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Murder City: The Untold Story of Canada's Serial Killer Capital, 1959-1984
Like the mythic cities of Gotham or Gomorrah, London, Ontario was for many years an unrivalled breeding ground of depravity and villainy, the difference being that its monsters were all too real.
In its coming to inherit the unwanted distinction of being the serial killer capital of not just Canada—but apparently also the world during this dark age in the city’s sordid history— the crimes seen in London over this quarter-century period remain unparalleled and for the most part unsolved. From the earliest documented case of homicidal copycatting in Canada, to the fact that at any given time up to six serial killers were operating at once in the deceivingly serene “Forest City,” London was once a place that on the surface presented a veneer of normality when beneath that surface dark things would whisper and stir. Through it all, a lone detective would go on to spend the rest of his life fighting against impossible odds to protect the city against a tidal wave of violence that few ever saw coming, and which to this day even fewer choose to remember. With his death in 2011, he took these demons to his grave with him but with a twist—a time capsule hidden in his basement, and which he intended to one day be opened. Contained inside: a secret cache of his diaries, reports, photographs, and hunches that might allow a new generation of sleuths to pick up where he left off, carry on his fight, and ultimately bring the killers to justice—killers that in many cases are still out there.
Murder City is an explosive book over fifty years in the making, and is the history of London, Ontario as never told before. Stranger than fiction, tragic, ironic, horrifying, yet also inspiring, this is the true story of one city under siege, and a book that marks a game changer for the true crime genre.
In its coming to inherit the unwanted distinction of being the serial killer capital of not just Canada—but apparently also the world during this dark age in the city’s sordid history— the crimes seen in London over this quarter-century period remain unparalleled and for the most part unsolved. From the earliest documented case of homicidal copycatting in Canada, to the fact that at any given time up to six serial killers were operating at once in the deceivingly serene “Forest City,” London was once a place that on the surface presented a veneer of normality when beneath that surface dark things would whisper and stir. Through it all, a lone detective would go on to spend the rest of his life fighting against impossible odds to protect the city against a tidal wave of violence that few ever saw coming, and which to this day even fewer choose to remember. With his death in 2011, he took these demons to his grave with him but with a twist—a time capsule hidden in his basement, and which he intended to one day be opened. Contained inside: a secret cache of his diaries, reports, photographs, and hunches that might allow a new generation of sleuths to pick up where he left off, carry on his fight, and ultimately bring the killers to justice—killers that in many cases are still out there.
Murder City is an explosive book over fifty years in the making, and is the history of London, Ontario as never told before. Stranger than fiction, tragic, ironic, horrifying, yet also inspiring, this is the true story of one city under siege, and a book that marks a game changer for the true crime genre.
355 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2015
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780 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
February 27, 2017
It's pretty shocking to discover there's a book out there that declares the quiet conservative city you live in was at one time the serial killer capital of Canada — even more shocking when the author suggests in the opening that if three unsolved cases had actually been solved, it would have proved it was the serial killer capital of the world. Of course I had to read this book.
For a self-published book, this was far better written than I suspected it would be — while it still had the spelling, formatting, and storytelling errors one would expect in a book that wasn't professionally edited, the dearth of them was impressive. Arntfield is a compelling writer who has done an extraordinary amount of research into a little-known topic that will no doubt fascinate anyone from London or who grew up in the surrounding area. I found it got harder to read as it went just because it felt like a parade of death and sexual molestation, which can be difficult, especially when it involves children and women, but that's because of the subject matter, not the writing.
My criticisms: I wish the author had indicated landmarks a little differently — since he's writing about a period from the mid-60s to the mid-80s (the title indicates 1959 but he's including the Truscott case, which happened in Clinton, Ontario, an hour north of London, though he makes a good case for the possibility of it being a Londoner who committed the crime), many of the places mentioned no longer exist, so instead of saying what exists on that spot now, or even indicate a general area, he simply says "it now boasts a commercial development" or something along those lines, often not mentioning the street itself. Knowing that the majority of his readership would be Londoners, it's too bad he didn't keep that in mind and instead wrote for an audience he suspected might not know London at all.
