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The Man from the Train

The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery

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The Man from the Train

By: Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James
Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
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About this listen

 An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, The Man from the Train is an “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal). In this groundbreaking work of historical true crime, legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applies his analytical genius to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history.

Between 1898 and 1912, families across the United States were brutally murdered in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Valuables were left untouched, bodies were staged, and faces covered. Some cases, like the infamous Villisca Axe Murders in Iowa, gained national attention—but few believed the crimes were connected. Fewer still noticed that every family lived within walking distance of a train line.

Digging through thousands of newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, James and his daughter Rachel uncovered a chilling truth: these murders were the work of one man, traveling by rail, who would go on to become one of America’s most prolific yet largely forgotten serial killers.

Riveting and immersive, The Man from the Train offers a vivid portrait of turn-of-the-century America, exposing how cultural blind spots, flawed investigations, and opportunistic detectives allowed this killer to operate undetected. Blending meticulous research with narrative drive, this modern classic of true crime nonfiction will fascinate readers of Devil in the White City, My Favorite Murder, and fans of unsolved mysteries and historical crime investigations. Americas Crime Murder Social Sciences True Crime United States Exciting Mystery Sports
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the performance put me to sleep a little. I think because his voice is so deep. the story had a lot of speculation because so much is unknown about it, and sometimes the tone of the writer seemed immature? but overall it's quite interesting if you take everything at face value. if you like true crime / unsolved murders you'd probably enjoy this.

speculation is key

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This is a great book, very detailed and informative about the places and lives of the people involved, and so scary (the authors make clear the parts of the story where evidence isn’t available and they rely on conjecture).

Anyone interested in true crime or detective stories would probably enjoy this book.

Some of the language is out of date, unfortunately for sex workers the terms prostitute and hooker are used, and instead of sexual assault the term rape, is used.

The narration is clear but monotone, I fell asleep once or twice!

Fascinating, scary story

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Great story. Question. Why does the narrator skip some of the last chapter? I need to find a copy and read the last chapter.

Very interesting but feels incomplete

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was a interesting story. was just as interesting hearing about the way of life in the early 1900s as the nasty murders.

interesting

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I would have liked to have heard an account that didn't have so much sarcastic conjecture but it was otherwise an interesting story.

Very interesting

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