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.
Series
Books
Ed Gein
2021
Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie
2018
Discoveries
50 stories of the quest
1983
Butcher's Work
True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
2022
The Bosom Serpent
Folklore and Popular Art
1988
Panic
2018
The Devil's Gentleman
Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
2007
The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers
1996
Bestial
The Savage Trail of a True American Monster
1998
Man-Eater
2015
Hell's Princess
The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
2018
Fiend
The Shocking True Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer
2000
Killer Colt
Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend
2010
The Tell-Tale Corpse
2006
The Brick Slayer
2018
Savage Pastimes
A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment
2005
Deranged
The Shocking True Story of America's Most Fiendish Killer
1990
Rampage
2018
Deviant
1989
Fatal
The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer
2003
True Crime
An American Anthology
2008
Real to Reel
2000
The Mask of Red Death
2004
Nevermore
1999
The Mad Sculptor
2014
Serial Killer Quarterly Vol.1 No.3 "Unsolved in North America"
2014
Reel Verse
2019
Murderabilia
A History of Crime in 100 Objects
2023
Maniac
The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer
2021
Conversation Pieces
2007
Ripped from the Headlines!
The Shocking True Stories Behind the Movies' Most Memorable Crimes
2020
The Pied Piper
2018
The Serial Killer Files
The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers
2003
Depraved
1994
The Whole Death Catalog
A Lively Guide to the Bitter End
2009
The Pirate
2018
The Ragged Stranger
The Hero, The Hobo, And The Crime That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago
2019
The Hum Bug
2001
Outcry
1997
Beauty Slain in Bath
2015
Psycho USA
Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of
2012
