Eric Ethier is a freelance history writer whose articles have appeared in the magazines American History, Civil War Times, and America in WWII. He lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

The harsh discipline of Puritan life bred the hard-bitten and hard-working people of Massachusetts, but did it also breed a unique type of criminal? This book explores the headline crimes of the state to find an answer. Included are the cases of the alleged ax-wielding Lizzie Borden, the executed anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti, the legendary Brink's robbery, the mysterious Boston Strangler, the Big Dan's spectator rape, the desperate college professor who murdered a young prostitute, and the fur salesman who slaughtered his wife and unborn child in cold blood.