What it this about?
In the 1930s, three schoolgirls are murdered — at a time when the term ‘serial killer’ probably hadn’t been coined yet. This is the story of the police investigations, warts and all, and a court case.
What else is this about?
I expected this to involve an investigation into these cases, but the book also includes the court case, which I have to admit wasn’t as engrossing as the investigations itself.
Blurb
The shocking true story of a serial killer in 1930s Melbourne.
November, 1930. One sunny Saturday afternoon, 12-year-old Mena Griffiths was playing in the park when she was lured away by an unknown man. Hours later, her strangled body was found, mouth gagged and hands crossed over her chest, in an abandoned house. Only months later, another girl was murdered; the similarities between the cases undeniable. Crime in Melbourne had taken a shocking new turn: this was the work of a serial killer, a homicidal maniac.
Despite their best efforts, police had no experience dealing with this kind of criminal. What followed was years of bungled investigations, falsely accused men – and the tragic deaths of two more girls – before the murderer was finally caught and brought to justice.
With all the pace of a thriller, Katherine Kovacic recounts this extraordinary, chilling true story – of failed police enquiries, a killer with a Jekyll and Hyde personality, and the families shattered when four innocent lives were cruelly taken.
The Schoolgirl Strangler is a compelling book, but I have to admit, the first half of the book held my interest more than the second.
In 1930s Melbourne, four young girls are murdered, and no one is ready for violence like this.
The first half of the book takes readers into each girl’s life, into their families and the investigations after the murdered girls are found. I found myself forgetting this was a true crime novel in that half of the book, and that for me is a testament to Katherine Kovacic’s skill.
She draws 1930s Melbourne vividly, as she does the characters — who were in essence real people whose stories had never been told (not like this anyway). The details and the care Kovacic takes is clear, and her writing drew me right into the era, into a time when parents really didn’t think twice if their kids went off on their own to their friend’s places. It’s a time of innocence.
The police on these cases were out of their depth, and made missteps that cost them the chance to catch the real killer — which honestly, had me going what? when I was reading these parts.
It is this part of the book that I found more compelling than the next — the court case when the real killer was found. Perhaps it was the court cases, and the intricacies of it that the book went into, but I didn’t find it as interesting as the investigations that were described previously.
What was interesting though, was the killer’s defence — insanity. There’s mention of the effect of alcohol on him, and how it made him forget what he did. The courts, the time in which all this happened, and society didn’t know what to make of him or his claims. They were simply not ready for a serial killer, never mind one of young girls.
As much as I had issues with the court case aspect of this book, I can’t deny this is ultimately and interesting true crime novel. Kovacic humanises these girls and their families, drawing readers into 1930s Melbourne and a time that was not prepared for the Schoolgirl Strangler.
