According to a new history of serial homicide by Peter Vronsky, a study of 399 known serial killers in the USA between 1800 and 1995, revealed that 16 percent were females, and 75 percent of the female killers made their appearance after 1950. (See: www.petervronsky.com )

Peter Vronsky writes in SERIAL KILLERS: THE METHOD AND MADNESS OF MONSTERS, that women “are often more deadly and more prolific than typical male serial killers. Female serial killers are described as the ‘quiet killers’ because they rarely leave bodies dumped by the roadside, which alarm a community. Their killing careers last twice as long as men’s: eight years for women compared to the male serial killer’s average of just over four years.”

Women serial killers are also better educated and qualified, claims Vronsky citing further studies that show females incarcerated for a single murder are, when they commit their crime, 77 percent unemployed, 65 percent Afro-American, 76 percent mothers and with a median age of twenty-seven years. Female serial killers, on the other hand, are only 10 percent unemployed and 95 percent white with a median age of thirty. A remarkable 31 percent of female serial killers were professionals, skilled workers, or business proprietors, and a further 15 percent were semi-skilled workers.

In his history of serial murder from the ancient days of the Roman Empire to the most recent cases this year, Vronsky includes a look at female serial killers and their motives, which differ to some extent from those of male serial killers. “On average, 74 percent of female serial killers were at least in part motivated by personal financial gain, a sad reflection on their middle-class aspirations,” writes Vronsky.

Vronsky reminds us, however, that a third of female serial killers committed their crimes with an accomplice, frequently a male, and his book includes several case accounts exploring the dynamics of the killer couple marriages and love relationships.

SERIAL KILLERS: THE METHOD AND MADNESS OF MONSTERS is an exploration of the historical, cultural, psychological and investigative aspects of serial homicide in a 430-page illustrated volume.

Peter Vronsky is currently completing his doctorate in history at the University of Toronto and is a former investigative documentary producer.