American Demon, Daniel Stashower
American Demon, Daniel Stashower
3 Rating(s)
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American Demon
Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper

Author: Daniel Stashower

Narrator: Will Damron

Unabridged: 12 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/06/2022


Synopsis

"Will Damron performs a meticulous, exact narration of Stashower’s work. He unpacks the background and history of the places and players with the calm and collected authority of an insider, yet exudes the excitement, confusion, and fear of outsiders when delivering numerous gruesome passages about the 13 dismembered murder victims." - Library Journal

New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-winner Daniel Stashower returns with American Demon, a historical true crime starring legendary lawman Eliot Ness.

Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run.

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.

Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland’s besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of “Untouchables” led the frontline assault on Al Capone’s bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career.

Award-winning author Daniel Stashower shines a fresh light on one of the most notorious puzzles in the annals of crime, and uncovers the gripping story of Ness’s hunt for a sadistic killer who was as brilliant as he was cool and composed, a mastermind who was able to hide in plain sight. American Demon reconstructs this ultimate battle of wits between a hero and a madman.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

About Daniel Stashower

Daniel Stashower is an acclaimed biographer and narrative historian and winner of the Edgar, Agatha, and Anthony awards, as well as the Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, AARP: The Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and American History as well as other publications.His books include The Hour of Peril, Teller of Tales, and The Beautiful Cigar Girl.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jenny on August 19, 2022

The cover sucked me in bc it looked so much like Devil in the White City, which is one of my favorite books (GO READ IT) but it's its own story about Elliot Ness and the torso murders and I was very much sucked in. My arc didn't have pictures so I can't speak to that but I thought the author did a g......more

Goodreads review by CYIReadBooks on August 22, 2022

One word: Disappointing. I am somewhat familiar with Ness and his involvement in the Capone take down. So when I read the description of this book, I had to read it since it was supposed to be about Ness' involvement with a serial killer. Basically, this book is more about the life and career of Elio......more

Goodreads review by Bill on February 05, 2024

A gripping account of the Torso Murders that would horrify Cleveland in the 1930s. Fresh from his exploits in Chicago where he and his band of Untouchables brought down gangster Al Capone, Eliot Ness assumes the role of Cleveland’s Safety Director and finds himself embroiled in the mystery surroundi......more

Goodreads review by Valerity (Val) on July 11, 2022

I was aware of this Cleveland, Ohio case of the Mad Butcher. I didn’t realize that Elliott Ness was responsible for the police and fire departments at that time as the new public safety director. I learned a lot more about Ness and his career, (he was married 3 times and was socially awkward). My me......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on April 09, 2022

Like always a big thank you to the publisher St. Martin's, the author Daniel Stashower and to NetGalley for letting me read and review American Demon. For those who don't knew I love nonfiction especially true crime , and when I saw that that St.Martin's had this on NetGalley to request I was couldn......more