GENRE: Nonfiction/True Crime
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A
FROM PUBLISHER: Between 1900 and 1909, five girls were raped and strangled in the Dayton, Ohio area. These crimes were never solved.
During that era, police did not recognize the lurking shadow of a predator, but through diligent research, the author now reveals a modus operandi that links them all together.
The escape of one girl creates a twist that opens the door to unravel these crimes. Using the criminological thinking of today, the author attempts to solve these murders.
"Cold Serial" contains riveting, fast-paced portraits of the personal and family tragedies of these five girls, as well as the brutality and victim-blaming they faced. The poor working conditions, lack of rights for women needing police protection, and the sexism of the age prove these girls were victims, not only of a crime, but also of their time. yet the deaths of these girls were not in vain, as they made significant contributions to the Dayton, Ohio area, and, ultimately, the nation.
MY THOUGHTS: This was an informative read and very sad. The author definitely did his research and told us as much about the victims as he could. I'd not heard of the murders of Ada Lantz (11), Dona Gilman (19), Anna Markowitz (18), Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Fulhart (18), and the author's great-aunt, Mary Forschner (15), before. Aside from murder itself, there's nothing worse than a killer or rapist getting away with it and this one did, if indeed they were killed by the same man.
The book contains photos of four of the victims in life and a drawing of Ada, as well as photos of other people involved in the cases, including the possible murderer, a 58-year-old black man. Once he was arrested for a rape, the murder rate in Dayton when down a little.
I've uploaded photos of the victims here.
I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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