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Product Description The full, untold story of serial killer made famous in Erik Larson’s international bestseller The Devil in the White City. Here is the horrific true tale of America's first and most notorious serial killer and his diabolical killing spree during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, now updated with a new afterword discussing Holmes' exhumation on American Ripper. H. H. Holmes is the first comprehensive book examining the life and career of a murderer who has become one of America’s great supervillains. It reveals not only the true story but how the legend evolved, taking advantage of hundreds of primary sources that have never been examined before, including legal documents, letters, articles, and records that have been buried in archives for more than a century. Table of contents: Chapter One: Mudgett Chapter Two: Swindler Chapter Three: Victims Chapter Four: A World’s Fair Hotel Chapter Five: Holmes Goes West Chapter Six: Philadelphia Chapter Seven: On the Run Chapter Eight: Mudgett Again Chapter Nine: Caught Chapter Ten: The Calm Before the Storm Chapter Eleven: Exposed Chapter Twelve: Holmes Mania Chapter Thirteen: Dog Days of August Chapter Fourteen: The Trial Chapter Fifteen: After the Judgment Chapter Sixteen: The Confession Chapter Seventeen: The Hanging Chapter Eighteen: Aftermath Chapter Nineteen: Evolution of a Legend Appendix A: Victims Appendix B: Aliases Used by Herman Webster Mudgett Though Holmes has become just as famous now as he was in 1895, a deep analysis of contemporary materials makes very clear how much of the story as we know came from reporters who were nowhere near the action, a dangerously unqualified new police chief, and, not least, lies invented by Holmes himself. Selzer has unearthed tons of stunning new data about Holmes, weaving together turn-of-the-century America, the killer’s background, and the wild cast of characters who circulated in and about the famous “castle” building. This book will be the first truly accurate account of what really happened in Holmes’s castle of horror, and now includes an afterword detailing the author's participation in Holmes' exhumation on the TV series, American Ripper. Review “Adam Selzer’s masterful sleuthing, proves to us, ‘the Devil IS in the details.” Impeccably researched, the author has wiped away the nineteenth-century cobwebs spun by an ineffective police investigation and a hyperbolic press. What is left? The real life story of H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. Highly recommended. Read it!” —Steve Hodel, New York Times-bestselling author of Black Dahlia Avenger “One after another, young women visited the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893 and met and fell in love with a mesmerizing entrepreneur. Then they disappeared. H. H. Holmes is the chilling true story of a grave robber, bigamist and serial killer, and his homemade torture chamber.” —Rebecca Morris, New York Times-bestselling author of If I Can’t Have You and A Killing in Amish Country (with Gregg Olsen) and Ted and Ann “Not another cut and paste crime biography. H.H.Holmes is one of America’s super-villains. Or was he? Not one hundred, not two hundred victims, as the legends would have us believe, but only one person murdered and, even then, the evidence was circumstantial! Evidence suggests another possible four murders and five might-have-beens but that’s the grand total. Nor was he Jack the Ripper! Selzer takes apart the dove-tailed pieces of fact and legend to show the myth-making behind one of America’s most infamous bogey-men. A highly readable and exciting piece of original research, not to be missed by any crime enthusiast. —Donald Rumbelow, author of The Complete History of Jack the Ripper “A masterful dissection of false news creation at the source. Selzer persuasively shows that, from the Victorian era to now, how people get their information really does matter.” —Judy Nickels, author of A Competent Witness: Georgiana Yoke and the Tr