The Killer of Little Shepherds
A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science
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Narrated by:
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Erik Davies
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By:
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Douglas Starr
About this listen
A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.
At the end of the 19th century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds”, terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years - until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men - intelligent and bold - typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science’s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition. With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher’s infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher’s crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer’s arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher’s defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne’s efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement. The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.
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Morgue
- A Life in Death
- By: Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscell
- Narrated by: Tony Ward
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Vincent Di Maio, MD, son of a famous New York City medical examiner, is one of the lions of forensic science. In this clear, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Di Maio himself guides us into the inner sanctum, through the cases that have made him famous, from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and the racially charged shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin to the unmasking of a serial baby killer and the mysterious death of troubled genius Vincent van Gogh.
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Biased book with little actual forensics.
- By Lila Fowler on 08-02-16
By: Vincent Di Maio, and others
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Old Sparky
- The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty
- By: Anthony Galvin
- Narrated by: Jack Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Old Sparky covers the history of capital punishment in America and the "current wars" between Edison and Westinghouse, which led to the development of the electric chair. It examines how the electric chair became the most popular method of execution in America before being superseded by lethal injection. Famous executions are explored alongside quirky last meals and poignant last words.
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Information not a sermon.
- By Jakk on 10-24-16
By: Anthony Galvin
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The Invention of Murder
- How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
- By: Judith Flanders
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.
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Excellent, awesome and educational!
- By Janalyn on 03-14-20
By: Judith Flanders
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My Life Among the Serial Killers
- Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers
- By: Helen Morrison M.D., Harold Goldberg
- Narrated by: Helen Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
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Dr. Helen Morrison has profiled more than 80 serial killers around the world. What she has learned about them will shatter every assumption you've ever had about the most notorious killers known to man.
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Boring reader,boring writing
- By P. Minor on 02-03-08
By: Helen Morrison M.D., and others
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Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends
- By: Dr. Catie Gilchrist
- Narrated by: Emma Grant Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Most of us today rarely see a dead body. In 19th-century Sydney, when health was precarious and workplaces and the busy city streets were often dangerous, witnessing a death was rather common. And any death that was sudden or suspicious would be investigated by the coroner. Henry Shiell was the Sydney city coroner from 1866 to 1889. In the course of his unusually long career, he delved into the lives, loves, crimes, homes, and workplaces of colonial Sydneysiders.
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very interesting and enlightening
- By Barbara J Allison on 08-29-19
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
- The Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
- By: Kate Summerscale
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection. At the time, the detective was a relatively new invention; there were only eight detectives in all of England and rarely were they called out of London, but this crime was so shocking that Scotland Yard sent its best man to investigate, Inspector Jonathan Whicher.
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Tragic Murder at dawn of detective bureau
- By Kindle Customer on 08-20-14
By: Kate Summerscale
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The Nazi and the Psychiatrist
- Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII
- By: Jack El-Hai
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann Göring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by 16 suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot water bottle, and the equivalent of $100,000,000 in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining Göring in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime....
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I Don't Understand The Complaints...
- By Douglas on 01-03-14
By: Jack El-Hai
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Manhunters
- Criminal Profilers and Their Search for the World’s Most Wanted Serial Killers
- By: Colin Wilson
- Narrated by: Brandon Massey
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fascinating, in-depth account of the hunt for serial killers, Colin Wilson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, examines the ways they can be tracked down and caught, from the tried-and-true methods of the early 20th century to the high-tech processes in use today. Wilson examines such areas as psychological profiling, genetic fingerprinting, and the launch of the Behavioral Science Unit. He delves into the importance of fantasy to serial killers, the urge to keep on killing, the desire to become notorious, and murder as an addictive drug.
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Reprinted Material, Questionable Commentary
- By B on 10-18-15
By: Colin Wilson
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Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
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An outstanding story, highly recommended
- By S. Blakely on 06-22-17
By: David Grann
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Damnation Island
- Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
- By: Stacy Horn
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Today it is known as Roosevelt Island. In 1828, when New York City purchased this narrow, two-mile-long island in the East River, it was called Blackwell's Island. There, over the next hundred years, the city would build a lunatic asylum, prison, hospital, workhouse, and almshouse. Stacy Horn has crafted a compelling and chilling narrative told through the stories of the poor souls sent to Blackwell's, as well as the period's city officials, reformers, and journalists (including the famous Nellie Bly). Damnation Island re-creates what daily life was like on the island....
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Fascinating!
- By tamborine on 08-06-18
By: Stacy Horn
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Unnatural Causes
- By: Dr Richard Shepherd
- Narrated by: Dr Richard Shepherd
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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As the country's top forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd has spent a lifetime uncovering the secrets of the dead. When death is sudden or unexplained, it falls to Shepherd to establish the cause. Each post-mortem is a detective story in its own right - and Shepherd has performed over 23,000 of them. Through his skill, dedication and insight, Dr Shepherd solves the puzzle to answer our most pressing question: how did this person die?