The part that irked me the longest while I was reading it is actually the prologue: written in a way that was unlike the rest of the book, he got into the head of the victim, saying she was thinking of her parents or trying desperately to get out of the car and was wondering what was going on... I take exception to anyone trying to get in the head of someone who actually existed, when we have no idea what was going through her head. Within that prologue he has the killer abduct the girl from Aylmer, Ontario, which he says is just off Highway 401 at Highway 73 (it isn't; it's about a 20-minute drive south, and since my entire family originates from Aylmer I know that drive very well) and he has the killer drive her all the way back up to the 401 and head west, only to dump her body a few minutes from the original abduction site which he would have driven past long ago. And then he writes the section as if the killer was never caught, causing me to think he'd just made up a story of her travelling all the way, including — most offensively — saying what her last words were. Only MUCH later in the book does he indicate the killer was caught, casting the entire opening in a new light, but by that point I was starting to wonder if he knew the geography of London at all. He mentions a girl who worked at the Stanley Street Variety, for example, and that she crossed the street to stand at a bus stop. However the bus stop he was referring to (if he has the street name right) would actually be on the other side of a train track that is raised far above the city streets, then cross a major intersection and go into a smaller neighbourhood — not exactly within the sight lines of the store. (A map would have been helpful, because I suspect he meant she DID go to a bus stop across from the store, which would have made more sense if she was catching a bus all the way to the west end of the city.)
I didn't like that he kept everything chronological rather than case-by-case, so if you read this over a long period of time, he was suddenly bringing up an old case when a new development happened 10 years later and you had to check the index, go back to that person and remind yourself which one of the long list of murdered women he was talking about. I wish he'd covered each case in its entirety separately, moving back and forth in time, which would have hurt his overall theme of recreating the mood of London at the time, but would have given us a better idea of the individual victims rather than making them all faceless people. However, when he lumped together several cases that all happened at the same time, that worked well.
He believes London became such a hub of illicit activity because the 400-series highways that bisect London offer the killers an easy way in and out of the city (which is a little odd considering many of the killers are FROM London) but I actually thought that was a pretty cohesive argument. He romanticizes certain things about Londoners that I thought sounded a little silly: like we live in a miasma of depression knowing that we are a "preferred consumer market" where early tests of things happen, which tells us we're just a middle of the road city that never develops. I remember the first ATM machines here and have been told we had the first McDonalds and we had the first Shoppers Drug Marts with groceries, but unlike the author's assertion, Londoners don't wake up every morning going, "Sigh... another morning, another day being treated like a preferred consumer market." ;) And finally, near the end he talks about the Lynda Shaw murder, which rocked southwestern Ontario when it happened, yet is something almost unknown outside of it. And when he talked about how the actual murderer was identified in 2005, he said it wasn't mentioned much in the media and few Londoners probably realize he was caught, which was a curious thing to say since I was living in Toronto at the time and the news was HUGE and somehow made it to me there. (Also, he perpetuates the story that Shaw was found in an area commonly known as a "lover's lane" among locals: my husband was one of those locals and was in high school at the time and he always said everyone thought that was the funniest thing the London Free Press wrote about the story since that was not true in any way, but the lie persists and clearly even this author believes it.)
Despite ALL these criticisms (and I hate to make them because local authors deserve our support), this is a really compelling book, and I applaud Arntfield for his doggedness in writing it. This is a man who feels very strongly about the ineptitude of the police department and major mistakes in the London newspaper to hinder the cases along the way, and who truly believes these unsolved murders need to be discussed and that maybe the killers are still out there, lurking around. I'm really glad he wrote this, and I'm glad I made it to the end because he tied up many loose ends in the final chapters of the book. I've lived in London for many years of my life (and when I didn't, I lived in towns that were all mentioned in his book) and it was fascinating to see the city I live in have such a dark history. And he does a fantastic job of showing how little Londoners would have been informed when the media was unable to report much on anything, and no one was sharing stories on social media, so the London public largely moved through these decades not realizing for one second that there were multiple serial killers living within their midst, which is the most shocking part of the whole book.
