The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery

By Rachel McCarthy James and Bill James

Book Overview

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, The Man from the Train is an "impressive...open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America" (The Wall Street Journal). In this groundbreaking work of historical true crime, legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applies his analytical genius to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history.

Between 1898 and 1912, families across the United States were brutally murdered in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Valuables were left untouched, bodies were staged, and faces covered. Some cases, like the infamous Villisca Axe Murders in Iowa, gained national attention--but few believed the crimes were connected. Fewer still noticed that every family lived within walking distance of a train line.

Digging through thousands of newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, James and his daughter Rachel uncovered a chilling truth: these murders were the work of one man, traveling by rail, who would go on to become one of America's most prolific yet largely forgotten serial killers.

Riveting and immersive, The Man from the Train offers a vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century America, exposing how cultural blind spots, flawed investigations, and opportunistic detectives allowed this killer to operate undetected. Blending meticulous research with narrative drive, this modern classic of true crime nonfiction will fascinate readers of Devil in the White City, My Favorite Murder, and fans of unsolved mysteries and historical crime investigations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1476796254
• ISBN13: 9781476796253
• Release Date: September 2017
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

So tedious

This book is l could be so great. The story is an amazing one, but the way it is written makes it nearly unreadable. It's a lot longer than it should be and that's because the author spends most of his time talking about his opinions, why he disagrees with other writers, and about things that are completely unrelated. I would not recommend this book at all.

Excellent true crime novel

This book is a comprehensive overview of all the cases the "man from the train" could (and likely did) have committed, including the infamous Villisca Ax murders in Iowa. I am convinced that the authors solved the case one hundred+ years after the fact.

True crime with tons of interesting historical facts and deductions.

Liked the fact finding and honesty as crimes are discussed.

A Great Historical True Crime Novel

On June 9th, 1912, eight people, a family of six and two children visiting for the night, were murdered with the blunt side of an axe. The murder of eight people, six of them children under 12 years of age, rocked the small farming town of Vilisca, Iowa. But the Moore family were simply the latest victims of this violent perpetrator. Someone with an axe to grind (sorry, I really, truly couldn’t help myself) was traveling across the breadth of the country at the turn of the twentieth century, and leaving piles of corpses in his wake . . . Bill James is a baseball guy. Specifically he is a baseball statistician, and he approaches this topic with a mathematical mindset. After all, the Vilisca murders, considered to be one of the most infamous unsolved mass murders in US history, are tentatively considered to be part of a series of serial killings at the turn of the twentieth century, but James expands on the widely accepted dimensions of the serial killer’s crimes. Rather than the several crimes most ascribe to the killer, James posits that the man from the train began his cross-country murder spree as early as 1898, and may be responsible for over one hundred murders. Such a claim often precedes eye rolling and offers of tin-foil hats, but in this book, James provides the reader with carefully researched and sourced data to back up his assertions. Using newspaper records from across the country, combined with modern profiling techniques, James has unearthed a truly startling number of mass murders like the one in Vilisca. Like any good historian, James is careful to use primary sources where possible, and to document where the data available clash with his hypothesis. While several similar crimes are dismissed out of hand as being tied to our suspect, James makes quite a strong argument for adding several more murders to the ones traditionally ascribed. Fans of history and true crime (lovers of Devil in the White City take note) should enjoy this book. But the casual reader need not despair. James’ writing style is accessible and engaging, and replete with dark humor and some truly monstrous puns. An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.