, as I've noted, he mentions it immediately. While not "exciting", SHADOW OF DEATH is intelligent reading. It is not a must read, but I recommend it for true crime fans and those who might be interested in the subject of psychological profiling.

There's at least one, possibly two, serial killers running loose in the Connecticut River Valley. I can tell you first-hand, that if you travel to Claremont, New Hampshire as I did on a follow up to reading this fine book, the locals will tell you who the killer is and where he lives! Ginsberg did a superb job of following up on the police investigations which were run in both Vermont and New Hampshire, documenting all the victims and exactly where they were each abducted and/or killed. Each of the stories attached to the respective victims provides the reader with an informed insight into these unfortunate folks' lives and their subsequent deaths. The book also features a good number of relevant photographs, so detailed that the reader can travel to these very sites today (as I did a few years back). For the fan of true crime, I can say as a career professional law enforcement officer that Ginsberg has given us a first-class, albeit a bit unnerving, story of murder in Vermont and New Hampshire. Highly recommended.

Philip Ginsburg has done it again! Like Poisoned Blood, I could hardly put this book down. Shadow of Death is an in-depth look at a series of murders and the investigations in New Hampshire and Vermont in the 1980s. As I read, I experienced the frustration and the urgency of the detectives and the profiler to catch the killer (or killers). Although the murders remain unsolved, it wasn't for lack of trying. Philip Ginsburg has done a remarkable job in relating the murders, and detailing the victims, the psychologist, and the detectives, to the point where you know them well. Truly one of the best books on a serial murder investigation.

I've reread this countless times. I have ties to the area and was amazed at how little public play this got while it was happening. I still need to know the answer of "who" but it is without a doubt one of the best true crime books ever written