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Boring!
- By Zoesmydog on 06-21-19
What listeners say about The Killer of Little Shepherds
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Enrique
- 05-21-13
Great reading!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Sure, I have forensic friends , I have recommended this book to them
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Mr Lacassagne way of thinking is a very interesting aspect of the story, he's very Smart and simple at the same time. I cannot remember anything non-interesting
What about Erik Davies’s performance did you like?
Not really too much, sometimes his voice is very relaxing
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
not really, but it made me think on the early forensic science and thinking on that time
Any additional comments?
The book talks on the Dreyfuss affair but it never deepens on it, I would like to have that extra background in the early chapters
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- Roberta
- 10-02-13
poor narration detracts from good history
The narrator speaks in a voice which I describe as a loud whisper. The writing is in English, but the speaker uses French more often than necessary. For example, he calls Paris, "Paree". The French accent is so heavy it sounds like he needs to clear his nasal passages. I finally regretted buying this book and will return it.
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Master Story Teller
Would you consider the audio edition of The Killer of Little Shepherds to be better than the print version?
Did not read print
What did you like best about this story?
The valuable information he was able to convey.
Which character – as performed by Erik Davies – was your favorite?
My favorite character in the book was the man who defended his wife from the attack of the serial killer, and bought the criminal to justice.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
Any additional comments?
A great book filled with valuable history and information.
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- Amy
- 01-28-13
Impressively Researched and Thrillingly Told
A riveting true crime story that vividly recounts the birth of modern forensics.
At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher, known and feared as “The Killer of Little Shepherds,” terrorized the French countryside. He eluded authorities for years—until he ran up against prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the era’s most renowned criminologist. The two men—intelligent and bold—typified the Belle Époque, a period of immense scientific achievement and fascination with science’s promise to reveal the secrets of the human condition.
With high drama and stunning detail, Douglas Starr revisits Vacher’s infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. We see one of the earliest uses of criminal profiling, as Fourquet painstakingly collects eyewitness accounts and constructs a map of Vacher’s crimes. We follow the tense and exciting events leading to the murderer’s arrest. And we witness the twists and turns of the trial, celebrated in its day. In an attempt to disprove Vacher’s defense by reason of insanity, Fourquet recruits Lacassagne, who in the previous decades had revolutionized criminal science by refining the use of blood-spatter evidence, systematizing the autopsy, and doing groundbreaking research in psychology. Lacassagne’s efforts lead to a gripping courtroom denouement.
The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice, impressively researched and thrillingly told.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Jessica Pierson
- 01-02-17
Not Ann Rand!
I've read a few true crime novels before and this heavy tome was no supermarket paperback true crime rag. This book was a very thorough examination of the cultural and scientific "stew" in which a serial killer murdered nearly a dozen people in France over a three years period in the late 1890's. The author switches between the killer's story and the lead investigator's story every chapter. It isn't confusing, though. The break between the vicious and sickening crimes of the killer is needed. Overall I thought it was very interesting and extremely well researched. The author did a good job of couching the development of forensic science within the killer's crime spree. My one caveat is that unless you speak French, I wouldn't really recommend the audiobook version of this book. The narrator uses French pronunciations and speaks French words throughout the audiobook. I don't speak any French and I thought about quitting the book a bunch of times because of the heaviness of the use of French. I couldn't even tell you the killer's name! (It sounds like "Vache). For example, the narrator would say "Pair-ee" when referring to Paris. The good news is that I did finish the book and have a lot better understanding of the development of forensic science.
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- Irene
- 11-27-11
Truly the best true crime/forensic science
This is my pick for my audible book of the year. Mesmerizing. A perfect listen.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Rogelio
- 12-20-13
UNEXPECTED
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
The book is suitable for those who expect this type of book. I was expecting a novel about a single criminal act.
Has The Killer of Little Shepherds turned you off from other books in this genre?
No, but it does turn me off books by this author,
What about Erik Davies’s performance did you like?
The performance was fine.
Did The Killer of Little Shepherds inspire you to do anything?
I was not inspired to commit a crime.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-10-19
Outstanding
This is one of my favorite books in the true crime genre. Brilliantly written, full of vivid descriptions, and extremely educational...and a great story.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jaimie
- 08-26-15
Fascinating and well read!
If you are interested in the history of forensic science and crime this is the book for you.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Praetor
- 03-30-12
Masterly introduction to modern forensic science
In this book, Starr expertly weaves the story of turn-of-the-century serial killer Joseph Vacher, with the early heroes of forensic science. The book is simply fascinating, both the tales of Vacher's crimes and the hunt for him, and the various people developing methods in forensics (like how to perform an autopsy, determine a person's height from a few bones, or finding out how long ago a person died). The book is well paced, and the performance of the narrator, Erik Davies, is wonderful.
I truly have nothing negative to say about it - it's great.
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11 people found this helpful