Overview

WINNER OF 2026 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME LONGLISTED FOR CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'Murderland reads like a true crime thriller' SUNDAY TIMES 'Haunting, elegant and fiercely intelligent' OBSERVER 'I highly recommend it' R. F. KUANG, author of KATABASIS, OBSERVER A terrifying true-crime history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Prairie Fires Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial killer in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and 80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise of an epidemic of serial murderers? As Murderland maps the lives of Bundy and his infamous peers - the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, Charles Manson - Fraser begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy's hometown stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper and arsenic smelters in the world. And it was only one among many that dotted the area. Gradually, evidence mounts that the plumes of western smelters not only sickened millions but also warped young minds - potentially spawning a generation of serial killers. 'Lyrically luminescent' NEW YORK TIMES 'Compelling' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS 'Breathlessly propulsive' JOYCE CAROL OATES, NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 'Extraordinarily well-written and genre-defying . . . a moody masterpiece' NEW YORKER 'A powerful plea' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Compelling, beautifully written . . . at heart, a cry of outrage' WASHINGTON POST 'Wonderfully propulsive and hard to put down' ATLANTIC 'Brooding and often brave' BOSTON GLOBE 'Not to be missed' CHICAGO TRIBUNE 'Sharp, incandescent' SEATTLE TIMES 'A great writer can make art of the most grotesque material, and Fraser does' WALL STREET JOURNAL

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Reviews

A big, ambitious story about the United States and the people it breeds . . . as hauntingly compulsive a nonfiction book as I have read in a long time. It gets into your blood -- Dorian Lynskey * The Guardian * Haunting, elegant and fiercely intelligent, Murderland works as a moving requiem for the many lives cut short by these killers, but it's also a clear-eyed sociological account of how this terror affected the entire country, and how we cannot understand these terrible crimes without also fully appreciating the darkness of the era in which they occurred. * The Observer * A blend of memoir, biography and history . . . Murderland reads like a true crime thriller . . . [Fraser] makes her case with conviction * Sunday Times * Caroline Fraser [is] lyrically luminescent . . . reading her prose can be like skiing powder snow on a perfect day, one lovely turn after another * New York Times * A moody masterpiece * The New Yorker * Murderland is wonderfully propulsive and hard to put down . . . both a memoir of growing up during the serial-killing era and a unique investigation into its potential causes * The Atlantic * Compelling, beautifully written . . . Murderland is at heart a cry of outrage * Washington Post * In this brooding and often brave book, the author finds evil afoot, but the worst monsters aren't who you'd guess * Boston Globe * Tough to classify and not to be missed: a history of the Pacific Northwest's most infamous, paired with a touch of memoir and a fascinating linking of homicidal tendencies with childhoods marked by industrial waste * Chicago Tribune * A strange and compelling tale . . . Initially, Murderland seems as crazy as the killers it portrays. But Fraser, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has the skills to pull it off, and once she gets going, the theory she espouses seems plausible * Washington Independent Review of Books * A provocative, eerily lyrical study of the heyday of American serial killers . . . Fraser's book is an engrossing and disturbing portrait of decades of carnage that required decades to confront. A true-crime story written with compassion, fury, and scientific sense * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * [Fraser] makes a case that isn't merely convincing; it's downright damning, showing how lead seeped into literally every aspect of life for those who lived near a smelter-and even for those who didn't-via leaded gas and paint. Fraser follows the exploits of the similarly deadly and devastating serial killers and ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) in a narrative that is gripping, harrowing, and timely -- Booklist (starred review) What makes a murderer? Fraser makes a convincing case for arsenic and lead poisoning as contributing factors in this eyebrow-raising account. Fraser . . . marries a poignant memoir of her Washington State childhood with a vivid catalog of crimes by Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and others . . . [Fraser's] methodical research and lucid storytelling argue persuasively for linking the health of the planet to the safety of its citizens. This is a provocative and page-turning work of true crime * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * Fraser's true-crime history transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, exploring the lives and careers of American serial killers . . . But ""Fraser's Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction."" If she made the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder propulsive, imagine what she can do with serial killers * Lit Hub * This book is a mapping, of murderers and their victims, yes, but also of the battle between nature and society, a battle staged out on the edge of America and in the hearts of the people who live there. It started by trying to understand why so many killers come from the Pacific Northwest but by the end it had cracked open the most taboo corners of the American psyche. This story is a menace and a beauty. It left me deeply unsettled-by the idea of monsters, by the myth of free will, and by all the realms of cause and effect that remain unexplored -- Wright Thompson, bestselling author of THE BARN: THE SECRET HISTORY OF A MURDER IN MISSISSIPPI

A blend of memoir, biography and history . . . Murderland reads like a true crime thriller . . . [Fraser] makes her case with conviction * Sunday Times * Caroline Fraser [is] lyrically luminescent . . . reading her prose can be like skiing powder snow on a perfect day, one lovely turn after another * New York Times * In this brooding and often brave book, the author finds evil afoot, but the worst monsters aren't who you'd guess * Boston Globe * A strange and compelling tale . . . Initially, Murderland seems as crazy as the killers it portrays. But Fraser, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has the skills to pull it off, and once she gets going, the theory she espouses seems plausible * Washington Independent Review of Books * A provocative, eerily lyrical study of the heyday of American serial killers . . . Fraser's book is an engrossing and disturbing portrait of decades of carnage that required decades to confront. A true-crime story written with compassion, fury, and scientific sense * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * This book is a mapping, of murderers and their victims, yes, but also of the battle between nature and society, a battle staged out on the edge of America and in the hearts of the people who live there. It started by trying to understand why so many killers come from the Pacific Northwest but by the end it had cracked open the most taboo corners of the American psyche. This story is a menace and a beauty. It left me deeply unsettled-by the idea of monsters, by the myth of free will, and by all the realms of cause and effect that remain unexplored -- Wright Thompson, bestselling author of THE BARN: THE SECRET HISTORY OF A MURDER IN MISSISSIPPI [Fraser] makes a case that isn't merely convincing; it's downright damning, showing how lead seeped into literally every aspect of life for those who lived near a smelter-and even for those who didn't-via leaded gas and paint. Fraser follows the exploits of the similarly deadly and devastating serial killers and ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) in a narrative that is gripping, harrowing, and timely -- Booklist (starred review) What makes a murderer? Fraser makes a convincing case for arsenic and lead poisoning as contributing factors in this eyebrow-raising account. Fraser . . . marries a poignant memoir of her Washington State childhood with a vivid catalog of crimes by Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and others . . . [Fraser's] methodical research and lucid storytelling argue persuasively for linking the health of the planet to the safety of its citizens. This is a provocative and page-turning work of true crime * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * Fraser's true-crime history transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, exploring the lives and careers of American serial killers . . . But ""Fraser's Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction."" If she made the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder propulsive, imagine what she can do with serial killers * Lit Hub *

Author Information

Caroline Fraser was born in Seattle and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in English and American literature. Formerly on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, she is the author of three nonfiction books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Fleet, 2017). In addition to the Pulitzer, Prairie Fires won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and the Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize, and appeared on the New York Times' list of the Ten Best Books of 2017.

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