Publisher's Synopsis
The 20th century saw the rise of the motiveless murder and the serial killer, and with it the development of forensic science and the use of DNA and psychological profiling as weapons against it. In this book Brian Lane examines year by year, from 1900 onward, every major murder case in the light of its investigative, forensic, social or legal significance.
In over 200 cases listed there are those that are not only landmark cases for criminologists but represent gruesome highlights of popular mythology. The chilling roll call includes Dr Crippen, Charles Manson, the Kray Twins, Bonnie and Clyde, the Moors Murderers, the Waco massacre and Beverley Allitt, as well as the last woman to be hanged in Britain, convicted murderer Ruth Ellis, whose execution hastened the abolition of the death penalty in Britain. A grim and gripping catalogue of killers in contemporary times, and society's desperate attempts to capture and comprehend them.
