Suddenly Eliot Ness’s tall tale looked a lot more credible.
A book such as this one inevitably involves an enormous amount of research. I’ve made several visits to Cleveland and have had the pleasure of talking with many knowledgeable people, experts on the case, the period, and the man-including two people who actually knew Eliot Ness and were invaluable sources of information about him. I am greatly indebted to the archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Cleveland Press Archives at Cleveland State University, and the Plain Dealer archive at the Cleveland Public Library. There are two nonfiction accounts of the torso murder case: Torso, by Steven Nickel and In the Wake of the Butcher, by James Jessen Badal. The most prominent biography of my lead character is Eliot Ness: The Real Story, by Paul W. Heimel. All three books were extremely useful to me as I researched and wrote this novel and I am indebted to the authors. I also want to thank John Hansen for his investigative work; writer Max Allan Collins, one of the first researchers to understand the significance of the postcards; and Rebecca McFarland, librarian, historian, and trustee of the Cleveland Police Historical Society, for suggesting that the Torso Killer might well have operated out of one of Cleveland ’s many abandoned breweries.
As one of my characters says, America, and certainly the media, seem fascinated with watching heroes fail. Eliot Ness was a major force for justice in the early part of America ’s twentieth century, and he deserved a better end than he received. I hope this book might play some small part in helping him receive the attention and praise he deserves, even with respect to this: his least favorite investigation, that of America ’s first true serial killer. What we should remember is his tireless pursuit of a madman he simply did not have the tools to catch. I can perhaps be forgiven for forging an ending, consistent with the historical record, that still allows Eliot Ness to solve his last big case.
William Bernhardt
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WILLIAM BERNHARDT is the author of many novels, including Primary Justice, Murder One, Criminal Intent, Death Row, Hate Crime, Dark Eye, Strip Search, Capitol Murder, Capitol Threat, and Capitol Conspiracy. He has twice won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, and in 2000 he was presented the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award “in recognition of an outstanding body of work in which we understand ourselves and American society at large.” A former trial attorney, Bernhardt has received several awards for his public service. He lives in Tulsa with his three children.
wb@williambernhardt.com at www.williambernhardt.com
