All That is Wicked

'A master-class in bringing history to life, in all its creepy, twisted glory' – Karen Kilgariff, co-host of

My Favorite Murder podcast 'Every true crime fan will be riveted by Kate's master story-telling of this unforgettable tale' – Paul Holes, author of Unmasked: Crime Scenes, Cold Cases and My Hunt for the Golden State Killer

The thrilling story of Edward Rulloff – a serial murderer who was called 'too intelligent to be killed' – and the array of 19th-century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind.

Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer – some have called him a 'Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter' – whose crimes spanned decades, but by 1871 he was captured, chained in a cell – a psychopath holding court while curious 19th-century 'mindhunters' got to work. From alienists to neurologists to phrenologists, each one thought he held the key to understanding the essential question: is evil born or made?

Acclaimed crime historian and podcaster Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials and never-before-shared historical documents to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer – a century before the term was coined – through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come.