A Killer by Design

Murderers, Mindhunters, and My Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind

By: Ann Wolbert Burgess, Steven Matthew Constantine

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

A vivid behind-the-scenes look into the creation of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and the evolution of criminal profiling, written by the pioneering forensic nurse who transformed the way the FBI studies, profiles, and catches serial killers.

Lurking beneath the progressive activism and sex positivity in the 1970 to '80s, a dark undercurrent of violence rippled across the American landscape. With reported cases of sexual assault and homicide on the rise, the FBI created a specialized team - the “Mindhunters”, better known as the Behavioral Science Unit - to track down the country's most dangerous criminals. And yet narrowing down a seemingly infinite list of potential suspects seemed daunting at best and impossible at worst - until Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess stepped on the scene.

In A Killer by Design, Burgess reveals how her pioneering research on sexual assault and trauma caught the attention of the FBI, and steered her right into the middle of a chilling serial murder investigation in Nebraska. Over the course of the next two decades, she helped the budding unit identify, interview, and track down dozens of notoriously violent offenders, including Ed Kemper ("The Co-Ed Killer"), Dennis Rader ("BTK"), Henry Wallace ("The Taco Bell Strangler"), Jon Barry Simonis ("The Ski-Mask Rapist"), and many others. As one of the first women trailblazers within the FBI’s hallowed halls, Burgess knew many were expecting her to crack under pressure and recoil in horror - but she was determined to protect future victims at any cost. This book pulls us directly into the investigations as she experienced them, interweaving never-before-seen interview transcripts and crime scene drawings alongside her own vivid recollections to provide unprecedented insight into the minds of deranged criminals and the victims they left behind. Along the way, Burgess also paints a revealing portrait of a formidable institution on the brink of a seismic scientific and cultural reckoning - and the men forced to reconsider everything they thought they knew about crime.

Haunting, heartfelt, and deeply human, A Killer by Design forces us to confront the age-old question that has long plagued our criminal justice system: “What drives someone to kill, and how can we stop them?”

©2021 Ann Wolbert Burgess and Steven Matthew Constantine (P)2021 Hachette Books

Critic reviews

“Of all the colleagues I’ve worked with, Ann is one of the sharpest - and one of the toughest. Ann’s behind-the-scenes work had a profound impact on the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, since she taught us how to harness the chaos of serial killers’ minds and helped us decipher the undecipherable. I’d recommend that everyone read A Killer by Design, not only is it a great page-turner, but it’s about time Ann’s story was heard.” (John E. Douglas, former FBI criminal profiler and best-selling author of Mindhunter)

“My career was shaped after reading the seminal text on sexual homicide co-authored by Dr. Ann Burgess - one of the original Mindhunters. Now, in A Killer by Design, Burgess shows how she helped refine the criminal profiling process, with an acute eye for detail and heartwarming compassion for the victims. This book has quickly become a permanent fixture on my bookshelf and is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand the history of exploring the predator's mind. Burgess is truly a hero in the fight against evil.” (Paul Holes, FBI Task Force officer, retired cold case investigator, and cohost of Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad podcast)

“Countless investigators and detectives around the world do work every single day that is based on the research and discoveries of Dr. Ann Burgess - myself included. But here, for the first time, we are able to experience the fascinating - and often heart-wrenching - stories behind these facts, figures, and procedures alongside Ann as she worked the cases that would serve as the foundation of criminal profiling. This is a riveting book and will become a staple on the shelves of both experts, and armchair detectives.” (Sarah Cailean, criminal behaviorist)

Love Ann Burgess!

Great to finally get the woman’s perspective on serial criminals! Best book I’ve listened to this year!

Knowledgable

I liked everything about the book! Love Anne Burgess she's very knowledgeable. Her work is very important to the future victims and helping these killers caught!

Ann Burgess is such an inspiration

This is a solid read for anyone curious about Ann Burgess or the criminal minds.

Highly informative

Digging deep into the psychology of serial killers, Ann Burgess is an intuitive and educated scholar. I will be listening to this again and taking notes.

Excellent book by v smart scholar

The only thing I didn’t like was the narrator going into her “man voice”. The late Ressler and John Douglas’s voices aren’t even like that (I’ve heard Douglas lecture) so the dragnet voicing was just silly

Excellent Nonfiction Book!

This was a well-written and extremely interesting depiction of the process involved in profiling serial killers today. Also, well narrated! Highly recommend!

If you like mind hunter- you will enjoy this

Best True Crime Book of the Year
It covered some of the same BAU cases from Mind Hunter etc but from a female perspective. Highly recommend.

An interesting listen.

Greatly read and written. Fantastic in compliment to John Douglas fans books if you enjoy them.

Great Stories

I became interested in the book when I heard an interview with Burgess and Constantine, and I was so excited to read/hear it for myself. The narrator was distracting, though. One piece that bothered me is that they sound nothing like Burgess, in affect or personality.

Humility. Not so much.

Clearly, the author is brilliant, but the arrogant tenor ("I told her to leave the room") the redundant bragging--detracts from an otherwise excellent piece of work.