# Fatal - Paperback

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by **Harold Schechter** (Author)

**The shocking story of one of the most notorious female serial killers in American history from "an author who shows real mastery of the true crime genre" (NPR).**

In 1891, Jane Toppan, a proper New England matron, embarked on a profession as a private nurse. Selfless and good-natured, she worked for some of Boston's most prominent families, but they had no idea what they were welcoming into their homes.

Her dark past of tragedy, abuse, and mental illness was carefully hidden. No one who knew Jane as a nurse had any idea that she was morbidly obessed with autopsies, or that she conducted her own after-hours experiments on patients, deriving sexual satisfaction in their slow, agonizing deaths from poison.

Self-schooled in the art of murder, Jane was just beginning her career as the most prolific domestic fiend of the nineteenth century.

### Author Biography

Harold Schechter is Professor Emeritus at Queens College, where he taught classes in American literature and myth criticism for forty-two years. His essays have appeared in publications including _The New York Times_, _The Wall Street Journal_, _Los Angeles Times_, and many more. An esteemed true crime historian, he has written the definitive accounts of some of America's most infamous murderers, including the nonfiction books _Fatal_, _Fiend_, _Bestial_, _Deviant_, _Deranged_, _Depraved_, and _The Serial Killers File_. He is the editor of the Library of America volume, _True Crime: An American Anthology._ He has twice been a finalist for an Edgar Award. His most recent books include _Butcher's Work: True Crime Tales of American Murder_ and _Madness and Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects_. In addition to his work in narrative nonfiction, Schechter is the author of an acclaimed series of detective novels based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He lives with his family in New York.

**Number of Pages:** 336

**Dimensions:** 0.86 x 8 x 5 IN

**Publication Date:** August 11, 2009

## Details

- **Price:** 26.44 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 26.44 USD | In stock |

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- Fatal - Paperback

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