For a self-published book, this was far better written than I suspected it would be — while it still had the spelling, formatting, and storytelling errors one would expect in a book that wasn't professionally edited, the dearth of them was impressive. Arntfield is a compelling writer who has done an extraordinary amount of research into a little-known topic that will no doubt fascinate anyone from London or who grew up in the surrounding area. I found it got harder to read as it went just because it felt like a parade of death and sexual molestation, which can be difficult, especially when it involves children and women, but that's because of the subject matter, not the writing.
My criticisms: I wish the author had indicated landmarks a little differently — since he's writing about a period from the mid-60s to the mid-80s (the title indicates 1959 but he's including the Truscott case, which happened in Clinton, Ontario, an hour north of London, though he makes a good case for the possibility of it being a Londoner who committed the crime), many of the places mentioned no longer exist, so instead of saying what exists on that spot now, or even indicate a general area, he simply says "it now boasts a commercial development" or something along those lines, often not mentioning the street itself. Knowing that the majority of his readership would be Londoners, it's too bad he didn't keep that in mind and instead wrote for an audience he suspected might not know London at all.
The part that irked me the longest while I was reading it is actually the prologue: written in a way that was unlike the rest of the book, he got into the head of the victim, saying she was thinking of her parents or trying desperately to get out of the car and was wondering what was going on... I take exception to anyone trying to get in the head of someone who actually existed, when we have no idea what was going through her head. Within that prologue he has the killer abduct the girl from Aylmer, Ontario, which he says is just off Highway 401 at Highway 73 (it isn't; it's about a 20-minute drive south, and since my entire family originates from Aylmer I know that drive very well) and he has the killer drive her all the way back up to the 401 and head west, only to dump her body a few minutes from the original abduction site which he would have driven past long ago. And then he writes the section as if the killer was never caught, causing me to think he'd just made up a story of her travelling all the way, including — most offensively — saying what her last words were. Only MUCH later in the book does he indicate the killer was caught, casting the entire opening in a new light, but by that point I was starting to wonder if he knew the geography of London at all. He mentions a girl who worked at the Stanley Street Variety, for example, and that she crossed the street to stand at a bus stop. However the bus stop he was referring to (if he has the street name right) would actually be on the other side of a train track that is raised far above the city streets, then cross a major intersection and go into a smaller neighbourhood — not exactly within the sight lines of the store. (A map would have been helpful, because I suspect he meant she DID go to a bus stop across from the store, which would have made more sense if she was catching a bus all the way to the west end of the city.)
I didn't like that he kept everything chronological rather than case-by-case, so if you read this over a long period of time, he was suddenly bringing up an old case when a new development happened 10 years later and you had to check the index, go back to that person and remind yourself which one of the long list of murdered women he was talking about. I wish he'd covered each case in its entirety separately, moving back and forth in time, which would have hurt his overall theme of recreating the mood of London at the time, but would have given us a better idea of the individual victims rather than making them all faceless people. However, when he lumped together several cases that all happened at the same time, that worked well.
He believes London became such a hub of illicit activity because the 400-series highways that bisect London offer the killers an easy way in and out of the city (which is a little odd considering many of the killers are FROM London) but I actually thought that was a pretty cohesive argument. He romanticizes certain things about Londoners that I thought sounded a little silly: like we live in a miasma of depression knowing that we are a "preferred consumer market" where early tests of things happen, which tells us we're just a middle of the road city that never develops. I remember the first ATM machines here and have been told we had the first McDonalds and we had the first Shoppers Drug Marts with groceries, but unlike the author's assertion, Londoners don't wake up every morning going, "Sigh... another morning, another day being treated like a preferred consumer market." ;) And finally, near the end he talks about the Lynda Shaw murder, which rocked southwestern Ontario when it happened, yet is something almost unknown outside of it. And when he talked about how the actual murderer was identified in 2005, he said it wasn't mentioned much in the media and few Londoners probably realize he was caught, which was a curious thing to say since I was living in Toronto at the time and the news was HUGE and somehow made it to me there. (Also, he perpetuates the story that Shaw was found in an area commonly known as a "lover's lane" among locals: my husband was one of those locals and was in high school at the time and he always said everyone thought that was the funniest thing the London Free Press wrote about the story since that was not true in any way, but the lie persists and clearly even this author believes it.)
