Bill James made his mark in the 1970s and 1980s with his Baseball
Abstracts. He has been tearing down preconceived notions about
America’s national pastime ever since. He is currently the Senior
Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox, as well as
the author of The Man from the Train. James lives in Lawrence,
Kansas, with his wife, Susan McCarthy, and three children.
Rachel McCarthy James lives in Lawrence, KS with her husband Jason.
She studied creative writing at Hollins University, and her work
has previously been featured in publications including Bitch,
Broadly, and The New Inquiry. The Man from the Train is her first
book.
“Impressive . . . an open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within
a cultural history of rural America.”
—Wall Street Journal
“[An] incredible book . . . one of the most readable works of
non-fiction I’ve ever picked up . . . James has a conversational
style of writing that draws the reader in, even when he departs
from murders to offer short history lessons on 19th century
detectives-for-hire (pretty bad), 19th century newspapers (not
great) and mob justice (truly horrifying) . . . Even more
remarkable than the exhaustive research and addictive narrative,
the [authors] actually seem to solve the case and reveal the
identity of The Man From the Train. Skeptics may balk, but I’m
convinced.”
—Raleigh News & Observer
“Truly spectacular . . . The book shines when we get to see the
Jameses’ thinking. Like the recent Netflix documentary ‘The
Keepers,’ it’s fun to watch these amateur detectives solve a
puzzle. And solve it they do — after 400 pages, when Rachel
discovers the killer’s first crime way back in 1898. Did they get
it right? I’m pretty sure they did. Either way, the final twist in
the story—set 10 years after the Villisca murders on the other side
of the Atlantic—gave me chills.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“The Man from the Train is a beautifully written and
extraordinarily researched narrative of a man who may have killed
95—or more—people, dating back more than a century, mostly in
small-town Middle America . . . This is no pure whodunit, but
rather a how-many-did-he-do.”
—Buffalo News
"[A] suspenseful historical account . . . The strength of the book
hangs on [the authors'] diligent research and analysis connecting
crimes into the closing years of the 19th century. Even those
skeptical at the outset that one man was responsibile for so much
bloodshed are likely to be convinced."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Bill James, with his daughter, Rachel, has done something truly
extraordinary. Not only has he solved one of the most
tantalizing mysteries in the annals of American crime--the
sensational case of the 1912 “Villisca Axe Murders”--but he has
tied it to a long string of equally savage, though completely
obscure, atrocities. The result is his discovery of a
previously unknown serial killer who roamed--and terrorized--the
country a century ago. Brilliantly researched and written in
James’ snappily conversational style, The Man From the Train is a
stunning feat of detection, an un-put-downable read, and a major
contribution to American criminal history.”—Harold Schechter,
author of The Serial Killer Files and The Mad Sculptor
"I began The Man on the Train a skeptic. Could the notorious
Villisca Murders of 1912, an unsolved crime so well-chronicled over
the past century, really be the work of a killer whose victims
numbered well into the dozens? But by the end, Bill James &
Rachel McCarthy James totally sold me on their reasoning,
exhaustive research, and their sly, sober portrait of a justice
system totally overmatched by the techniques and monstrosities of a
man fitting the serial killer prototype we know almost too well.
That they also fingered the culprit and name him is an even
more shocking bonus. Don't even think about missing out on
this beautifully brilliant, bananas book."—Sarah Weinman, editor of
Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 1950s
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