The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the 20th Century: Volume One

By: Jenny Ashford

Narrated by: Jenny Ashford

What is it about unsolved murders that still fascinates us long after the cases have gone cold? Is it simply that we enjoy being able to come up with our own theories about what happened to the unfortunate victims? Or are we intrigued by the terrifying possibility that the killers are still out there somewhere?

The Faceless Villain: Volume One is the first in a three volume series that explores the most mysterious and disturbing unsolved murders of the 20th century. This volume is comprised of the years 1900 through 1959 and includes all of the best known cases of the period as well as many more lesser known murders, all presented in a compelling chronological narrative that takes the reader on a grisly journey through the blood-soaked avenues of early 20th century crime. Featuring: The Peasenhall Murder. The Seal Chart Murder. The Atlanta Ripper. The Villisca Axe Murders. The Axeman of New Orleans. The Green Bicycle Case. Little Lord Fauntleroy. Hinterkaifeck Farm. The St. Aubin Street Massacre. The Wallace Case. The Atlas Vampire. The Brighton Trunk Crime. The Cleveland Torso Murderer. The Horror in Room 1046. Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm? The Pitchfork Murder. The Sodder Children. The Phantom Killer. The Black Dahlia. Somerton Man. The Grimes Sisters. The Boy in the Box. And much more!

New! Improved audio quality as of February 2019!

©2017 Jennifer Ashford (P)2017 Jennifer Ashford

Brilliant book

I love the podcast on YouTube and was really excited to get this book, a pleasure to listen to, I will definitely be getting the others.

Perplexing Crimes

If you are interested in true crime and you do not mind being left without a neat ending, this book is for you. However, I do have some caveats (as well as some compliments):

The murders that are reviewed are mostly American and English, with a handful in Europe and a few in Asia, so do not think this covers worldwide crimes.

The chronological order is a great way to organize the book.

Most of the crimes are little known, which is good because if you read a lot of true crime, you will still come across some cases you are unaware of. A few are quite famous: Black Dahlia, Cleveland Torso Killer, Axe Man of New Orleans, but most are not.

You will hear many of the true crime cliches in the writing: "nefarious" pops up a lot, for example.

I enjoyed the author providing some closure, in the sense of telling us who the likely murderers are, who holds those theories, and why. So rather than just saying "No one knows," in all of the cases, there are many cases in which she offers "The police think it was Smith," "This historian believes it was a serial killer," and "This other author wrote a book citing the next-door neighbor as the killer."

Although the performance is not bad, I had just finished another book that was read by a professional and that performance was perfect. Writing a book and performing a book are two different things, and I wish this author had had a pro read her book. (Honestly, except for a handful of nonfiction authors, most poets and memoir writers, I wish all authors would let the pros perform their books.) There is a reason some folks do this professionally, and it really makes a difference.

I will probably buy the 2nd volume, as the cases themselves are interesting. But I do so knowing the performance is not great and the writing could be stronger.

A Great Book with A Great Narration

This book chronicles a number of unsolved cases. many of which you've likely never heard of. it is very detailed and well written. The format of the Chronology of the cases are year by year, & I personally appreciate the way the cases as a whole as well as individual victims is presented. As well the narration by Ms. Ashford is superb. She has a very pleasant and knowledgeable tone and way of reading through the book. I highly recommend this as well as the read of her works. if you're interested is the macabre, creepy, or chilling, authored in a fluid and informative or imaginative (in the case of her fiction) her works will likely mean your tastes.

felt like being read a Wikipedia entry

narration was a bit dry for my taste and the writing was too for that matter. it's a nice little collection of stories but somehow they managed to make this subject less interesting to me.

A must for anyone interested in true crime

Loved it. The cases were presented chronologically, and even with some overlap of the timelines they were presented very clearly and the timeline was easy to follow.

Narrating was very good, professional and not monotonous or boring at all. I have problems with hearing and I was very happy with the clear articulation.

Looking forward to getting started with the sequels!

Hard to look away

These stories are morbidly fascinating and seem to have been well researched. My two issues: the author is not a great reader. I’ve heard worse but her tone is flat and rushed with all the expression of a courtroom stenographer. Two: I so wish she’d simply follow each story to its conclusion without leaping from fragment to fragment. Both of these issues tend to reduce the humanity of the victims in my mind’s eye - maybe a good thing when describing such ghastly deeds. That said, I will likely move on to the second volume anyway.

Audio Production Failure

If you are into listening to the details of an unsolved crime, this book is pretty good. It doesn't quite go full spectrum in my opinion though. I've heard of some of these cases before in other material, and they typically delve a little deeper into things like additional theories about the cases, but this one pretty much just states the known facts and lets you make your own theory.

My only real complaint I have about this as an audio book was that the echo in the audio production was extremely distracting. This sounded like it was recorded by the author in an empty room, and limited post processing was done with the audio. Overall it wasn't bad, but the echo was very distracting to me, personally.

dobry start

Odsłuchałam właśnie pierwszy tom książki. The Faceless Villain, jest na prawdę ciekawą, wartą polecenia pozycją.

Totally Enthralling

Jenny Ashford has a knack for telling a great story. Having discovered her via her podcast, I was excited to check out this book. It exceeded my high expectations. A collection of interesting cases presented in an engaging way by the author. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in macabre true crime stories.

A must listen for true crime enthusiasts!

What did you love best about The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the 20th Century: Volume One?

This is the first installment of a new three volume series by Jenny Ashford, and she never fails to impress! The cases are all thoroughly researched and presented in a clear chronological order that makes it not only easy for the listener to follow, but difficult to stop listening once you start!

If you could give The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the 20th Century: Volume One a new subtitle, what would it be?

An essential guide to unsolved murders for true crime enthusiasts.

Any additional comments?

To those interested in the true crime genre, this provides an informative and compelling read that takes you on a journey through 20th century disturbing and unsolved murder cases that leaves you in anticipation of the release of volumes two and three. I loved it!