{"product_id":"hh-holmes-decoded-craig-beck-9798196449635","title":"H.H. Holmes Decoded: The Twisted Mind of America's First Serial Killer","description":"Two hundred bodies. A gas chamber in the basement. Acid vats. A torture maze built to catch tourists at the 1893 World's Fair. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYou have read the stories. You have watched the documentaries. You have heard the body count climb on every new podcast. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlmost none of it is true. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe real Herman Webster Mudgett, the New Hampshire farm boy who took the name \u003cb\u003eH. H. Holmes\u003c\/b\u003e, killed perhaps nine people. \u003cb\u003eThe Murder Castle\u003c\/b\u003e on Sixty Third Street was a swindler's headquarters with an oversized furnace, not a Bluebeard's slaughterhouse. The famous Hearst confession was paid fiction, written in a Philadelphia cell for seven and a half thousand dollars by a man six weeks from the rope. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe smaller story is the worse one. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this unflinching psychological autopsy, Craig Beck strips away the mythology to find the cold, calculating, deeply hollow man underneath. Not a monster. Not a Devil. A charming young doctor who killed when it was cheaper than the alternative, and slept soundly the night before he was hanged. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYou will meet the wives he discarded. The children he murdered for an insurance payout. The detective who refused to come home until he had found the bodies. The calm, watchful man who sat through his own trial drawing portraits of the chemist describing how he was about to be killed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnd you will learn to recognise his successors. They are in your office, your dating life, your social media feed. Most do not kill anybody. The few who do are simply tidying up. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe legend has had its century. The man is waiting. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eCraigBeck.com\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Craig Beck\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798196449635\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/11\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 162\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.41d","brand":"Craig Beck","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49084182364415,"sku":"9798196449635","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/hh-holmes-decoded-craig-beck-9798196449635","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}