America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster (Mind of a Serial Killer, True Crime, Violence in Society, Criminology)

Product Description

The Making of a Female Serial Killer
“In America’s First Female Serial Killer, McBrayer offers us a complex–and terrifying–portrait of a killer who seemed almost doomed from birth.” –Kate Winkler Dawson, author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI
#1 Best Seller in History of Ireland
For readers who are fascinated by how serial killers are made. This book is for listeners of true crime podcasts and readers of both fiction and true crime nonfiction. It is for watchers of television shows like Deadly Women and Mindhunter, who are fascinated by how killers are made. It’s for self-conscious feminists, Americans trying to bootstrap themselves into success, and anyone who loves a vigilante beatdown, especially one gone off the rails.
America’s first female serial killer was not always a killer. America’s First Female Serial Killer novelizes the true story of first-generation Irish-American nurse Jane Toppan, born as Honora Kelley. Although all the facts are intact, books about her life and her crimes are all facts and no story. Jane Toppan was absolutely a monster, but she did not start out that way.
Making of a serial killer. When Jane was a young child, her father abandoned her and her sister to the Boston Female Asylum. From there, Jane was indentured to a wealthy family who changed her name, never adopted her, wrote her out of the will, and essentially taught her how to hate herself. Jilted at the altar, Jane became a nurse and took control of her life, and the lives of her victims.
Readers of America’s First Female Serial Killer:

Will gain insight into the personal development of a severely damaged person without rationalizing her crimes
Experience the rarely told story of a female serial killer
Understand that even monsters were humans, first

If you enjoyed books such as In We Keep the Dead Close, Mindhunter, or In Cold Blood; you will love reading America’s First Female Serial Killer.

Review

“In America’s First Female Serial Killer, Mary Kay McBrayer brilliantly presents one of the most fascinating serial killers in American history–and not just because the killer was a woman. McBrayer digs into the troubled life of Jane Toppan, who is by far one of the most disturbing ‘angels of death’ found in the annals of murder. What McBrayer offers us is a complex–and terrifying–portrait of a killer who seemed almost doomed from birth.” –Kate Winkler Dawson, author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI

“Mary Kay McBrayer has written a thoughtful and inspired take on one of the greatest poisoners in history. America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster seethes with rage, compulsion, and a righteous condemnation of the servitude of the underclass. A chilling and sobering read.” –Robert Levy, author of The Glittering World and Anaïs Nin at the Grand Guignol

Review

“America’s First Female Serial Killer is more than a book about murder; it’s a recipe for creating monsters. McBrayer has turned knowledge into a gripping narrative and cold facts into a full, painful life to show us how wanting to be needed can turn a normal person into a heartless fiend. This is Capote’s In Cold Blood for serial killer enthusiasts: meticulously researched, superbly written, and incredibly vivid. Don’t miss it.” ―Gabino Iglesias, author of Zero Saints and Coyote Songs
“America’s First Female Serial Killer sheds light on the horrifying―but long neglected―story of Jane Toppan, the nurse with the dubious honour of being America’s first female serial killer. Toppan’s own confession stated that she had dispatched over thirty victims through poisoning―but her motives are contradictory and unclear. In this compelling and creative book, McBrayer unravels the threads of Jane Toppan’s narrative to see what we can discover of the woman beneath. It’s a startling picture of sociopath quite unlike any other, told through the fragmented s