Customer Reviews

Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory

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As an avid Bathory fan and a member of the academic community, I've always kept any eye out for real historical information about the Countess but sadly such treasures have been few and far in between. My grandmother was Hungarian and I spoke the language with her; she would tell me stories about the Countess and other vampire legends. I was intrigued by the story of Elizabeth Bathory and studied her since I was a child.

I've read everything out there and most of it was fragmented and speculative at best or just simply bad fiction and lore. It's not that I don't appreciate the legends about the Lady, but I've been looking for a book that actually puts some substance behind the myth. This book does that and more! Finally, we have a book that has opened a window into what Elizabeth Bathory's world was really like. It's amazing! There are REAL letters and REAL testimony actually translated into English from the original Hungarian and Latin languages for the first time! This treatise is well written and researched, and I can honestly say that there is NOTHING ELSE like this book out there!

If you are a fan of the Countess, enjoy history and an enthralling criminal case, then you will enjoy this fascinating biography immensely. It puts the pieces of a centuries old puzzle together thoroughly and keeps you engaged from the first page all the way to the last. I can't wait until the next edition, or for further supplementation from this author. This book is a valuable resource for both enthusiasts and academics alike.

I was so pleased to find Infamous Lady. I'd been looking for new information on Countess Bathory's life for years, and could never find what I was looking for. This book delivered and more.
Dr. Craft's writing style makes this easy to understand and wonderful to read, and I was pleased to see that it wasn't another royal biography caught up on European politics. She even included copies of translations she had made of important documents regarding the legal proceedings, an unexplainable resource for anyone looking for something more regarding this whole story.
She also takes the time to assess and debunk any of the myths and legends regarding the Countess according to the information she found (equally infamous Aunt Klara being one of them), and it leaves the reader with the opportunity to decide for themselves how they feel about what happened to the Countess and if the idea that the whole scenario was a political ploy to steal a wealthy widow's land is truth or just another piece of fiction, like the infamous blood baths.

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes biographies, and anyone who has read the other works that have been produced about the Countess and is looking for something more factual than fantasy.

I consider myself a voracious reader with an appetite for good thrillers and crime dramas. I often read a lot of fiction as I am picky about history and biographies, many of which I often find to be too lengthy and written "over my head". I would avoid books about notorious historical figures because I thought I would lose interest halfway through, until now....Kim Craft's "Infamous Lady" changed all of that! This is truly one of the best book's I've had the pleasure of reading! I heard about this Countess from my granddaughters since they're into the vampire craze that is so popular now, we were watching a TV documentary and Countess Bathory was mentioned in it, all of that murder and torture seemed so outrageous, how could a lady like her be, for all intents and purposes, a crazed serial killer that needed to kill so many girls for their blood in order to stay young looking? I could hardly believe my eyes!! That's when the girls said they heard about Dr. Craft's book "Infamous Lady" and how it told a truer story; they checked it out of the library at first and told their friends, soon it was on a back hold so they asked their mom to purchased it and passed it along to their friends, who absolutely loved it! Needless to say, I was intrigued at how there could be a non-fiction, historical biography /reference book that actually captured the attention of teenagers and that they even learned from it! I had to see for myself and I tell you I was hooked! While some of the material can be a bit graphic and portray some of the cruelty and violence that took place in her court,(it kept me up at night, almost a little hesitant to go to sleep as I worried there might be a chance I would have a nightmare) the book is very well written, engaging, and really quite educational. The author is very talented and you can see that she really took her time researching, translating and providing a great detail of information about this Lady. I had no idea that she was such an important noblewoman and that her husband was a leader of an Austrian-Hungarian army who fought off the Turks, or that there was such political and religious intrigues involving her family. I found myself being drawn into that whole aspect as well and, if that wasn't enough, she also made the characters come to life, almost as if as if you were watching a documentary! This is an extremely great read, it truly holds the interest of both the sophisticated reader and the novice. I highly recommend this first-rate book to fiction and non-fiction lovers alike!

I enjoyed reading this one, I am a bit of a history buff and have read several books on Erzsébet Báthory. This book sticks as closely as it can to the facts, as researched by the author who translated many original court documents and correspondence from the time to clarify the story as best she could. It has a detailed transcription of the court documents, and correspondence, names of people involved, victims, etc... listed in the appendix. If you are interested in the true history of Erzsébet Báthory, backed up with translations of what original documentation remains of this woman, then this is the book for you!

