Criminal Investigators, Villains, and Tricksters: A Trip Through History

Police detectives, private detectives, scientific detectives, forensic scientists, and criminals. You'll find their stories in this historical tour. Eug ne-Fran ois Vidocq (the first modern detective), Allan Pinkerton and his detective agency, and private eye William J. Burns number among the crime-busters here. You'll learn about cowboy detectives Dave Cook, Jim Hume, and Charlie Siringo, as well as pioneer American forensic investigators Luke May and Edward Heinrich. The book also offers the origins of Scotland Yard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and North American crime labs. Criminals from history get their fair cut. Read about William Burke and William Hare, who built a business of selling human bodies to anatomy schools. Too proud to rob graves, they maintained their stock by killing. Meet Herman Mudgett, the 19th century serial killer who built a house of horrors with torture rooms. Read about Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb who brutally slaughtered a young boy just to prove that they could get away with murder. You'll also read about historical figures whose fame arose from a trick, such as the two sisters who encouraged the growth of the early American Spiritualist Movement with their cracking toe joints. Discover the curious Case of the Cottingley Fairies, in which two girls convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that they had photographed otherworldly creatures. These and many other stories populate the pages of Criminal Investigators, Villains, and Tricksters: A Trip Through History.