Customer Reviews

Bad Girls Do It!: An Encyclopedia of Female Murderers

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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This collection of macabre women is certainly a welcome addition to the vast sea of books on [primarily male] serial killers. Still, it's rather encyclopedic in nature, and if you read it straight through (as I did) you're likely to be overwhelmed, nauseated, and left wanting more. Newton covers a lot of ground, but I wish he would've been more in-depth on some cases. All in all, though, it's a striking book and well worth the cost. Plus the cover is snazzy and will upset your mother.

The cover art on this book is deceiving: a brightly colored cartoon panel of a 1950s-looking heavily made-up woman smoking. There is nothing cartoonish, sleazy, or sordid about this book. This is a serious, thorough reference work devoted to female mulitple murderers [mass and serial]. It deserves to be called encyclopedic; it contains case descriptions of all the major female serial killers [and more than a few minor ones] and a wide spectrum of female mass killers, known and unknown.

Each woman's case is described decently--these aren't capsule descriptions [though some of them are quite short]. The writing is matter-of-fact and there are no illustrations in the text. Recently, I came across a reference to Martha Woods, one of the first women prosecuted for Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy in the US. Her case is obscure but I found an entry for her in this book. It is that kind of reference work.

As one of only a few females i know who are interested in the serial killer, i found this book hard to quit reading, i was enthralled in many cases, only to find myself wanting to read a book several hundred pages long on the murderess. Some cases left me feeling like he was fluffing up his book. However, some other entries left me cringing and in awe. I have wondered where all the female murderers were kept.... Michael Newton unlocked that door for me can't wait to read Hunting Humans

Learn about Elizabeth Bathory, Carpathian countess who bathed in blood to stay young! Or about Mary Bell, 11 year old murderess! Read the unbelievable exploits of Martha Beck, who went from washing corpses to making them! If you're at all interested in this kind of stuff (my cotton candy) then this is surely the book for you. Very thorough and entertaining.

very informative. i love womens crime books. this is easy to read and interesting .some women are well known and some ive never heard of. stories are short or long depending on the records of the crimes. its a large, magazine size book. anyone interested in crimes, history etc. would love this book. try it.