The Truth about Belle Gunness: The True Story of Notorious Serial Killer Hell's Belle

Gold Medal

by Lillian de la Torre

Edgar Award The true story of the female Norwegian immigrant who led a secret life as a serial killer in the early twentieth-century Midwest.

On the morning of April 27, 1908, the farmhand on a lonely property outside La Porte, Indiana, woke to the smell of smoke. He tried to rouse the lady of the house, the towering Belle Poulsdatter Sorenson Gunness, and he called the names of her three children—but they didn’t answer, and the farmhand barely escaped alive. The house burned to the foundation, and in the rubble, firemen found the corpses of Belle, her two daughters, and her son. The discovery raised two chilling questions. Who started the fire, and who cut off Belle’s head?

As investigators searched the property, they uncovered something. The remains of a dozen or more men and children who had been murdered with poison or cleaver were buried beneath the hog pen. It turned out Belle Gunness was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. And when the investigation revealed that the body found in the fire might not have been hers, the people of La Porte were forced to confront the terrifying realization that Belle might have gotten out alive.

Nominated for an Edgar Award for best factual crime story, The Truth about Belle Gunness is based on extensive interviews with witnesses and residents of La Porte who knew Belle and her family. Perfect for fans of In Cold Blood or The Devil in the White City, it is a “magnificent [and] brilliantly written” exploration of a highly unusual murderer (The New York Times).
 

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Serial Killer, Crime

206 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Lillian de la Torre was an American novelist and a prolific writer of historical mysteries. Her name is a pseudonym for Lillian de la Torre Bueno McCue.

Her most popular works were in a series of stories she wrote about Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, under the title 'Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector'. She also wrote numerous books, short stories for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, reviews for The New York Times Book Review, poetry and plays. She was a President of the Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

[BAM IS BACK!]

Many thanks to Lillian de la Torres, Mysterious Press, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

At the time of request I was under the assumption that this was a current publication; however, it is a reissue of the tale of murder for profit by a hussie in Laporte, IN about 60 miles outside Chicago. The book was written in the 1950s, the deaths in the 1900s. What becomes just as consequential is the possible death of Gunness herself and the possible perpetrator as well as accessory to the charnel house of Northern Indiana.
Where I find the book falls flat is the areas of the author's suppositions. Chapters based on fact are well written and seemed to be well researched, but de la Torres inveighed a bit too much for my tastes. This was certainly a basket of crime I has never heard of occurring in my home state, but I appreciate source material more than grand supposition.


True Crime Commemoration # 4
Setting: early 1900s LaPorte IN about 60 miles east of Chicago

[Valerity (Val)]

While it's a full telling of Belle's story, it is also this author's theory of what she felt really happened to Belle in the end. Spends a lot of time on Lamphere and his trial. Looks to be a reprint of her 1955 book. I've read several books on Belle including a more recent one putting forth a new theory that she may have taken on the identity of yet another victim after the fire. The new victim being from another state that she killed. She was then later able to assume her identity and live on as her for the remainder of her life. Lots of theories out there.

( My thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for providing me with an ARC in return for my review.)

[Christine]

This is very, very sensationalized.

[Eva Müller]

This review can also be found on my blog.


When I requested this book I expected a recently written book about Belle Gunness. It is neither new nor really about Belle. Now I don’t mind the not new part much. It’s a re-release of a book from the 1950s but considering that it’s still fine. I’ve read some older true crime books that were very sensationalist and cheerfully mixed fact and fiction. (Not that newer ones are always better, especially when it comes to sensationalism). However, that wasn’t the problem. Yes, the facts were sometimes dressed in (light) purple prose and especially at the beginning we are told a lot about the thoughts and feelings of the people involved but that gets better.
However, it’s also not really a book about Belle Gunness. It opens with her farm burning down and the discoveries of the bodies on the ground. Then it spends only a short time on Belle’s life and her crimes. I already knew more about her and my only previous contact with Belle had been my favourite true crime podcast doing an episode on her.
The book’s actual focus is Ray Lamphere’s trial. Only at the very end, it returns to Belle and the author poses her own theory about Belle’s fate. (A theory that’s plausible but also one that hasn’t any more proof than any other). Now I wasn’t that interested in that trial before I started reading and the book didn’t change that.
Mainly because the trial is mainly told via court transcripts. Just one after the other (with the occasional newspaper article thrown in) with the minimum linking narration possible. Sure, some original quotes from the time are good but this book goes beyond that. Often the information from several pages of transcripts could have been summed up in a few paragraphs. And then the next transcript just repeats the information we already got in the last one. It makes for some rather tiresome reading.

The book simply has a misleading blurb. I wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known that it focussed so heavily on the trial. If that’s your thing you might enjoy it more than I did.
ARC provided by NetGalley

[Laura]

I was very disappointed to see there were no footnotes. No idea where all the "facts" actually come from.

[Meaghan]

I was lead to believe that this book would be kind of trashy, but I didn't find it so at all. It appears to be a soberly written account of the whole sordid story of Belle's crimes and the sensational aftermath. The author takes the evidence all together and, in the final pages, puts forth her own surprising theory to explain the inexplicable events. I'm not sure whether I agree with her idea, but it's worth thinking about. This book is as good as any if you want a short but thorough look at the case.