Despite ALL these criticisms (and I hate to make them because local authors deserve our support), this is a really compelling book, and I applaud Arntfield for his doggedness in writing it. This is a man who feels very strongly about the ineptitude of the police department and major mistakes in the London newspaper to hinder the cases along the way, and who truly believes these unsolved murders need to be discussed and that maybe the killers are still out there, lurking around. I'm really glad he wrote this, and I'm glad I made it to the end because he tied up many loose ends in the final chapters of the book. I've lived in London for many years of my life (and when I didn't, I lived in towns that were all mentioned in his book) and it was fascinating to see the city I live in have such a dark history. And he does a fantastic job of showing how little Londoners would have been informed when the media was unable to report much on anything, and no one was sharing stories on social media, so the London public largely moved through these decades not realizing for one second that there were multiple serial killers living within their midst, which is the most shocking part of the whole book.
August 25, 2015
Murder City: The Untold Story of Canada’s Serial Killer Capital, 1959-1984 by Michael Arntfield shows a complex and ugly side to the supposed veneer that is London, Ontario, Canada. Arntfield has researched and detailed a difficult topic, giving it exposure for further consideration and discussion, like a good book should.
http://tinyurl.com/ou4pudj
http://tinyurl.com/ou4pudj
October 13, 2015
3.5. A review I read in the Guardian made it seem that there'd be more sociological analysis on the subject of London's "averageness" and how that relates to the high incidence of serial killers in the city. That analysis was limited to a short chapter at the end, and was sort of thin (yet provocative).
Otherwise, I had some issues with the writing (repeated references to "grizzly" murders, e.g), and it would have been easier to follow if the stories were organized by cluster of similar murders instead of chronologically (especially for people who aren't reading it in one go -- when picking the book back up after a few days I had forgotten details and had trouble resuming the thread).
Having said that, I admire the author's obsessiveness and thoroughness. He clearly cares about the stories and makes the reader care too. And it's pretty crazy that all this went down in London, and I (a Hamiltonian) had never heard about it.
Otherwise, I had some issues with the writing (repeated references to "grizzly" murders, e.g), and it would have been easier to follow if the stories were organized by cluster of similar murders instead of chronologically (especially for people who aren't reading it in one go -- when picking the book back up after a few days I had forgotten details and had trouble resuming the thread).
Having said that, I admire the author's obsessiveness and thoroughness. He clearly cares about the stories and makes the reader care too. And it's pretty crazy that all this went down in London, and I (a Hamiltonian) had never heard about it.
May 12, 2020
I've not read a true crime book this compelling since Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me or Robert Ressler's Whoever Fights Monsters. Scholarly and fact-based, beat-cop turned criminologist Michael Arntfield tightly tells the story of the generic, unnoteworthy town of London, Ontario which through the decades became to be know as Canada's serial killer capital. The similarities to Kim Rossmo's work - the Vancouver police officer whose ground breaking work in geographic profiling eventually lead to the arrest of Robert Pickton for the murders of allegedly up to 49 downtown Vancouver east side murders - is uncanny, and should not be overlooked. Arntfield points to continued criminal investigative failures in Canadian law enforcement calling into question fundamentals of police investigation, and mis-uses of current technologies such as ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System) and CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). A must read.
July 31, 2017
*Quickie Review*
WOOO TOOK ME 7 MONTHS TO FINISH
• Author was full of himself
• Neat to learn about my current hometown
• Author romanticized everything
• I love true crime
• Author tried to turn innocent people's death into some sort of poetry
• I'm proud of myself for finishing this
• Sometimes the curtains don't symbolize anything. Sometimes they're just blue
WOOO TOOK ME 7 MONTHS TO FINISH
• Author was full of himself
• Neat to learn about my current hometown
• Author romanticized everything
• I love true crime
• Author tried to turn innocent people's death into some sort of poetry
• I'm proud of myself for finishing this
• Sometimes the curtains don't symbolize anything. Sometimes they're just blue
May 14, 2021
It’s an odd feeling to see your home town mythologized.
