Book Talk: ‘American Demon’ sheds new light on Cleveland’s Torso Killer

The name of Eliot Ness is inextricably linked with that of Al Capone, but in Cleveland it is linked with a criminal who was never caught. “American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper” by Cleveland native Daniel Stashower tells of the case of the Torso Killer, who may have claimed more than a dozen victims in the 1930s.

Stashower devotes his first chapter to the “Untouchables” busting the Capone mob, establishing the character of the ambitious young federal agent. His ambitions of an FBI career were dashed by the cantankerous J. Edgar Hoover, who begrudged Ness every inch of newspaper space; Stashower says that Ness became “suddenly, dizzyingly famous” after Capone’s indictments and that Hoover retaliated by rejecting him.

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After Prohibition ended, Ness did find a job with the Treasury Department in Cleveland, which led to his appointment as the city’s safety director in 1935. Ness broke a major gambling racket in the city, and revolutionized Cleveland’s police and fire departments, ordering them to focus on crime and fire prevention instead of waiting around for things to happen. He established a police academy and cracked down on corruption.

That wasn’t enough. In June 1936, two schoolboys playing hooky found what they thought was discarded clothing; it turned out to be a human head. The rest of his body was found the next day. It was the beginning of a series of discoveries that continued for years, before the term “serial killer” was coined.

The victims were all dismembered; only two were ever positively identified. With the high-profile Great Lakes Exposition bringing millions of visitors to Cleveland, Ness was under intense pressure to find the killer. The concept of criminal profiling also had not yet been developed, but Ness held a “crime conference” to come up with a “synthetic portrait of the killer.” This constructive effort was countered by his raid of a shantytown, burning down the shacks of Kingsbury Run and displacing their inhabitants.

Stashower paints his own portrait, that of Ness: a man repressed and obsessive, with a methodical one-track mind. That, and his carousing, cost him several marriages.

There have been at least 15 books about the Torso Killer, including nonfiction, fiction and graphic novels. Why another one? For historical crime, Stashower is unparalleled. His remarkable book “The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder” researches the birth of detective fiction with a real-life 1841 case. Stashower acknowledges those books by James Jessen Badal and John Stark Bellamy II, whose worthy work he expands on, but there is much new information here.

“American Demon” (352 pages, hardcover) costs $29.99 from Macmillan. Daniel Stashower won Edgar, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards for “Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War.”

Daniel Stashower will discuss and sign “American Demon” from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Bay Village branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library, 24700 Wolf Road, and from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch, 1876 South Green Road, South Euclid. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Event

Hudson Library & Historical Society: Steve Brusatte, who was a paleontology adviser on the “Jurassic Park” film series, talks about “The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us,” in a Zoom event at 7 p.m. Tuesday. At 7 p.m. Thursday, G. Elliott Morris, U.S. correspondent for The Economist, discusses “Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them,” 7 p.m. Thursday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.

Literary Cleveland: The Inkubator Writing Conference begins with three days of online panel discussions from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday (poetry), Thursday (nonfiction) and Friday (fiction), followed by the two-day public conference from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 8:30 Saturday at Cleveland Public Library, 525 Superior Ave. Presenters include David Giffels, Raechel Anne Jolie, Abby VanDiver, Tricia Springstubb, D.M. Pulley, Paula McLain, Thrity Umrigar and keynote speaker Jami Attenberg. It is free, but registration is required; go to incubator.litcleveland.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (North Royalton branch, 5071 Wallings Road): Eric Gray signs “Backyards to Ballparks: More Personal Baseball Stories from the Stands and Beyond,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library: Psychologist Michele Borba talks about “Raising Thrivers: Parenting Tips & Tools to Help Kids Thrive in an Uncertain World” in a virtual event at 2 p.m. Thursday. Register at smfpl.org.

Akron-Summit County Public Library (North Hill branch, 183 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave.): William Zink discusses and signs his richly detailed, late 1960s-set “North Hill,” 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at akronlibrary.org.

Wadsworth Public Library (132 Broad St.): Janice Mitchell talks about and signs “My Ticket to Ride: How I Ran Away to England to Meet the Beatles and Got Rock and Roll Banned in Cleveland (a True Story from 1964),” 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.

Barberton Public Library (602 W. Park Ave.): The library expects more than a dozen local authors to talk about and sign their books from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The list includes Bob Morehead (“Thoughts on Being: A Collection of Lyrical Verse”), Cari Dubeil (“How to Remember”), Conrad Storad (“How to Remember”), David and Elise Meyers (“The Reverse Underground Railroad in Ohio”), Jamy Bechler (“Building Champions: Success Principles from A to Z”), Jane Blasio (“Building Champions: Success Principles from A to Z”), Kathryn Long (“Snowed Under Murder”), Leslie Pearce-Keating (“Hannah's Memory Box”), Lynn King, Mark Zimmerman (“Eli: The Phenom's Story: A Historical Novel of the 1946 Baseball Season”), Zeke Petrie (“Reach and Fall”), Judy Orr-James (“Akron Family Recipes: History and Traditions from Sauerkraut Balls to Sweet Potato Pie”), C. Daniel Koon, Amber McPherson (“The Guardians' Daughter”), Don Ake (“Will there be Free Appetizers? Musings of a Brilliant Idiot”) and Josh Bechtel (“Adoption: A Journey of Discovering God's Grace”). Interested authors can email pr@barbertonlibrary.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Chagrin Falls branch, 100 E. Orange St.): Bob Abelman discusses his theater-based novellas “All the World’s a Stage Fright” and “Murder, Center Stage,” 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Shan L. Spyker signs “The Way of the River,” first in the announced Kellandale Wood middle-grade fantasy series, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Anastasia Cyr signs her picture book “Bunnies Just Doing Things,” 1 p.m. Sunday; James T. Hollin signs “Spirituality, Racism, and the Phantom: Tranquil Skies; The Mystique of Flight,” 3 p.m. Sunday; Jacqueline Little signs “The Narrative of the Life of Theresa: Memoir of a Marriage,” 3 p.m. Saturday. In a virtual event at 7 p.m. Thursday, Hayley Campbell joins the Peculiar Book Club to talk about “All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work”; register at loganberrybooks.com.

Pekar Park (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights): Miami Heat assistant coach Caron Butler and Cleveland author Justin A. Reynolds (“It’s the End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit”) sign their middle-grade basketball novel “Shot Clock,” 2 p.m. Saturday.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘American Demon’ sheds new light on Cleveland’s Torso Killer