David Wilson Mary Ann Cotton: Britain's First Female Serial Killer Hardcover Book David Wilson Multicolor

As one of the UK's leading commentators, David Wilson shows how some serial killers stay in the headlines whilst others rapidly become invisible - or "unseen". Yet Mary Ann Cotton is not just the first but perhaps the UK's most prolific female serial killer, with more victims than Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Beverly Allit or male predators such as Jack the Ripper and Dennis Nilsen. But her own north east of England (and criminologists) apart, she remained largely forgotten until the release of the ITV series 'Dark Angel', which was inspired by this book. This despite poisoning to death up to 21 victims in Britain's 'arsenic century'. Exploding myths that every serial killer is a 'monster', the author draws attention to Cotton's charms, allure, capability, skill and ambition - drawing parallels or contrasting the methods and lifestyles of other serial killers from Victorian to modern times. He also shows how events cannot be separated from their social context - here the industrial rev