Murder City describes a series of horrific murders that happened from the 60s to the 80s in London, Ontario, where I live. There’s an argument that this makes London Canada’s serial killer capital, which, sure, if you define the terms a certain way, fits. Regardless, it’s a fascinating look at what went down here in our dark past. Even living here and being moderately connected with the community, I had no idea about most of this stuff.
I’ve also read The Forest City Killer, which covers a lot of the same ground, so it’s hard not to compare them. Murder City is more academic and chronological, sticking to the facts, while FCK is more readable and focused, telling a story with some emotion. Both are worth reading and complement each other in their illumination of the same series of events.
I find myself more connected to my city after reading these books. Tragedy brings people together and all that.
There are a few odd things, like geographical anomalies (yes, I looked up every location on Google Maps, as I’m sure many Londoners did), and a few slips into victim-blaming. Like, at one point he describes someone leaving their window open in the summer as a “mistake,” whereas I lean more toward the guy slipping into that window with a knife as the one doing something wrong. I guess spending your life researching murder can make a writer fearful of everyday actions that happened to lead to murder at some point, so it’s understandable, but morally a bit icky.
Anyway, as a Londoner this is a must-read, if only to avoid past mistakes, and maybe even find justice, given some of these killer geezers may still be alive and someone may know something. Even outside of London, it may be interesting to read about a real-life Gotham City (complete with Arkham Asylum(s)) that, for whatever reason, breeds exceptionally terrible people.
Murder City describes a series of horrific murders that happened from the 60s to the 80s in London, Ontario, where I live. There’s an argument that this makes London Canada’s serial killer capital, which, sure, if you define the terms a certain way, fits. Regardless, it’s a fascinating look at what went down here in our dark past. Even living here and being moderately connected with the community, I had no idea about most of this stuff.
I’ve also read The Forest City Killer, which covers a lot of the same ground, so it’s hard not to compare them. Murder City is more academic and chronological, sticking to the facts, while FCK is more readable and focused, telling a story with some emotion. Both are worth reading and complement each other in their illumination of the same series of events.
I find myself more connected to my city after reading these books. Tragedy brings people together and all that.
There are a few odd things, like geographical anomalies (yes, I looked up every location on Google Maps, as I’m sure many Londoners did), and a few slips into victim-blaming. Like, at one point he describes someone leaving their window open in the summer as a “mistake,” whereas I lean more toward the guy slipping into that window with a knife as the one doing something wrong. I guess spending your life researching murder can make a writer fearful of everyday actions that happened to lead to murder at some point, so it’s understandable, but morally a bit icky.
Anyway, as a Londoner this is a must-read, if only to avoid past mistakes, and maybe even find justice, given some of these killer geezers may still be alive and someone may know something. Even outside of London, it may be interesting to read about a real-life Gotham City (complete with Arkham Asylum(s)) that, for whatever reason, breeds exceptionally terrible people.
January 18, 2022
I found this book while looking for Canadian authors for non fiction education type books. The fact I lived in London, Ontario for 18 years and in surrounding towns my entire life until three years ago and frequently shopped there etc all while completely unaware of this history. I am grateful to Dennis Alsop the "first detective" for knowing he held the key that noone else seemed interested in using to unlock the terror the city was dealing with. Praise to the author for doing his part to share this story and I agree people need to read this. Why were so many officers unwilling to see links between cases? Why were children instantly considered runaways when they knew a string of children were being taken and murdered. Why the lack of interest in pursuing the "Neighbour" despite such damming evidence of his repeated crimes. Sadly women of less than status not even investigated it all just breaks my heart how so much more should have been done and wasn't. The murder of Lynda Shaw I remember hearing it as it unfolded and like it stated in the book, the case was solved yet hardly anyone knows. I for one thought it was still unsolved. Whatever brought London to status of serial killer capital of Canada and possibly the world between 1959-1984 I hope it never repeats. Highly recommend this book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2015
It is obvious that a great deal of effort and dedication went into the writing of this book. Dennis Alsop left a treasure trove of information and it ended up in the right hands. Michael Arntfield wove the crimes together in a cohesive and riveting true tale laced with facts and explanations. There were so many crimes that it was, at times difficult to keep all of the victims' stories straight. Arntfield tied the various crimes together and reminded the reader of who was who without ever being condescending. The book was both educational and fascinating. This truly was a dark time in London's history.
