New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-winner Daniel Stashower returns with American Demon, a historical true crime starring legendary lawman Eliot Ness.Boston had its Strangler. California had the Zodiac Killer. And in the depths of the Great Depression, Cleveland had the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland's Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed "The Lady of the Lake," was only the first of a butcher's dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive. Terror gripped the city. Amid the growing uproar, Cleveland's besieged mayor turned to his newly-appointed director of public safety: Eliot Ness. Ness had come to Cleveland fresh from his headline-grabbing exploits in Chicago, where he and his band of "Untouchables" led the frontline assault on Al Capone's bootlegging empire. Now he would confront a case that would redefine his storied career. Award-winning author Daniel Stashower shines a fresh light on one of the most notorious puzzles in the annals of crime, and uncovers the gripping story of Ness's hunt for a sadistic killer who was as brilliant as he was cool and composed, a mastermind who was able to hide in plain sight. American Demon reconstructs this ultimate battle of wits between a hero and a madman.

Prologue: The Last of the Good GuysPart I: Al¿s Nemesis1 The Lady in the Lake2 Chicago Has Fallen3 Jackass Hill4 Snorky¿s Last RidePart II: The Mad Butcher Strikes Again5 Capone Nemesis Gets Big Job6 Woman Slain, Head Sought in Coal Bins7 ¿Let¿s Gö8 The Tattooed Man9 Lake Torso10 Voodoo Doctors and Chicken Freaks11 Steel and Bone12 Do You Know This Room?Part III: Who Is This Mad Torso Killer?13 Gaylord Sundheim14 Misguided Zeal15 The Hot Seat16 There Goes Eliot Ness17 The American SweeneyEpilogue: Eliot-Am-Big-U-ous NessAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex