While abhorrent to some, the appeal of historical true crime is not so difficult to imagine: vivid eras are brought to life in these accounts, many of which are assiduously researched, footnoted, and indexed. Furthermore, the story lines offer readers many compensations—the satisfaction of the compulsion to face the worst in human nature; the assurance that justice has been done; and, certainly not least, the chance to empathize with and offer witness to the victims in their hours of need.