[Videoclimber(AKA)MTsLilSis]

An interesting take on the life of a serial killer. I wish we knew what really happened to her. I enjoyed the author's writing.

*Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Rosemary Krystofolski]

Good book about the Mysterious Gunness Case

Fascinating Book about one of the most prolific female serial killers ever, Belle Gunness who murdered a lot of people. In April 1908 early in the morning, before dawn neighbors in La Porte, Indiana were awakened by a raging inferno at the home of a widow, Mrs. Belle Gunness and her three children, Myrtle, Lucy and Phillip. The fire destroyed the entire house and three bodies, an adult and three children were found in the rubble of the fire. While cleaning up after the fire people discovered the butchered bodies of many missing people, including Andrew Helgelien, A man that she had met through matrimonial ads and lured there with a significant amount of money and Jennie Olsen, Mrs. Gunness's foster daughter were discovered buried in the hog pen. Belle Gunness was discovered to have murdered a lot of people and to have stolen a lot of money and the adult corpse that they found in the fire was missing its head so the sheriff started to believe that Mrs. Gunness had set the fire and then absconded. They found her teeth in the ruins eventually and arrested her former workman, Ray Lamphere and charged him with arson and murder. He was convicted of arson but not of murder and died in prison a couple years later of tuberculosis.

[Bea]

This is a good book for someone who wants to know every detail about the trial of Belle Gunness, a woman who murdered husbands and lovers and business partners and kids and anyone who might know about any of what she was up to. I enjoyed most of it, but I didn't realize that it was going to be mostly about the trial of a hired man, presumed to be another lover who supposedly helped her bury many of the bodies on her farm, in the hog pen and under holes she had dug for "trash". He was on trial for murdering her, but there is a real question that it was her body they found burned up in her house. I always enjoy reading about things that happened in the past, this one being in 1906. They found many of the bodies, but not the 40 that legend says. I looked her up on the internet and she didn't look anything like the picture on the cover. She was very unattractive, but was able to spin a web around many men that kept them around even though they suspected something, but weren't always sure what, long enough to have them withdraw all the money they had and give it to her. They say she had $30,000 when she disappeared, either in the fire or on the run.

[Katie]

This book definately could have been written better...I feel that more attention should have been paid to the woman herself, but the book focusses mainly on the trial of her alleged killer. I didn't realise this book was written in the 1950's, but you can certainly tell after a while as the author insists on using a racial slur in one of the character's names. The kindle edition should have been proof-read a bit more closely too. Saying this, the main story is very interesting and this short book is worth a read if you're a fan of True Crime and are looking for something less well-known.
The story of Belle is really interesting...a serial killer is only discovered in the event of her apparent death, when bodies are found on her property. The title of the book is misleading as the truth about Belle is not apparent, but the theories and ideas of what happened back in 1908 are intruiging and I enjoyed thinking about what the most likely story is.
It's a shame there were no photos either, especially of Belle herself. Perhaps it's time for an updated version of this book?
Dated and a little clunky, but worth a read for the story itself.

[Lorrie]

This is an interesting true crime tale on Belle Gunness, female serial killer from LaPorte, IN, who presumably died in a house fire in 1908 with her 3 children. The charred adult body found in the remains was headless, however, so it was never positively identified as belonging to Gunness. The bulk of this book was on the trial of Ray Lamphere, former farmhand for Belle, who had also been involved with her intimately, and had been charged in her death. He was ultimately found guilty only of arson. Found on her property after her presumed death were buried the bodies of men, women and children she had killed, mostly for financial gain. It is thought she had murdered dozens. The mystery, even to this day, is whether or not Belle escaped justice and lived the remainder of her days elsewhere.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for providing this book for review.

[Amy]

I got this book because I had heard a bit about Belle Gunness having a Grandma from LaPorte and seeing the little diorama at the LaPorte historical museum. It is always something my family talked about, but I didn't even really believe it was true. So I thought it would be interesting to read about it. It turned out it was only about 50% about Belle Gunness, and it was actually about the hired man. It would be interesting now to figure out the whole case with DNA. There were many unidentified bodies/skeletons found. The book was actually written in 1955, so it had some formal language that isn't really used any more, and it surprisingly had some racist language that was used in a very matter of fact way, so it was clear it was well inbred in the time/place. It wasn't very compelling, it took me a long time to read.

[Teresa]

This book is straight fiction, and it is very misleading to say it is the truth about her. It may be the truth about the trial, but it is all in the authors head what happened to her after the fire, as are the thoughts of the other people involved.

I also found the cover of thebook very misleading as if you want to see what this woman really looked like - sge was about 5foot 10 ( some say taller but her doctor sayd 5 foot 9) Had blqack hair and was very heavy - about 250 pounds.

Since everyone involved is gone, hearing what they were thinking and feelings - in a true crime non fiction book - is bizarre.

Lamphere died in 1909, so the whole thing is fiction except the court exherps.

Horrible book.