I have been searching for an up-to-date and accurate book on Erzsebet Bathory for many years now. Up until then, I devoured everything I could possibly find on her on the Internet. Finally I discovered 'Infamous Lady' on Amazon.com and purchased it instantly. This book answered a lot of my questions and boy, did I think I knew Erzsebet Bathory just from reading a few Internet snippets! It turns out that upon reading this book, I actually knew very little. How she lived her life, what aspects of her were myths/legends and what was actually true, what made her do what she did, etc.
Intriguing, frightening and exciting all in one, I finished reading this book within two days as I just could not put it down. 'Infamous Lady' definitely has my recommendation to anybody who has an interest in Erzsebet Bathory or even those who just want to read an amazing true crime story that took part centuries ago.

There are few works translated into English on Erzsebet Bathory. Those that are available usually fail to differentiate the opinions of the author from the known facts of the case. Moreover, it's hard to improve upon what is known, since limited source material is available to the researcher.

Ms. Kraft has really done a service to those interested in the study of Erzsebet Bathory by rigorously researching the subject and publishing the translated documents as well as other summary information as part of her book. In this way, the reader can evaluate the available information and form his or her own conclusions.

Moreover, she has put together a very interesting story, in which she clearly presents the facts, explains the significance of the available evidence and presents her conclusions as such. I really appreciate the scholarly rigor with which she has presented this material.

She makes it an interesting tale too. For me she brought to life the personality of the Countess, as well as that of the other principals in the story.

She even addressed the existence of the Countess' lost diaries.

Anyone interested in the story of Erzsebet Bathory should really start with this book.

Not since the late Prof. Raymond T. McNally's 1984 *Dracula was a Woman* has there been a scholarly biography that attempted to examine the facts surrounding the life and crimes of Erzsebet Bathory, the Lady Widow Nadasdy, the so-called "Blood Countess." But even McNally's otherwise great book catered to the more sensational aspects connected with Elizabeth Bathory in that the second half of the book explored the occult themes connected to her crimes (vampirism, necrophilia, lycanthropy, etc.) in the popular imagination, and of course there was its title *Dracula was a Woman.* Kimberly Craft's book is a very well-researched historical biography which examines the historical facts that can be adduced regarding the "Infamous Lady's" life and crimes. So if you're looking for tales of lesbian vampirism this is probably not the book for you.

My one complaint is that the book has no footnotes/endnotes or index, but this is a minor point. A bibliography and extensive appendices are included. Also, I would've liked the author to examine more fully the possible motivations for the Countess' crimes, but again that's a minor point.

I'm eager to get Ms. Craft's companion volume of newly-translated letters regarding the Countess, her crimes and subsequent trial.

All-in-all, *Infamous Lady* is a great book.

As a young person, I read accounts of the "blood countess" but never found a thorough and satisfying historical account of Bathory's life and times. This book breaks new ground and gives us the most thorough historical account possible with existing evidence. It dispels several myths and exaggerations about the countess added by later writers. I doubt, given the scanty sources, that we will ever know more about her.

The author weighs evidence carefully and presents translations of all available relevant historical documents in her appendix. This alone makes the work of great value to those who wish to explore that evidence and make up their own minds.

It's clear from the book that Bathory lived in violent times, with warfare frequently threatening her lands. Her husband, a national war hero, seems to have been not very bright but brutal.

We'll never understand Bathory's thinking, but we get the best available evidence of her actions here. Working through the Appendix, I came up with 31 eyewitness accounts of severe injuries inflicted upon her servants. The key evidence, also in the appendix, involves nine eyewitness accounts from those who worked for her but were not accused of atrocities. These nine accounts give direct and shocking evidence of the Countess' involvement in the torture of young women.

That's probably why The author concludes that Bathory was guilty of the murder of at least several dozen young women. Based on the evidence in this book, that seems the right verdict. We'll probably never get more details.

So read this excellent book for probably the best account we will ever have about Bathory and her crimes.

Finally, a thoroughly researched and accurate account in English! This book both intrigued and frightened me at the same time. Whether you're curious about the life of this controversial historical figure, a die-hard academic enthusiast, or a legal scholar, this book has something for you.

Thank you, Kim, for creating such an exciting read!

I enjoyed this book. Researched from actually witness testimony, and court records. But remembering this takes place in the 17th century, folks lived really differently, and someone with her social status and remote location could get away with her crimes for a long time. One disappointment is that I bought a new book...which being a paperback is really overpriced anyway, but also because it is very poorly bound, the cover is simply a white stock cover and the cover design is on a very thin film of plastic thinner than a plastic bag, which with handling peels loose...my advice buy used.