Reviews Required

[Abby Normal]

I vaguely remember reading a book on The Monster Of Florence Abby but I can't recall which one. I seem to remember suspicion against someone from a well-to-do family although I could be mis-remembering?

the one im talking about is by preston and spezi. spezi was an italian reporter who was actually arrested at one point on suspician. the whole case is a cluster F with many people being arrested, charged acquitted, etc etc. typical italian kangaroo court stuff. I dont remember there preferred suspect. but im going to re read the book soon.

the case has more twists an turns than a roller coaster. the most recent official suspect is an italian american who they think was also the zodiac!?! totaaly bizzarro case.

even more so because the killer targeted couples like thrill killers son of sam and zodiac, lasted long-68-85, the killer wrote letters and in many of the cases the women had their pubic areas cut out. weird combo of thrill killer and post mortem mutilator.

[Herlock Sholmes]

the one im talking about is by preston and spezi. spezi was an italian reporter who was actually arrested at one point on suspician. the whole case is a cluster F with many people being arrested, charged acquitted, etc etc. typical italian kangaroo court stuff. I dont remember there preferred suspect. but im going to re read the book soon.

the case has more twists an turns than a roller coaster. the most recent official suspect is an italian american who they think was also the zodiac!?! totaaly bizzarro case.

even more so because the killer targeted couples like thrill killers son of sam and zodiac, lasted long-68-85, the killer wrote letters and in many of the cases the women had their pubic areas cut out. weird combo of thrill killer and post mortem mutilator.

I’ll have a look for that one Abby cheers

[Herlock Sholmes]

Just received my copy of Zodiac Revisited part 1 by Michael F Cole. I’m looking forward to reading this as it seems as if the guy is pretty well respected and trusted to give an unbiased, well researched assessment of the facts of the case. I intend to get parts 2 and 3.

[barnflatwyngarde]

Just received my copy of Zodiac Revisited part 1 by Michael F Cole. I’m looking forward to reading this as it seems as if the guy is pretty well respected and trusted to give an unbiased, well researched assessment of the facts of the case. I intend to get parts 2 and 3.

Herlock, I've got all three books by Cole relating to Zodiac.

I enjoyed them!

He doesn't, in my opinion, wander into wacky theory territory.
His speculations cover only what we know of the case re witness statements, Zodiac correspondence etc.

I think you'll enjoy it.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Herlock, I've got all three books by Cole relating to Zodiac.

I enjoyed them!

He doesn't, in my opinion, wander into wacky theory territory.
His speculations cover only what we know of the case re witness statements, Zodiac correspondence etc.

I think you'll enjoy it.

Cheers Barn,

Ive already ordered volume 2 in paperback although I did see that you can order the 3 as a Kindle bundle. I still prefer ‘real’ books though.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Just finished Part 1 of Michael F Cole’s The Zodiac Revisited and I’ve just begun Part 2 with Part 3 on order.

I totally agree with Barn. Although I’m a complete novice on the Zodiac I’d recommend this book 100% as a balanced review of the facts of the case. Part 2 starts well too. I’ve always wanted this type of book on the case rather than one proposing a suspect.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Ok I finished part 3 of Michael Cole’s trilogy on the Zodiac case. I wanted a good intro to the case and this was what I got. It really gives you an excellent overview of the case along with the authors assessment of the evidence. Criticisms? Well I have to admit that I skipped through mathematical stuff on Radians and the stuff on cryptology. Cole has written computer programmes for solving cryptograms so he knows his subject but I found it too heavy going for someone with no knowledge of them. Others more inclined to that type of stuff might think differently. (I get the impression that Mr Hamm might be ok with it )

If I could get something added to the book it would have been an assessment of the suspects. Cole has no suspect (not that he mentions at least) and he only mentions 3 in passing (Allen, Kane and Kaczynski)

Excellent trilogy though. Now I just need a book assessing the suspects as opposed to a single suspect book.

[jmenges]

I got this series when they came out a few months ago. Read most of #1 and it left me wanting more. I wished was longer and went into more detail, something more along the lines of Wicked Beyond Belief, about the Yorkshire Ripper, which I think sets a pretty high bar for true crime books. Book 1 flies through each crime and the following events, letters, etc pretty quickly, doesn’t spend much time on background information about the victims, detectives or reporters, nor does it really get very deep at all into the police investigation. It is ‘just the bare facts’-which I guess was the intention- but all that information is already available elsewhere. The author did take the time to include good endnotes and its well sourced. But, if you’re already familiar with the case there isn’t much new. So I skipped to #2, didn’t finish it, so I’m restarting it now due to this thread. Haven’t got to #3 yet.