May 17, 2023
I grew up in this area during most of the time period discussed in this great book. I have to say I’m shocked, but not really. I clearly remember being in the first and second grade and being warned that so and so had a strange man try and get them into his car. That the license plate was covered with mud, and thankfully, they did not get in. Everyone learned young about the danger of strangers in cars, but no one ever told us why. My skin crawls just thinking about it. And congrats to the author for doing what this part of the country didn’t do very well back then - talk about things like this. Well done, a great read!
December 10, 2024
This book started out okay, but I was getting annoyed by the 2/3 read mark. One issue for me was the inconsistent writing. One minute the murders are being detailed with all the terminology out of serial killer textbook and the next the details are something out of a bad murder mystery. Make up your mind. Do you want to be uber technical or melodramatic? The two don't mix well.
I also got fed up with the level of criticism levelled at police investigating crimes 40, 50, and even 60 years ago, when technology and procedures were much different. If this book had used the information to showcase how much things have improved, I could get it. But the author just kept going on about how the police should have known stuff and acted in ways that weren't available and/or the norm back then. As they say, hindsight is always 20/20.
While I don't want to cast aspersions on Dennis Alsop, the OPP officer who originally was investigating a lot of the earlier cases, the fact is he was a rogue cop. He benefited from being the only officer assigned to a lot of these cases because he probably wouldn't have been able to be quite so obsessed otherwise. I think it was telling that only one senior officer supported him, I suspect Alsop was rather insufferable. And him investigating things on his own, as well as keeping official files to put in a time capsule under his basement floor is more than a little strange. Overall, Alsop didn't play a large role in the book, certainly not what would have been expected from the book's back cover synopsis. And, to be fair, he didn't solve any of the crimes or put any of the suspected serial killers behind bars. So in the end his intuition wasn't any more successful than the standard police methods at the time.
In the end this book is little more than a list of the women and young children (no men were killed in the years covered by the book, at least not by a serial killer) who were murdered in the years listed in the title. And why their names should be remembered and honoured, I don't see the value in using their stories to bash police officers from decades ago, most of whom are probably dead now.
I also got fed up with the level of criticism levelled at police investigating crimes 40, 50, and even 60 years ago, when technology and procedures were much different. If this book had used the information to showcase how much things have improved, I could get it. But the author just kept going on about how the police should have known stuff and acted in ways that weren't available and/or the norm back then. As they say, hindsight is always 20/20.
While I don't want to cast aspersions on Dennis Alsop, the OPP officer who originally was investigating a lot of the earlier cases, the fact is he was a rogue cop. He benefited from being the only officer assigned to a lot of these cases because he probably wouldn't have been able to be quite so obsessed otherwise. I think it was telling that only one senior officer supported him, I suspect Alsop was rather insufferable. And him investigating things on his own, as well as keeping official files to put in a time capsule under his basement floor is more than a little strange. Overall, Alsop didn't play a large role in the book, certainly not what would have been expected from the book's back cover synopsis. And, to be fair, he didn't solve any of the crimes or put any of the suspected serial killers behind bars. So in the end his intuition wasn't any more successful than the standard police methods at the time.
In the end this book is little more than a list of the women and young children (no men were killed in the years covered by the book, at least not by a serial killer) who were murdered in the years listed in the title. And why their names should be remembered and honoured, I don't see the value in using their stories to bash police officers from decades ago, most of whom are probably dead now.
