A Compulsion to Kill is a dramatic chronological account of 19th-century Tasmanian serial murderers.
Beginning in 1806 with Australia's first serial killers, John Brown and Richard Lemon, Cox recounts the stories of Alexander Pearce, 'the cannibal convict'; Thomas Jeffrey, a sadist, sexual predator, cannibal, and baby-killer known as 'the monster'; Charles Routley, who burnt one of his victims alive; cannibal convicts Broughton and McAvoy; Rocky Whelan, who in twenty-four days slew five men in cold blood; and John Haley, who killed three people in fits of rage. The final chapter investigates the still-unsolved Parkmount murders, three killings for which the two probable culprits twice faced court, only to be discharged due to faulty police investigation and neglected evidence.
Softcover book
Published: 2014
Pages: 244, indexed |
