Tracking a Serial Killer: Labour Unions, Precarious Work, and the Politics of Institutional Change in Europe

“One side of me says, I'd like to talk to her, date her. The other side of me says, I wonder what her head would look like on a stick?" Edmund Kemper (1948–), ‘the Co-ed Killer’ This gripping, fully illustrated true crime book explores a range of serial murderers in an innovative new format, using timelines both of the murderers’ lives but also precise hour-by-hour timelines of the crimes. Tracking a Serial Killer tells the story of 25 serial killers, from the nineteenth century right up to the present day. It enables the reader to understand some of the thinking of men such as Ted Bundy, who stalked university dorms, or Andrei Chikatilo, whose killings happened at similar intervals, to Randy Kraft who murdered hitchhikers along California freeways over several years, to Volker Eckert, a German lorry driver who murdered prostitutes across western Europe across three decades. The timeline approach offers a visual overview of the major developments of the murderer’s life, both before the killing began and covering killing sprees, trials, incarcerations, escapes, releases and repeat offences, up to their deaths. The second timeline takes the reader into the events of one particular murder, showing how events developed in the twenty-four hours around the murder, how close they were to being caught, how the factors came into place for the murder, and how they managed to escape capture.

Table of Contents:
Chapter One: A Lust for Killing Andrei Chikatilo • John Wayne Gacy • Harold Shipman • Ted Bundy • Pedro Lopez • Gary Ridgway Chapter Two: Special Desires H. H. Holmes • Albert Fish • Joachim Kroll • Dennis Nilsen • Edmund Kemper • Richard Ramirez • Jeffrey Dahmer Chapter Three: Predators Jack the Ripper • David Berkowitz • Robert Hansen • Randy Kraft • The Yorkshire Ripper • Beltway Sniper Attacks Chapter Four: Female Murderers Jane Toppan • Dorothea Puente • Aileen Wuornos Chapter Five: Serial Killer Couples The Moors Murderers • The Hillside Stranglers • Fred and Rosemary West Index

About the Author :
Dr Chris McNab is a writer and editor who has published more than 40 books on topics ranging from military history to crime and survival. His titles include Deadly Force – Firearms and American Law Enforcement (2009), Tools of Violence – Guns, Tanks and Dirty Bombs (2008), Gunfighters – The Outlaws and their Weapons (2005), The Personal Security Handbook (2003), How to Survive Anything, Anywhere (2004) and Native American Warrior (2010). Chris’ research has taken him into military and law enforcement units on both sides of the Atlantic, and he has contributed to newspapers and magazines on a wide range of current affairs and historical subjects.