Jolly Roger Social Club
The true crime story of greed, political history, and the serial killer stalking a shadowy American ex-pat community in Panama.
“The world has never seen a killer quite like William Dathan Holbert. Nick Foster’s shrewdly told, rum-soaked, all-too-true tale of serial murder in the tropics is simply stunning.” —Robert Kolker, author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery
In the remote Bocas del Toro, Panama, William Dathan Holbert, a.k.a. “Wild Bill,” is awaiting trial for the murder of five fellow American ex-patriots. Holbert’s first victims were the Brown family, who lived on a remote island in the area’s Darklands. There, Holbert turned their home into the “Jolly Roger Social Club,” using drink- and drug-fueled parties to get to know other ex-pats. The club’s tagline was: “Over 90% of our members survive.” Those odds were not in his victims’ favor.
The Jolly Roger Social Club is not just a book about what Holbert did and the complex financial and real estate motives behind the killings; it is about why Bocas del Toro turned out to be his perfect hunting ground, and why the community tolerated—even accepted—him for a time. Told through the fascinating history of the country of Panama, a paradise with sinister ties to the political and economic interests of the United States, journalist Nick Foster brings this uniquely bizarre place to life; shedding light on a community where many live under assumed names, desperate to leave their old lives behind-and sometimes people just disappear.
“Foster follows a twisted path into a tropical paradise—or is it a tropical Hades?—where no one goes by his real name, pasts are forgotten, and identities are as shifty as the tides. The Jolly Roger Social Club is noir reporting at its best, a true crime tale for our age, a deftly guided tour into a shadowy netherworld where the phrase ‘last call’ can be taken quite literally.” —Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean, The Wave, and The Devil’s Teeth
“A fascinating portrait of an under-reported corner of the world that balances the best of crime writing and pavement-pounding reportage. Keeping so many plates spinning is no easy task, yet Foster carries it off with enviable expertise.” —Oliver Balch, author of Viva South America