Exclusive, first-hand accounts of the men and women who have slept with infamous killers in a book praised as “terrifying . . . true crime at its best” (Daily Express).
Bestselling true crime writer and criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee turns his attention to a new kind of victim: the wives and partners of serial murderers who remained unaware of exactly who they had fallen for until after their other half’s arrest or, in some cases, conviction. Only upon Peter’s arrest did Sonia Sutcliffe first discover that her husband was leading a secret existence as the Yorkshire Ripper. The wife of the Hillside Strangler only learned of her husband’s crimes when state police smashed down her door in search of him. When finding out the truth, these innocents have to face the grim reality of betrayal and deceit and often experience guilt for not having recognized the killer in their home. Christopher Berry-Dee speaks directly with killers and their oblivious loved ones to get inside the minds of the men and women who fall for murderers.
Born in 1948, Christopher Berry-Dee is descended from Dr. John Dee, Court Astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, and is the founder and former Director of the Criminology Research Institute (CRI), and former publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Criminologist, a highly respected journal on matters concerning all aspects of criminology from law enforcement to forensic psychology. Christopher has interviewed and interrogated over thirty of the world’s most notorious killers—serial, mass and one-off—including Peter Sutcliffe, Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos, Dennis Nilsen and Joanne Dennehy. He was co-producer/interviewer for the acclaimed twelve-part TV documentary series The Serial Killers, and has appeared on television as a consultant on serial homicide, and, in the series Born to Kill?, on the cases of Fred and Rose West, the Moors Murderers and Dr. Harold Shipman. He has also assisted in criminal investigations as far afield as Russia and the United States. Notable book successes include: Monster (basis for the movie of the same title, about Aileen Wuornos); and the internationally bestselling Talking with Serial Killers and Talking with Psychopaths series.