Overview

The Jolly Roger Social Club is Nick Foster’s astonishing and vivid account of a man who may be the world’s first `capitalist’ serial killer. In the process of piecing together what happened, he sheds light on the bigger questions raised by Wild Bill’s actions: what was it that made Bocas del Toro such a fertile hunting ground for the murderer, and why did it take the expats so long to raise the alarm? The answer lies in the paradox of Panama itself – paradise with a sinister underbelly. Languishing in a Panamanian prison cell, William Holbert - known as `Wild Bill’ – is on trial for the murder of five fellow American expats. His first victims were the mysterious Brown family, who lived a deliberately quiet life in Panama’s remote province of Bocas del Toro. After killing the Browns, he turned their house into the Jolly Roger Social Club with the motto `Over 90% of our members survive’. He appointed himself Minister of the First Church of the Inebriation, and used drink and drug-fuelled parties to get close to others who, like him, had fled to Panama’s Caribbean coast in desperation to leave their past behind, assumed new identities and disappeared into a blissful loophole...

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Reviews

'Foster's research is diligent... show[ing] the dirt that often lies beneath the deceptive surface of paradise' Spectator 'An engrossing, well-developed true-crime tale, unsettling in its portrayal of the underbelly of its tropical setting' Kirkus 'If you've ever yearned to flee civilization for a tropical Caribbean hideaway, pick up Nick Foster's frightening The Jolly Roger Social Club before you do.' Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies and Barbarians at the Gate 'Sharply written, excellently observed, and assiduously researched... a Panamanian Cocaine Nights' Oliver Balch 'A fascinating tale of terror and madness' Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin 'Noir reporting at its best, a true crime tale for our age' Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean and The Devil's Teeth

Foster's research is diligent... show[ing] the dirt that often lies beneath the deceptive surface of paradise * The Spectator * An engrossing, well-developed true-crime tale, unsettling in its portrayal of the underbelly of its tropical setting * Kirkus * If you've ever yearned to flee civilization for a tropical Caribbean hideaway, pick up Nick Foster's frightening The Jolly Roger Social Club before you do. -- Bryan Burrough, author of Public Enemies and Barbarians at the Gate Sharply written, excellently observed, and assiduously researched... a Panamanian Cocaine Nights -- Oliver Balch A fascinating tale of terror and madness -- Skip Hollandsworth, author of The Midnight Assassin Noir reporting at its best, a true crime tale for our age -- Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean and The Devil's Teeth

Author Information

Nick Foster was born in Liverpool in 1966. He worked as a European Union diplomat in Venezuela and Brazil and has contributed news stories on Latin America to the Daily Telegraph, The Times and many other outlets. He now writes features for the Financial Times and the International New York Times. He is currently producing a documentary about one of France’s highest-profile cold cases. Foster lives in Belgium with his wife and two sons.

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