The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer [Hardcover]

M. William Phelps (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

The Devil’s Rooming House is the first book about the life, times, and crimes of America’s most prolific female serial killer. In telling this fascinating story, M. William Phelps also paints a vivid portrait of early-twentieth-century New England.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To recreate the early 20th century killing spree which took place primarily in Connecticut's "Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids" (the inspiration for Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace), Phelps amasses an abundance of research to complement his already-extant authority on female murderers (the author of Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine, Phelps has also consulted on serial killer TV drama Dexter). A seemingly charming setting, the Archer Home was run by Amy Archer-Gilligan, a homely "Christian woman" who provided the last hope of a comfortable home for many of her elderly residents. As a nasty heat wave overtook the East Coast, however, the number of deaths occurring in the Archer Home spiked precipitously. After 24 deaths over four years, a vigilant reporter noted that Archer-Gilligan has been purchasing large quantities of arsenic; she was using it to kill the very residents she'd sent to purchase it for her. Phelps' diligent research creates a vivid portrait of the country a century ago, but his telling is oddly dispassionate; readers may not fully understand the brutality of Archer-Gilligan's crimes until the list of the dead at end of the book, laid out over three full pages.
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From Booklist

Amy Archer-Gilligan—Sister Amy, she was called—was a murderess well-enough known to be cited as an inspiration for Joseph Kesselring’s perennial grim farce, Arsenic and Old Lace. She took in elderly and frail roomers and dispatched them with loads of cyanide. Along with husband James, she opened the Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1907, having succeeded with a similar, smaller facility in nearby Newington. James dying in short order, Amy married wealthy widower Michael Gilligan, who expired suddenly not long after, willing his estate to his new bride. Because of her friendships with local bigwigs, including the coroner, nobody noticed the rather high death rate among her patients until local newspaper stringer and jack-of-all-trades Carlan Hollister Goslee started poking around. Discovering the large quantities of arsenic Sister Amy had been purchasing, ostensibly to control rodents, he pressed his findings on authorities who eventually responded by exhuming bodies. Amy’s sensational trial attracted great interest, and Phelps wraps the whole dirty business in a delightfully cozy narrative. A genteel true-crime excursion. --Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 2nd prt. edition (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599216019
• ISBN-13: 978-1599216010
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Crime expert, lecturer, TV personality and acclaimed investigative journalist M. William Phelps is the national bestselling, award-winning author of nineteen nonfiction books. Winner of 2008 New England Book Festival Award for I'll Be Watching You, Phelps has made close to 100 television appearances, including CBS's "Early Show," Court TV/truTV, Discovery Channel, Fox News Channel, ABC's "Good Morning America," Learning Channel, Biography Channel, History Channel, Montel Williams, Investigation Discovery, Oxygen's "Snapped" and "Captured;" he's been on USA Radio Network, Catholic Radio, Ava Maria Radio, ABC News Radio and Radio America, who calls him "the nation's leading authority on the mind of the female murderer." He's written for the Providence Journal, Hartford Courant, New London Day, and consulted on the first season of the hit Showtime cable television series "Dexter."

Profiled in such noted publications as Connecticut Magazine, Writer's Digest, NY Daily News, Newsday, Albany Times-Union, Hartford Courant, Advance for Nurses Magazine, Forensic Nursing, and NY Post, Phelps lives in a small Connecticut farming community. Beyond his true-crime books, in 2008, Phelps published a highly acclaimed narrative nonfiction biography of Revolutionary War patriot Nathan Hale, NATHAN HALE: The Life and Death of America's First Spy (Thomas Dunne Books).

I have been busy! This December, THE DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND will publish. It is a book about Sam and John Colt, and how one brother invented the revolving firearm and the other murdered someone with a hatchet, culminating in the tragedies that took place afterward and how they juxtapose against the epic story of the Colt family legacy.

I have five more "Deadly Women" episodes in the can for Beyond Productions to air soon on Investigation Discovery channel. Don't miss the latest season--the best yet! Thank you everyone who has written in to say how much you like the shows.

My first TV series, DARK MINDS, is in post-production and will air in early 2012 on Investigation Discovery (ID). The concept of the show is unique and fresh. I have one of the preeminent serial killer profilers working today, John Kelly, ECD (a National Board Certified Addiction Specialist, Board Certified Social Worker, Certified Forensic Examiner and Fellow of the American Board of Forensic Examiners, president of S.T.A.L.K., Inc.), starring with me in the show--and one VERY special guest star each week--a bona fide serial killer in prison we are calling "13".

My thriller series, introducing Boston PD Detective Jake Sundance Cooper, is in the pipeline, and closer to publication.

When time permits, I continue to work on a Christmas story/literary murder-mystery, featuring an old curmudgeon and WW II survivor who, through a little girl, learns a great lesson in redemption and accountability.

Photo Credit: "Dark Minds"/Investigation Discovery

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but, April 10, 2010

By 

Christopher Dervinis "cderv" (High Springs, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer (Kindle Edition)

This is the true story of Amy Archer-Gilligan, who became one of the most prolific serial killers in US history. The book was interesting but could have been helped by more editing. At times, the book is a bit too repetitive. For example, the book has several chapters dedicated to a heat wave that covered much of the US and caused countless deaths, but all of the chapters said the same thing. What's worse is that the heat wave ended up playing no role in the story of Amy Archer-Gilligan, at least as told in this book. I believe the author was trying to build suspense but after a while, it just became annoying. The author also sometimes made conclusions without enough supporting information to make sense or to allow the reader to properly assess the statements. Other times the author blatantly stretches facts to draw the conclusions that he wants. For example, he suggests that the American people, worried about battlefield casualties, flocked to the play "Arsenic and Old Lace" to escape reality in January of 1941. The problem is that the Pearl Harbor would not occur until 11 months later. The book is worth reading but not the quite what I had hoped.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Editors need to be fired for this, June 24, 2010

By 

Bartholomew Breva (Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer (Hardcover)

The subject matter of this book is red-hot, and with a little competent writing it would have easily been a best-seller. Instead, the writing is disjointed and jumps from subject to subject in the same paragraph. If I were told that the author had taken a lot of notes, thrown them in the air, and typed them in the order they fell, I'd believe it. In addition the punctuation is confusing, the syntax is abysmal and the grammar does not bear close scrutiny.

The author continually mentions pictures of the people involved which are not in the book. Instead, the photos which are included are of the deadly heat wave which the author wants to write about more than the serial murders. We have photos of buildings, of strangers, of cities - but only two photos of the woman in question, although others are mentioned as being important.

I would not think of submitting a book like this for publication, let alone expect it to get past any editor worthy of the job description. This book seems to have sailed through the publishing process on the strength of its subject alone. I only hope someone who can write engages editors who can edit to do a competent treatment of this subject. I do want to know more about this episode in history, but I'm not going to risk a brain aneurysm trying to finish this book.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars could have been better, April 16, 2010

By 

Diana "book fiend" - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer (Kindle Edition)

As a reader of serial killer books, I can usually get through them pretty good. But this one is dragging. I'm only partway through, but it seems a little editing could have been heplful. It reads more like an almanac than a true story about a serial killer. It really meanders around between the weather of the day and a little bit about the killer, very confusing sometimes as to what the book is truly about.