Books About Serial Killers Quiz | Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Gordon Burn's first non-fiction book "Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son" was about which of Britain's most notorious serial killers?

Answer: Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe was known as the Yorkshire Ripper, and murdered 13 women in the North of England between 1975 and 1980. He is now serving life in Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire.

2. Harold Schechter wrote a book on Wisconsin murderer and grave-robber Ed Gein. What was it called?

Answer: Deviant

Ed Gein was a farmer from Plainfield, Wisconsin who murdered at least 2 women, possibly his brother, and dug up around 40 other women from the local graveyard. He would take the bodies home, skin them and make facemasks, lampshades and other knick-knacks from the skins.

3. Andrei Chikatilo was a Russian serial killer who murdered his 52 victims in Russia. The book about the investigation was called "Killer Department". Who wrote it?

Answer: Robert Cullen

Andrei Chikatilo was known as The Butcher of Rostov and murdered 52 people (mainly women and children) between 1978 and 1990. Two other people were executed for his crimes before he was finally caught. He was executed in Rostov Prison on February 14, 1994.

4. Robert Hossein's 1965 book entitled "The Secret Killer" was about the German serial killer Peter Kurten. What alias was Kurten known by?

Answer: The Vampire of Dusseldorf

Peter Kurten attacked, raped and stabbed 16 people between 1913 and 1929, killing nine of them. He was executed by guillotine in Cologne in 1931 and his dying wish was that he could still hear his blood gushing after his head was chopped off.

5. Who wrote "The Pickton Files", an account of the murder of 26 women by Vancouver pig farmer Robert Pickton?

Answer: Stevie Cameron

Robert Pickton was the most prolific serial killer in Canadian history. He was charged with 26 murders but confessed to 49 and told prison officers he wanted one more "to make it a round 50". It has been suggested he fed the bodies to his pigs or even mixed the meat up with the pork from his farm.

6. "The Bodies in the Barrels" by Jeremy Pudney tells the story of the Snowtown murders. These were the worst serial killings in which country?

Answer: Australia

Snowtown in South Australia gave its name to the grisly murders of 12 people as the crimes were only discovered when 8 of the bodies were found in acid vats in a disused bank building in the town. John Bunting was convicted of the murders although three other people were arrested and convicted of helping him.

7. Fred and Rose West murdered at least 13 people including his first wife and two of his children. The definitive story of these murders is told in which book by Gordon Burn?

Answer: Happy Like Murderers

Fred killed his first victim in 1967 before meeting his second wife Rose in 1968. She was soon helping Fred murder others and killed Fred's daughter Charmaine while Fred was in prison in 1971. The crimes were only revealed in 1994 when rumours reached the local police and they dug up the back garden at Cromwell Street, Gloucester. Fred committed suicide before his trial began in 1995. Rose was found guilty of 10 murders and became one of the few killers in the UK to recieve a "whole life tariff" meaning she will never be released.

8. "The Shadow of Evil" by Jeffrey Davis is about an American murderer known as the BTK Killer. What was the BTK Killer's real name?

Answer: Dennis Rader

Rader started his murderous career in 1971. He killed at least 10 people around Wichita, Kansas, and throughout his deadly spree wrote many taunting letters to police. These letters and the murders stopped in 1991 but started again in 2004. He was caught after sending a letter on a floppy disk. Police used metadata within a deleted document on the disk to trace him.

He told them that he was planning to start killing again as his children had left home and he had time on his hands. BTK stands for Bind, Torture, Kill, and the author is the son of one of Rader's victims.

9. Dr Marcel Petiot was suspected of murdering around 60 people between 1926 and 1944. John Grombach wrote the definitive guide to his killings. What was it called?

Answer: The Great Liquidator

Petoit had an extensive history of criminal activity including fraud, embezzlement and possibly murder before the war. During World War II he convinced many Jews, resistance fighters and other criminals that he had access to a secret escape network and safe passage to Argentina.

The escape network led only to a cyanide injection in his cellar in Paris. He was finally captured in 1945 and went to the guillotine the following spring.

10. "Addicted to Murder" by Mikaela Sitford was about a man who is widely recognised as the most prolific serial killer in modern history. Who was this mild-mannered English doctor?

Answer: Harold Shipman

Harold Shipman is credited with 218 murders but the figure could be as high as 400. As a doctor in Hyde, a suburb of Manchester he was able to issue the death certificates for his victims and it took 23 years for the authorities to catch up with him. He was sentenced to life in prison and was another person to receive a "whole life tariff".

He committed suicide in his cell at Wakefield Prison on 13 January 2004. The fact that he could conceal his own crimes for so long led to a major overhaul of National Health Service procedures.

Source: Author mikew41

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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Books About Serial Killers Trivia Quiz

My collection of murder books fascinates me, and worries my wife. Here is a quick quiz on books about serial killers.

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