A sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer–America’s first–who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London’s infamous … London’s infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens’ panic reached a fever pitch.
Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as “the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin.” And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city.
With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life.
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Skip Hollandsworth has a bloodhound’s nose for a great tale. With The Midnight Assassin, he’s found the perfect subject for his many talents. Through scrupulous research and a finely tuned sense of the gothic, Hollandsworth has brought this Texas-sized true-crime story, more than a century old, to vivid, chilling life on the page.
Skip Hollandsworth, one of the great true-crime writers of our era, has brought his remarkable talent to bear on one of the most fascinating untold criminal stories in American history. The Midnight Assassin captures a time, a place, and a feeling―booming Texas in the latter 19th century―in a way no nonfiction account I have read has done. A jewel of a book.
As the state of Texas’s best-known magazine writer, Skip Hollandsworth is not just a Lone Star treasure, but a national treasure. In this, his first book, he uncovers the amazing untold story of America’s first serial killer, a phantom who stalked the streets of Austin in 1885, three years before Jack the Ripper. Whether you love true crime, history or Texana, The Midnight Assassin is bursting at the seams with everything you want in a great book; a spellbinding mix of mystery, horror and historical detective work. It’s the book Hollandsworth was born to write.
Interesting historical about Austin in the late 1800’s that I’d never heard of! I can’t believe no-one ever talks about this tragic past of our city.
As a magazine journalist, Skip Hollandsworth has forged a reputation as one of the best storytellers in the country. The Midnight Assassin takes his singular narrative skills to a thrilling new level. Reading this book is like cracking open a time capsule and breathing the air of a vanished era. In Hollandsworth’s hands, one of the ghastliest and most inscrutable crimes in American history becomes hair-raisingly immediate, and the mystery at its center grows ever more mysterious with every page.
This was a good, well-written book. I was unprepared for the large amount of Austin history included, however. I spent a large number of years in central Texas, so the information was interesting to me, but it might be a little overwhelming to those who aren’t so interested. The story of the murders was well-woven into the story and history of Austin. Skip Hollandsworth did a very good job of weaving the scattered information and details into a cohesive account of events. The tension and fear of the residents really came through. This is a true story which almost reads as fiction; much easier reading than just a dry retelling of events.
Another book I could barely put down. The city of Austin, TX sure had some scary times when this killer came and murdered women. What a tragedy it was to see the African Americans treated in this manner. Thankfully, time and circumstances have changed. Sad to see they never caught the person murdering these women.
Readers who loved The Devil in the White City now have the pleasure of reading The Midnight Assassin. It paints a compelling portrait of a culture at a turning point – that is, the capitol of Texas at the end of the 19th Century, when the barbarism of the frontier was giving way to the savagery of urban life.
This is thought to be one of the first serial killer’s in the USA. ( and we will never know) It takes place in Austin Texas but you do not have to be a Texan to read this interesting piece of history.