[Sandra Payne]

Not quite the truth about Belle Guinness...more about truth or supposition about the man originally charged with her murder. I thought I was getting a book on her life and exploration if her crimes. Rather the book starts with the discovery of what is believed to be her body and follows the arrest and trial of gentleman believed responsible. A little bit of narrative is given about her victims,told in almost flashback mode. I found myself skimming thru parts of the trial and testimony and looking for key words to expand any information of her crimes. Overall a book I am glad I read. Would I read it again? No. There are other books about this event and this criminal and I would suggest those first, then read this one just to round out your knowledge

[Pamela Simone]

A Decent Summary of the Case

The thing I liked was that it was a decent review of the case. It focused more on the trial of Ray Lamphere. I expected more analysis because the author had access to people who remembered the case first hand.
What I didn't care for was the style. It read more like an old true detective magazine from the 1940s or 1950s. I'm sure she could have also consulted experts on some details of the case to provide insight into evidence and forensics. All it did was summarize Lamphere's trial transcript.
The author ends the book by throwing out some tidbits and opinions but lacked detail or supporting theory for her conclusions. It was like she was bored with her own subject.
I recommend if for the summary of the case but it is only a so-so read.

[Join the Penguin Resistance!]

Throughout this nonfiction narrative, my brain kept shouting "Forensics! Autopsy! DNA!" despite the fact that this trial occurred in a small town in 1908. Well, all of those factors, if the science had progressed to that point, would have been immensely helpful. However, science wasn't available, so those who tried to determine facts were adrift on a sea of gossip, Narcissistic manipulation, political ambition, and personal agendas, none of which are ever effective tools of truth.


In the long run, unless some Court somewhere orders exhumations, no one will ever know. However I found the author's suggested conclusion quite compelling, and indeed possible. Unfortunately the fact that we will never know grates on my imagination, that and unpunished injustice.

[Kate Blankenship]

I read this book because I heard the story on the Sword and Scale podcast. It was really intriguing and since it’s essentially ‘unsolved,’ I wanted to see if the book offered any new information.

While the story of Belle Gunness is quite a tale, I truly believe we will never know what happened. We heard what supposedly happened but for much of this book, it focused on a court trial featuring Ray Lamphere who supposedly had a personal vendetta against Gunness and killed her and her children. Honestly, none of it made sense. And there are so many possibilities as to what happened.

I don’t regret reading it because it was very interesting. But it was just a long drawn out process with no new real information.

[Steven Howes]

I had never heard of suspected serial killer Belle Gunness who lived in Indiana around the turn of the last century until I read this book. She preyed upon men who answered her adds searching for a prospective husband. Many questions surround her apparent death in a house fire and the identity of headless charred corpse found among the rubble. If you want to learn more, check out the Wikipedia entry on Belle Gunness. It will tell you everything you need to know in about ten minutes and save you the cost of the book and the time spent reading it.

[Annamay]

I generally enjoy murder and mayhem committed by real people. Don't know why as I am not a mystery buff at all. As with most, this book told the story, but it did not add much color. I found myself skipping pages. I don't like to do that. After a while, I was forcing myself to finish.
It was boring. I wasn't horrified by her ghastly history of murder. There really wasn't much to this book.

[Darlene Williams]

The book was interesting, however, there were so many metaphors at one point it was not fun to read. Are they people or battle ships. Are they part of an armada or not. Most of the book is plainly written and holds the readers attention. I found “Starvation Heights” more interesting. Women of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s seemed to be very good at making money by killing.

[John F. Wells Jr.]

True crime is one of my other favorite subjects so this book caught my eye. The subject of this book was as evil and greedy as they get. The book starts out strong and helps the reader understand what criminal investigations were like back in 1906. It became a little slow in parts but otherwise a good read.

[Too Many Toys]

A worthwhile read

This is an engaging story that appears true to the facts. The authors use of period prose was sometimes tiring, but not tedious. It held my interest and that the author held her speculation until the end, was appropriate. This book encourages me to read more of the authors work.

[Harvey Jr.]

An entertaining if troubling story.

The history of the piece is as appealing as the subject matter, appalling. Though the writing is old-fashioned by the standards of the modern day, nevertheless, the telling is gripping and entertaining. Taken altogether, an excellent read!

[Johanna Strother]

Mystery

Interesting enough to keep me reading to the end. Curious loose ends made me suspect the one never accused ok f collusion but alluded to in the author summary. Makes you wonder

[Carole Stamm]

Interesting story, but characters not really fleshed out, who were they, how did they get to where they were, what was the environment where this all took place., etc. Just seemed very surface coverage. Gruesome events, but lacked context.

[Cdnkiwi80]

Good book, I’d never heard this story before. Belle was an interesting woman for sure.
It would be great to know if there’s been any more information turned up.
A good, solid read if you like true crime stories

[David Vander Plaats]

Although this is an interesting story, it could have been told much better.

[Laura Wheat]

Terrible book. Waste of time

[Melissa]

Wikipedia with more adlib. Would not recommend

[Sarah Bucher]

I did not realize this book was published so long ago. Some of the writing is just hilarious but also painful to read at times.