Real Murders

THE MURDER OF THE MONTH SUDDENLY TOOK A VERY REAL, VERY VIOLENT TURN

Every month, Real Murders, a society of crime buffs in Lawrenceton, Georgia, met to discuss a favorite infamous murder. Its members were an eccentric lot: Gifford Doakes, the massacre specialist; Jane Engle, lover of Victorian horrors; Perry Allison, a Ted Bundy fan.

The night of the last meeting, town librarian Aurora Roe Teagarden discovered Mamie Wright's mutilated body in the clubhouse kitchen. She felt certain the killer was a fellow member, for the crime bore a chilling resemblance to the club's murder of the month.

And as other brutal copycat killings followed, the only motive seemed a horrifyingly bizarre sense of fun.