A CASEBOOK OF MURDER. (A COMPELLING STUDY OF THE WORLD'S MOST MACABRE MURDER CASES.) by Wilson, Colin - 1969

London: Leslie Frewin, 1969. 288 pp, 8 1/2" H. "(Wilson) discusses crimes in Britain and Europe, in America and Australia, and breaks down the motives of the killers in an attempt to isolate a common denominator. He draws strongly on psychological and psychiatric authorities and offers new hope for the future, patricularly in connection with murders of a violent, sexual nature. He is of the opinion - alarming perhaps, but perceptive - that it is 'the ability to discount the victim that distinguishes the murderer from the rest of us', and he illustrates this vividly by discussing among many others, the cases of: Sawney Bean and his strange cannibalistic family, Thomas Arden of Faversham; Catherine Hayes; the rape of Sarah Woodcock; Andrew Bichel, the Bavarian ripper; Lacenaire, the notorious French murderer; Anna Zwanziger, whose creed was 'poison is my truest friend'; Thomas Cream; Jack the Ripper; 'The Red Spider'; Jesse Pomeroy; Hickock and Smith; The Cannock Chase and the Moor murders. (In) its scope, (this) is a finely-worked tapestry that records the struggle of centuries between the forces of good and evil and demonstrates how the comparative security of the citizen today has slowly been constructed." Light wrinkling at the bottom of the spine, light browning to the edges of the text block, a few very small light stains on top of the text block, very light browning in the margins of the page margins. Dust jacket has light browning on the spine and on the flap-folds, moderate browning at the edges, light wrinkling at the top/bottom of the psine and flap-folds, some delamination on the front hinge.. First Edition. Heavy Card. Good+/Good.