The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crime [Paperback]

Roger Wilkes (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Mammoth Book of | Publication Date: February 1999

A gripping collection that reopens some of the most shocking, baffling, and still unsolved crimes of the century--including the Zodiac Killer, Jack the Ripper, and the death of Marilyn Monroe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

During the past decade, Carroll & Graf has published more than 40 titles in its Mammoth series, spanning a wide range of subjects, from Arthurian legends, chess, crime and erotica to fairy tales, werewolves and zombies. This crime compendium has been assembled by British broadcast journalist Wilkes, author of three previous true-crime books. He dusts off dossiers of forgotten and familiar cases, those that "have no ending, for they finish curled up in a question-mark." With excerpts from books published over the past 75 years, the anthology displays a diverse lineup of 38 writers and journalists. Wilkes accommodates a wide range of past puzzlements: "They encompass murders by persons or persons unknown, crimes that resulted in no criminal charge, or where (demonstrably) the wrong person was accused or (again, demonstrably) the right person was not." The 16th-century disappearance of Martin Guerre, recently the source of two films and a stage musical, sets the tone with the earliest mystery in the book, which then skips to eight 19th-century cases. The first half of the 20th century provides another 21 cases, but there are only eight from 1952 to 1992. The impressive centerpiece of this collection, notable for both brevity and brilliance, is James Thurber's 1936 revisiting of the "fantastic events and circumstances of the Hall-Mills case," a 1922 New Jersey double murder and trial.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786705884
• ISBN-13: 978-0786705887
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,862,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not stellar, but retains interest, August 23, 2004

By 

LifeboatB (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crime (Paperback)

This book's overall effect is uneven, since it's a compilation of many different authors' works. It is definitely not meant as scholarship. Some of the essays (such as Philips Sugden's "Jack the Ripper") give a thorough overview of the case discussed. Many are not so worthwhile. A few of the stories (e.g., F. Tennyson Jesse's "Checkmate" and Morris Markey's "Who Killed Joe Elwell?") present the basic evidence and then draw a wild conclusion that is not necessarily supported by it, while others do no more than express the writer's personal feelings about the crime and suspect (e.g., Sydney Horler's "The Hoop-La Murder Trial"). As the writings were made during various decades, the prejudices of these different times are evident. Authors occasionally assume the reader is well-versed in stories that are only local or have now been forgotten. And because several of the authors writing on American crimes are British, the American reader can amuse herself with their errors and biases. (Horler's essay, originally published in 1940, mentions a barbershop quartet song called "Sweet Adelaide" [Adeline, duh] and refers to "the highly-spiced sex magazines in which American journalism abounds.")

Yet, reading this book gave me some unexpected insights. I was shocked to see how many obvious miscarriages of justice have taken place in the public eye, often due to personal prejudices on the part of judges and officials. (For example, Louis Stark's report on the Sacco and Vanzetti case quotes Governor Fuller as rejecting the testimony of 18 witnesses because "they were all Italians".) And it was instructive to see how the public reacted to these notorious crimes. The outcomes of several trials covered in the book were apparently decided by local opinion. In one story, an innocent man commits suicide because he has received so many anonymous hate letters. And the brilliance of some defense lawyers' testimony shows how difficult it is to actually solve some crimes "beyond a reasonable doubt".

Many of the authors are well-known: they include Damon Runyon, Rebecca West, James Thurber, and Irving Wallace. Fans might enjoy their contributions to crime writing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I just wasn't too impressed . . ., August 30, 2003

By 

Michael Freeman (Blanchard, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crime (Paperback)

This book is a compilation of short works written by many different writers over the last 150 years or so. Therefore, the quality of writing varied greatly from chapter to chapter.

Each chapter is devoted to a separate unsolved crime (mostly murders), going all the way back to Jack the Ripper. Some of the chapters were merely a couple of pages, and were unable to do much except describe the bare facts of the case.

I had to give this book 3 stars, because some of the chapters WERE interesting. But some of them were drudgery to get through.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mammoth Book!!!, May 7, 2001

By 

Michael Graves (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crime (Paperback)

No truer statement has ever been made! If you like true crime books you MUST pick this one up. Like other Wilkes books it is compiled of essays written about unsolved crime. They are presented VERY well and some are very good reading. The good thing about this book is that they take all kinds of cases and present them to you for your thoughts. Some of the crimes were 'solved' but the evidence was flimsy, at best. Some of the crimes (Jack the Ripper, The Zodiac Killer, etc.) were never solved. For you armchair crime solvers this book has everything you could possibly want.