This book is, quite simply, remarkable journalism, and remarkable writing. --Robert B. Parker An infamous murder spree. A monstrous hoax. The definitive book--updated with new evidence. "DeSalvo Is the Strangler!" declared the headlines after handyman Albert DeSalvo confessed to eleven brutal rape/murders that terrorized Boston from 1962 to 1964. The repeat sex offender boasted he had raped an additional 2,000 women. His story became the subject of a bestselling book and major Hollywood movie. But DeSalvo was not The Boston Strangler. Author Susan Kelly's detailed investigation shows us the true DeSalvo--a pathological liar whose hunger for celebrity drove him to false confessions--and indicates that the stranglings were committed by more than one killer. In an eye-opening update that explores stunning DNA findings, a shocking re-autopsy, and expert profiling evidence, she shows why this savage, unsolved case continues to fascinate and haunt us. With 16 Pages Of Powerful Photos "Taut with suspense. . .crackles like a bestselling novel." --Barry Reed, author of The Verdict "Prodigious research." --Publishers Weekly

The New York Times–bestselling account of the serial killer’s rampage and the ensuing manhunt. Now a Hulu true crime thriller starring Keira Knightley. On June 14, 1962, twenty-five-year-old Juris Slesers arrived at his mother’s apartment to drive her to church. But there was no answer at the door. When he pushed his way inside, Juris found Anna Slesers dead on the kitchen floor, the cord of her housecoat knotted tightly around her neck. Over the next two years, twelve more bodies were discovered in and around Boston: all women, all sexually assaulted, and all strangled. None of the victims exhibited any signs of struggle, nothing was stolen from their homes, and there were no signs of forcible entry. The police could find no discernable motive or clues. Who was this madman? How was he entering women’s homes? And what insanity was driving him? Drawn from hundreds of hours of personal interviews, as well as police, medical, and court documentation, this is a grisly, horrifying, and meticulously researched account of Albert DeSalvo—an American serial killer on par with Jack the Ripper.

Put on your detective hat and uncover the facts and myths about the Boston strangler. Starting in 1962, eleven women living in and around the Boston area had been murdered in similar, and similarly brutal, ways. Many of these women had been sexually assaulted. Several had been stabbed. All had been strangled. Topics discussed include the victims, the atmosphere of Boston, Massachusetts, at the time of the murders, and the man who confessed to the murders, Albert DeSalvo. The evidence against DeSalvo, reasons DeSalvo confessed to murders he may not have committed, theories about who the Boston Strangler really was, and DNA evidence are also highlighted. Features include a Tools and Clues section that highlights research tools, technology, and investigative methods, a timeline, a glossary, selected bibliography, further readings, places to visit, source notes, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

A fatal collision of three lives in the most intriguing and original crime story since In Cold Blood. In the spring of 1963, the quiet suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, is rocked by a shocking sex murder that exactly fits the pattern of the Boston Strangler. Sensing a break in the case that has paralyzed the city of Boston, the police track down a black man, Roy Smith, who cleaned the victim's house that day and left a receipt with his name on the kitchen counter. Smith is hastily convicted of the Belmont murder, but the terror of the Strangler continues. On the day of the murder, Albert DeSalvo—the man who would eventually confess in lurid detail to the Strangler's crimes—is also in Belmont, working as a carpenter at the Jungers' home. In this spare, powerful narrative, Sebastian Junger chronicles three lives that collide—and ultimately are destroyed—in the vortex of one of the first and most controversial serial murder cases in America.

An analysis of the Boston Strangler case also offers an insider perspective on the murder of final victim Mary Sullivan, as told by her nephew, and discusses how the chief suspect had no physical evidence linking him to the crimes and was killed before he was charged.

An eminent historian sheds light on the serial killings that terrorized Boston in the early 1960s, the man arrested for them, and the brash young lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, who defended him.

Before the New York Times bestselling success of Defending Jacob, William Landay wrote this widely acclaimed second novel of crime and suspense, which was named a Favorite Crime Novel of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and several other newspapers. Boston, 1963. Meet the charming, brawling Daley brothers. Joe is a cop whose gambling habits have dragged him down into the city’s underworld. Michael is a lawyer, always the smartest man in the room. And Ricky is the youngest son, a prince of thieves whose latest heist may be his last. For the Daleys, crime is the family business—they’re simply on different sides of it. Then a killer, a man who hunts women with brutal efficiency and no sign of stopping, strikes too close to the Daley home. The brothers unite to find the Strangler, a journey that leads to the darkest corners of Boston—and exposes an even deeper mystery that threatens to tear the family apart. Includes an excerpt of Defending Jacob NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CRIME NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY Los Angeles Times • The Guardian • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Kansas City Star “Reminiscent of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, the novel takes us into a dark world where goodness is smothered and villainy thrives. . . . I was completely riveted.”—The Boston Globe “A dense and satisfying novel of crime and retribution . . . [Landay has] been touted as the natural successor to George V. Higgins.”—The Independent “A gripping, atmospheric saga.”—The Wall Street Journal “An impressive and satisfying performance.”—The Washington Post “Smart and surprising.”—Esquire

Originally published as "A Rose for Mary," this account by the nephew of the so-called Boston Strangler's last victim details his ten-year quest to find the real killer of 13 women in the early 1960s, and describes an unlikely alliance with the family of self-confessed murderer Albert DeSalvo. photos.

Deadly and deep-seated political conspiracies are nothing new to Jack Flynn, the popular lead reporter of the Boston Record. But in Strangled, he finds himself in the middle of a case that everyone thought had closed forty years ago -- the Boston Strangler. From the summer of 1962 to the winter of 1964, eleven women were strangled to death in their homes. The city had been panic-stricken. Dog pounds were cleaned out. Locksmiths worked twenty-hour days. The streets emptied after dark. Single women set up phone trees to check on each other's safety. Then, a year after the eleventh murder, the city breathed a heavy sigh of relief when convicted sex offender Albert DeSalvo confessed to the killings. Eight years later, he was stabbed to death in prison, forever ridding the world of the man who had terrorized a city. Or so everyone thought. Boston, present-day. A series of murders has occurred in which all the victims, all female, have been strangled and left with markers eerily reminiscent of those once left by the "Phantom Fiend" -- garish bows tied around their necks and their bodies ghoulishly positioned to greet investigators as they entered the crime scene. In typical fashion, the police and local politicians have turned on their publicity machine full-throttle in an attempt to cool any rumors about the possible return of the Strangler. Little do they know that Flynn is receiving letters from the killer himself, thrusting the newsman between the threats of a madman and several secretive, uncooperative officials, who are tied to the original case. With the lives of innocent women on the line, he must use his keen journalistic skills to determine whether or not this is a copycat on the loose, or if Albert DeSalvo was, in fact, not quite the fiend everyone so easily believed him to be. Is it possible that the Boston Strangler was never captured and that he's been lurking in the shadows, waiting to kill again? Using fiction to examine the horrifying details of the Boston Strangler case and the possible outcomes of its investigation, McGrory has written an intelligent thriller crackling with newsroom energy and chilling suspense.

Originally published: 2011. With new addendum.