“A deeply researched and morbidly fascinating chronicle of one of America’s most notorious female killers.” —The New York Times Book ReviewAn Amazon Charts bestseller.In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she … joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm.” Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace. When their bodies were dug up, they hadn’t merely been poisoned, like victims of other female killers. They’d been butchered.
Hell’s Princess is a riveting account of one of the most sensational killing sprees in the annals of American crime: the shocking series of murders committed by the woman who came to be known as Lady Bluebeard. The only definitive book on this notorious case and the first to reveal previously unknown information about its subject, Harold Schechter’s gripping, suspenseful narrative has all the elements of a classic mystery—and all the gruesome twists of a nightmare.
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Excellent true crime history of the most prolific female serial killer in American history. Very well written background and context for the crimes, and a discussion of how she managed to elude justice for so long before she was exposed. Further details of her early history and the aftermath give a thorough case history and psychological profile of Belle Guinness.
A journey through the world of a serial killer. The book is based on a thorough research of a woman luring men to her home with the facade of wanting to care for them in marital bliss. Their demise is assured once they cross her threshold. Factual, interesting, and unique insight in to a cold blooded killer’s modus operandi murdering for profit.
Unbelievable but true.
This author’s books are always an informative read. He really does his homework in finding so much background information.
Less than half the book was about her. The trial and various sightings were not very exciting.
A very well written true crime. The evil which resides in some souls is fascinating while being repulsive and unnerving. When a woman, instead of a man, is this diabolical you just have to find the reason why.
It was a well written book in that it kept your attention throughout. I listened to it on audio for almost 1/2 and found the audio to be well done. As for the story itself…I am horrified at the brutality of it and left in wonder that I made it thru school knowing NOTHING of this.
Schecter, as always, delivers. A must read!
Bell was a True black widow. She lured men to her small mid-west farm around the turn of the century (1800’s to 1900’s). Bringing them in with promises of marriage and a share of her prosperous farm. The men would arrive with their life savings then mysteriously never be heard from again.
Part of the story is Belle’s history and deeds. Another part covers the burning down of Belle’s house. Bodies are found in the basement. Some assume she set the fire herself to escape her children and possible prosecution. Others believe a former farm hand of Belle’s killed her because she refused to pay him back wages.
This was well written and informative beyond Belle and her misdeeds. It delves into the times and the area.
The is a little too much unneeded information.
I thought this was going to be a better unfolding of events that end in a trial. But it was like the details and the sad yet interesting part of the story were just glossed over. All of the back and forth with the trial details killed the book halfway through. I tried to hang in there but I just couldn’t because it would wind you up for something exciting but let you down every time, like the longest most boring kiddie roller coaster in the world. It’s a shame because I would have liked to know more about this tragically flawed woman and what made her do what she was doing.
Fascinating and gruesome. Belle was one cold woman! Interesting to think many murders were being committed by poisoning back then. Want to get rid of a spouse? Put a little arsenic in his or her beverage. Belle didn’t stop there! She was brutal! She used newspaper ads seeking “companions” and “investors,” luring and seducing these victims, most of whom were lonely and looking for love in all the wrong places. She was one hardened dame. I had never heard of her before selecting this book. This was a good read.
I enjoy all Harold Schechter’s books. I like my true-crime to be in the Victorian era up to 1930s and Schechter is my “go-to” author. I like his writing style and research of each subject.
I read this in the Kindle in Motion format. Besides being a very dry, dull read, the KiM features served to slow the pace down even further. It seemed pointless to click on an illustration, and it enlarged.. I would have liked the photos of the newspapers to have been interactive.
I didn’t learn anything more about this female serial killer than I would have by Googling it on my own.
This is the nonfiction account of a vicious and manipulative woman read almost like a work of fiction. The newspaper articles that were reprinted within the book gave all the gory details. The events portrayed would make a wonderful horror movie.
Very disturbing, hard to,believe that such evil exsists and how long she got away with her crimes.
It’s a tedious reading.
While I found the beginning of the book very interesting with great characters, I found the ending to be hard to follow. I realize it was written from a perspective opinion without the forensics but I would have liked it better to have read more of the personality of the characters involved
3.5 stars
I’m not much for nonfiction, but when presented with the opportunity to purchase this kindle version for free through my Amazon Prime account and the “Kindle First Reads” or whatever they’re calling the feature now, I thought this was the most interesting choice offered this month. Perhaps due to the fact that I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, there was a certain dryness tone but I had some difficulty with, but once I got past that personal hurdle, I found myself very pleased with this book.
(And as an aside, I don’t particularly care for e-books, but reading this one as a Kindle in Motion edition is really the best and on my way to go).
Prior to reading this book, I’d never heard of Belle Gunness, which in some ways I found strange given the average American’s fascination with serial killers.
But Belle’s story has the all the hallmark features that fascinate the human mind about serial killers: butchery, mixed motivations that to this day remain elusive, the twisted outlook on life that’s deemed so necessary for a person to possess to deprive a human creature of life, and the ambivalence surrounding the final truths about what really happened on her farm and she herself that may slip farther and farther away into history’s smoke with each passing year.
Much as Whitechapel, England has Jack the Ripper, La Porte, Indiana has Belle Gunness. Though her identity is known, their respective disappearing acts (or deaths) still remain a mystery lost to us.
An inside look at one of America’s first female serial killers. It is very well researched and written. The author has taken both facts and fables surrounding this woman and presented them in such a way that the reader can reach his or her own conclusions about what really happened to Belle Gunness. It’s not really a “sensational” book in the yellow-journalism meaning of the book but rather a presence of the facts in an interesting and entertaining way.