Depraved - Harold Schechter

"This is must reading for crime buffs. DEPRAVED demonstrates that sadistic psychopaths are not a modern day phenomena... gruesome, awesome, compelling reporting." Anne Rule.
Here is the macabre story of H.H. Holmes, architect of the infamous "Castle of Horror", whose labyrinth of trapdoors, stairways to nowhere, bedchambers fitted with peepholes and asphyxiating gas pipes, greased body chutes, and a cellar equipped with acid vats, a crematorium, and dissecting table, became an unspeakable domain of torture and murder. With stark, ghastly detail, DEPRAVED takes you into the mind of this evil genius - who alternatively posed as doctor, druggist, and inventor to snare his prey in 19th Century Chicago - and reveals a mesmerizing tale of true detection before the age of technological wizardry.