Eclectic collection of true crime stories 1920s'on

There is a repeated format of a scene setting introduction, 12 cases per decade and a conclusion starting in 1920's and finishing in 1980's, so seven parts. I could discern no logic to the order of presentation and, at times, it deviated from the introduction's contentions. An example is a decade described as being filled with serial killers has a single victim crime to begin. There is an overlap in the tone of the introductions and conclusions with the former variously promising to keep you up all night, understanding motives for murder or getting inside the mind of a psychopath. My rating is partly based upon it doing none of these things. It is written as narrative non-fiction to try and make it more dramatic, but this detracts from credibility and accuracy of reporting. An example is that more than once you are told an innocent person is the last one to see the victim alive, Any amateur detective or police procedural afficionado will know that the killer is the last person to see the victim alive, in most instances. There are also accounts giving details without saying how this colour and depth to the story is known. This is particularly perplexing in the accounts where the perpetrator is unknown - and there seemed to be a lot of these. I suspect all the unkown solution cases were intended to create tension in that the killer could still be at large.It backfires somewhat when the cases start over 100 years ago.
The accounts come from three continents and whilst this provides some balance to the USA bias, it also exposes the lack of research or understanding of some of these cases. The American narrator also has trouble with non-US words and phrases, mangling pronunciations. Another example of credibility being reduced by the narrative style is telling you English witnesses are using US English words like sidewalk instead of pavement. The narrator also seemed to have made some mistakes in saying forties when on the section about the fifties and using RCMP and RMCP when referring to Canadian mounties. The narration must have been a herculean task and I have given credit for this as well as trying to inject some enthusiasm and emotion into the telling.

I received a free advance review copy and am leaving this review volintarily.

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