Includes The Stranger in the Square, the story of a chilling encounter with serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, before the first known Ripper killing.
Stories from reality
This collection contains accounts of serial killers, true stories about these most chilling of killers: men and sometimes women who murder again and again. It is a topic that fascinates because it is so hard to understand: what drives these people? Is it hatred, is it a desire for power, is it some kind of uncontrollable anger? The answers do not seem to be there.
The fictional serial killer: Hannibal, Dexter et al
The serial killer has become a central character in crime fiction, sometimes being granted an almost mythical status, with a superhuman ability to outwit and outthink the people charged with pursuing him. Strangely, given that these killers are often driven by sadism and act with unimaginable brutality, fictional serial killers have, in some cases, become popular anti-heroes among the blood and dismemberment: Hannibal Lecter; Dexter Morgan. I satirise this in my award-winning short story The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing.
The serial killer in real life
But what about the reality? What are the stories of the real serial killers, including the ones whose names have never been known, like possibly the most famous of them all: Jack the Ripper?
The collection contains true crime stories about killers including:
- Fred and Rose West
- Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper
- Dennis Nilsen
- Tsutomu Miyazaki
- ‘Bible John’
- Vlado Taneski
These accounts are written by crime writers, true crime podcasters, journalists and experts in this field. They demonstrate that serial killers exist all over the world, and that the motivations for their crimes are varied and sometimes unknown: but these are the stories of the real serial killers.
The Stranger in the Square
This memoir was commissioned as part of this true crime anthology. It took me back to a very dark time in my life, and the start of a very dark time for the north of England. A prolific serial killer, a killer of women, was about to start a reign of terror across the area that lasted for five years. At least thirteen women died and others were seriously injured (the true number of victims of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire ripper, is not known). I lived in Sheffield, the city where he was finally caught, at the start of the killings.
What we sometimes forget is that serial killers do not spring into life fully formed. They have a history of violence and sometimes of killing before they start to murder. I wrote this memoir about my life at the time, and about an encounter I had with this most prolific of killers. I was probably fortunate that at this stage, he had not perfected his ‘art.’
