
Aka Jon A. Harrald (joint pseudonym with Jonna Gormley Semeiks) Harold Schechter is a true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he obtained a Ph.D. A resident of New York City, Schechter is professor of American literature and popular culture at Queens College of the City University of New York. Among his nonfiction works are the historical true-crime classics Fatal, Fiend, Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved. He also authors a critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Edgar Allan Poe, which includes The Hum Bug and Nevermore and The Mask of Red Death. Schechter is married to poet Kimiko Hahn. He has two daughters from a previous marriage: the writer Lauren Oliver and professor of philosophy Elizabeth Schechter.
An Atlas of American Crime
2025
2015
The Savage Trail of a True American Monster
1998
True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
2022
2007
1994
The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer
1990
1989
50 stories of the quest
1983
The Man Who Studied Murder [And Nearly Killed the Comics Industry]
2025
2021
The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer
2003
The Shocking True Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer
2000
The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
2018
Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend
2010
2018
2015
The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer
2021
La vera storia di Ed Gein, il «macellaio di Plainfield»
2025
A History of Crime in 100 Objects
2023
1999
1997
2018
Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of
2012
2018
2000
2019
The Shocking True Stories Behind the Movies' Most Memorable Crimes
2020
A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment
2005
2014
1996
Folklore and Popular Art
1988
2018
Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
2007
2001
2014
2004
Psyche and Symbol in Popular Art
1980
2018
2018
The Hero, The Hobo, And The Crime That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago
2019
The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
2003
2006
A Lively Guide to the Bitter End
2009
An American Anthology
2008