August 18, 2018
Great Read & well researched book. Unfortunately the Author or Publisher didn't do a great job editing it. The Author comes to some ridiculous conclusions & strays from the facts & research at times & writes his feelings or gives credit to Police and isn't nearly as critical of the practices & miss steps. Check that. He doesn't put Police and Coroners on "Blast" Also missing was a deeper understanding of the failure of our Courts & Laws. Some of his conclusions are dead on but a non fiction writer needs to lay out the facts & stories & lead the readers to their own conclusions. I don't fault the writer. The editor should have caught this stuff. All that being said. It's very rare, to get a glimpse into such an Evil period in a City I have grown up in and this book has some phenomenal research & is a must read. I couldn't put this book down. At times I equated it to ripping off a band aid. W/ stories so shocking & horrible I had to get through it as quickly as possible. Sadly Londoners remain ignorant & rather not know. Armfield summed it up perfectly. London was always marketed as the Forest City. Not too small & not to big like Toronto. London was sold as a safer place to live and raise a family. Sadly that image is false. Overall, this book is brilliant & the Author should be applauded for the research & work he put into it. The hero of the story needs to be recognized! It's disgusting that we wouldn't recognize someone who has to deal with the darkest, evil and sadistic deeds while we all get to keep some semblance of innocence.
January 24, 2023
A really well-written book focusing on the peak serial killer years in London, Ontario. The book breaks down each case, talks about what went wrong/didn't happen in the process of solving them, and paints an extensive picture of the history of serial murder in the London area.
I would say that the book balances informative subject matter with an engaging writing style, while at the same time making sure to treat the victims with respect and not over-sensationalize their deaths. I personally liked the section near the end where the author broke the murders into charts and cataloged each type visually, I thought that was a great addition to the book. It also had a very interesting end chapter about London as a 'generica' city, and what effects that could potentially have on the psyche of someone that lives in the area.
Overall, very engaging book, and something that I didn't know a lot about! Hoping he writes a follow-up book if he's at some point in the future allowed to share more information if some of the cold cases get solved (though some will never be).
I would say that the book balances informative subject matter with an engaging writing style, while at the same time making sure to treat the victims with respect and not over-sensationalize their deaths. I personally liked the section near the end where the author broke the murders into charts and cataloged each type visually, I thought that was a great addition to the book. It also had a very interesting end chapter about London as a 'generica' city, and what effects that could potentially have on the psyche of someone that lives in the area.
Overall, very engaging book, and something that I didn't know a lot about! Hoping he writes a follow-up book if he's at some point in the future allowed to share more information if some of the cold cases get solved (though some will never be).
December 3, 2017
This is a fascinating mix of true crime reportage and academic prose from the field of criminology that illuminates a truly frightening period in Ontario history. I picked it up on a trip to London at the end of September, and have sipped on it ever since. There are a lot of solved and unsolved murders to sift through here, and here's a great hook from CBC. As a child of the 70's, growing up with child abduction and murder paranoia (fed by real headlines, urban legends and school films like
Never Go With Strangers
and
January 19, 2017
I read this book rather quickly, because the more I read, the more depressed I became. The litany of women and children horribly murdered, with the majority of crimes unsolved (and it appears no one really tried to solve them, except for one detective). is terrible to consider. In very few instances is anyone held accountable for these crimes. Those who were eventually considered or found responsible had in many cases already committed horrendous crimes, served minimal sentences, then been released. The criminal justice system here in Canada is pitiful. These things still go on, but the police have become much better at solving these kinds of crimes. The system, however, sometimes lets us all down.
March 26, 2023
Overall a good read. The first few chapters I found a bit boring only because it was describing the complexities of serial killers, differences between types of killers, modus operandi (MO) versus signature, types of paraphilia and rapist typologies. The remaining chapters then described and outlined various murders that happened and possible suspects. Lots of shocking stories - many still unsolved!
Between 1959-1984, London produced or otherwise hosted at least six and as many as nine serial killers - roughly 10% of all serial killers in Canadian history in one place at a time. These tragic stories are interesting but also heartbreaking due to inadequate police resources despite the sole investigators requests for a task force or at least additional staff to aid in the investigations.
Between 1959-1984, London produced or otherwise hosted at least six and as many as nine serial killers - roughly 10% of all serial killers in Canadian history in one place at a time. These tragic stories are interesting but also heartbreaking due to inadequate police resources despite the sole investigators requests for a task force or at least additional staff to aid in the investigations.