JM

[Herlock Sholmes]

I got this series when they came out a few months ago. Read most of #1 and it left me wanting more. I wished was longer and went into more detail, something more along the lines of Wicked Beyond Belief, about the Yorkshire Ripper, which I think sets a pretty high bar for true crime books. Book 1 flies through each crime and the following events, letters, etc pretty quickly, doesn’t spend much time on background information about the victims, detectives or reporters, nor does it really get very deep at all into the police investigation. It is ‘just the bare facts’-which I guess was the intention- but all that information is already available elsewhere. The author did take the time to include good endnotes and its well sourced. But, if you’re already familiar with the case there isn’t much new. So I skipped to #2, didn’t finish it, so I’m restarting it now due to this thread. Haven’t got to #3 yet.

JM

Good points Jon. There’s very little background info on the victims or on the ongoing police investigation. It’s definitely not aimed at anyone with any real knowledge of the case but for someone that only has a very basic knowledge the case (me) it was useful. I don’t know if there’s anything else of this type on the subject but if there isn’t then there’s a huge gap in the market for a Sugden-type book on the case looking at all aspects including a weighing up of the suspects? I think it might have been better put into one volume though? As I said earlier I could definitely have done without the stuff on Radians and Cryptography although of course you couldn’t have a book on the Zodiac without mention of Cryptography. It was just too much for me and my brain kept switching off. Others would be ok with that kind of stuff of course.

Id perhaps try and some up by saying that I could ‘imagine’ a better book. Someone needs to do a Sugden and write a ‘bible’ of the Zodiac case. Fancy the job Jon?

[jmenges]

If you’re still wanting more there’s another series of 3 books by Mark Hewitt: Hunted, Profiled and Exposed.
The first book in the series, Hunted, is particularly good. I’m not giving away anything (since he promotes it on Amazon) that he eventually gets to his suspect in book 3, Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber. While there are striking coincidences, in the end I don’t believe that Ted was Zodiac.

JM

[barnflatwyngarde]

Good points Jon. There’s very little background info on the victims or on the ongoing police investigation. It’s definitely not aimed at anyone with any real knowledge of the case but for someone that only has a very basic knowledge the case (me) it was useful. I don’t know if there’s anything else of this type on the subject but if there isn’t then there’s a huge gap in the market for a Sugden-type book on the case looking at all aspects including a weighing up of the suspects? I think it might have been better put into one volume though? As I said earlier I could definitely have done without the stuff on Radians and Cryptography although of course you couldn’t have a book on the Zodiac without mention of Cryptography. It was just too much for me and my brain kept switching off. Others would be ok with that kind of stuff of course.

Id perhaps try and some up by saying that I could ‘imagine’ a better book. Someone needs to do a Sugden and write a ‘bible’ of the Zodiac case. Fancy the job Jon?

Herlock, I totally agree with you that it is strange that such a "classic" case, and such a recent one, with presumably a plethora of evidence, has not yet generated a definitive book on the Zodiac case.

I started a post on this very subject a while ago (link attached).

https://forum.casebook.org/forum/soc...he-zodiac-case

I do seem to remember that someone posted that they suggested to Paul Begg that he might be interested in writing a "definitive" book on the Zodiac.
I hope he might reconsider, I'm sure he or Jon, or someone of that ilk, would do a great job.

[Herlock Sholmes]

If you’re still wanting more there’s another series of 3 books by Mark Hewitt: Hunted, Profiled and Exposed.
The first book in the series, Hunted, is particularly good. I’m not giving away anything (since he promotes it on Amazon) that he eventually gets to his suspect in book 3, Ted Kaczynski aka The Unabomber. While there are striking coincidences, in the end I don’t believe that Ted was Zodiac.

JM

Cheers Jon,

I saw that one advertised before I went for the Cole books.

[Ms Diddles]

Cheers Jon,

I saw that one advertised before I went for the Cole books.

I read the first Hewitt book (Hunted) following a recommendation on here from Barn.

I thought it was really good.

It was well written and covered all the salient points regarding the police investigation.

If you want to add further to your ever growing pile of books to read, give it a go!

[Herlock Sholmes]

I read the first Hewitt book (Hunted) following a recommendation on here from Barn.

I thought it was really good.

It was well written and covered all the salient points regarding the police investigation.

If you want to add further to your ever growing pile of books to read, give it a go!

I might do that Ms D.

[Ms Diddles]

I might do that Ms D.

Just out of interest, do you have a preferred suspect for Zodiac, Herlock?

After some extensive research (ie reading Grayling as recommended by Abby, and the first Hewitt book as recommended by Barn, then watching a documentary on YouTube!!!!! ) I plumped for Kane.