Lady Killers

Deadly Women Throughout History

Tori Telfer

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9780062433749
• Print ISBN:
  9780062433732
• Subtopic: Women in History

In this entertaining compendium, the true crime historian and Jezebel columnist investigates female serial killers through the ages.
When it comes to violent crime, women are typically thought of as the victims, not the perpetrators. The bias is so pervasive that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood declared, "There are no female serial killers." But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender, and the other notorious women profiled here?
In Lady Killers, Tori Telfer reveals the shocking true stories of fourteen women who—despite being largely forgotten by history—rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction. Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different serial killer, and then unpacks her legacy and 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 tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch) and delves into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, it is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• The Elusive Population
• The Blood Countess: Erzsébet Báthory
• The Giggling Grandma: Nannie Doss
• The Worst Woman on Earth: Lizzie Halliday
• Devil in the Shape of a Saint: Elizabeth Ridgeway
• Vipers: Raya and Sakina
• The Wretched Woman: Mary Ann Cotton
• The Tormentor: Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova
• Iceberg Anna: Anna Marie Hahn
• The Nightingale: Oum-El-Hassen
• High Priestess of the Bluebeard Clique: Tillie Klimek
• Sorceress of Kilkenny: Alice Kyteler
• Beautiful Throat Cutter: Kate Bender
• The Angel Makers of Nagyrév
• Queen of Poisoners: Marie-Madeleine, the Marquise de Brinvilliers
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
• An Excerpt from CONFIDENT WOMEN
• Credits
• Copyright
• About the Publisher