July 3, 2018
This book was particularly fascinating to me as I grew up in that time and one of my high school chums was one of the victims. As this is written by a criminology expert, the first couple of chapters have some thick language explaining the various paraphilias of serial killers, but once you are into the chapters on the crimes themselves, it is a chilling read, especially for those of us who grew up in this area oblivious to how dangerous it was.
It is especially educational for the reverberations caused by the Steven Truscott case and how they rippled though Canadian police forces with devastating consequences.
It is especially educational for the reverberations caused by the Steven Truscott case and how they rippled though Canadian police forces with devastating consequences.
March 21, 2017
I just finished this book an was surprised on how it held my attention. First a disclaimer. I currently live in London (though didn't during the book's focus period) so can relate to the setting. The style is reminiscent of a history text book which is not surprising since the author is a university prof. What I really found interesting is the failure of the provincial and city police to collaborate and exchange notes in petty jurisdictional squabbles which resulted in these crimes going unsolved and undetected for years. The author pulls no punches in his criticism and his call for citizens to demand better or their law enforcement. If you enjoyed the Netflicks documentary "To Catch a Killer" and have an interest in small town Ontario this book is a recommended read.
June 19, 2020
London, Ontario had anywhere from two to six (maybe more) serial killers in the 1960’s through the 1980’s. Dozens of victims, some murders never solved. Law enforcement at the time was apathetic and sub-adequate, and the new highway system nearby made it easy for transients to come and go. I’m glad this book gave each victim’s name and some history about them, so they’re not just statistics. It’s wretched that many families will never have closure on what happened to their loved ones, and many murderers will go to their graves undetected. It’s almost unfathomable, but all true.
June 22, 2024
The book was organized well. The prologue hooks you. The first chapter is an introduction to the book and serial killers. Then, start the cases. I really like that the book is neatly laid out in chronological order of the crimes, suspects, those convicted, and even when remains were discovered.
The book includes horrific crimes that took place in and around London, Ontario. I had no idea this area had such a dark past.
The book features crimes that are both solved and unsolved. I hope enough awareness of the unsolved cases spread and can one day be solved.
The book includes horrific crimes that took place in and around London, Ontario. I had no idea this area had such a dark past.
The book features crimes that are both solved and unsolved. I hope enough awareness of the unsolved cases spread and can one day be solved.
May 12, 2025
I liked finding out about the murders in the city I live and the surrounding areas and I liked how the author wasn't biased about who they thought was the killer. I didn't like how the author wrote, it felt like he was using bigger words than he needed to and I ended up taking about a year to read the book because I couldn't get into it. Once I finished I passed it along to my dad and my sister who both had the same response, that it was nice to learn about the murders but his writing style was overcompensating
August 13, 2022
Love the concept, but it wasn't written very well, given its audience. If the entire point is to spread information and make the cases more known to the public, why write it in such a way that it would be challenging for the average person to understand or really get in to? That being said, I enjoyed it, it was interesting to learn about my hometown.
October 8, 2019
Extremely creepy.. as I was visiting my Aunt for the summer (who lived in Toronto) at this very same time period!!
But also loaded with many interesting facts and good information for those who study these themes.
But also loaded with many interesting facts and good information for those who study these themes.
December 21, 2017
Written too much like a text book.
January 8, 2018
Using this for a project working on. Gave great information on London, Ontario.
September 20, 2018
Very detailed
The things these people where subjected to are just sad. But we must remember that without technology, the only tools left are common sense.
The things these people where subjected to are just sad. But we must remember that without technology, the only tools left are common sense.
February 3, 2021
It could have been a very good book, but it was very disorganized in my opinion.
November 5, 2021
Somewhat hard to keep your interest.
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October 22, 2022I honestly couldn’t finish this book, so depressing, horrifying and thorough descriptions of disgusting crimes, couldn’t do it.
December 19, 2022
Feels wrong saying I enjoyed this book. However, I'm glad I read it. Knowing you've been to near exact places that people went missing or their bodies were found is truly bone chilling.
February 22, 2023
It was okay. Not my cup of tea in a crime type book but interesting
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