you. He definitely improved perceptibly with every effort up to The Cold Six Thousand.

Also a stereotype that they’re males. Mostly they are. It depends on whether you include examples such as a woman running a boarding house and poisoning the renters was a serial killer or not (her motive was money, not the thrill of the kill).

In The Better Angels Of Our Nature, Pinker has an interesting discussion regarding male vs female serial killers. If memory serves, he notes that male serial killing mirrors the male sex drive. Murder is impersonal (most male serial killers do not know their victims), and violent, penetrative methods are preferred. Female serial killers, in contrast, operate according to feminine drives. The victims are well-known to the killer (family members, friends), and theeasier for them to escape detection for longer.

As I vaguely recall, Bill James's book (recommended here by our host) made the point that most serial killers weren't the diabolical geniuses we see on TV but usually evaded the dragnet of law enforcement by moving to the next state after killing a few victims of marginal social interest.

"Beverley Gail Emma Louise Allitt (born 4 October 1968) is an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering four children, attempting to murder three other children, and causing grievous bodily harm to a further six children. The crimes were committed over a period of 59 days between February and April 1991 in the children's ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, where Allitt was employed as a State Enrolled Nurse."

How she