In the summer of 1874, a beloved schoolteacher mysteriously goes missing upon closing up school. After a frantic search, the young woman is discovered horribly mutilated in the woods, and authorities question everyone in the small railroad village of St. Albans, Vermont.

With the case turning cold, news arrives of an eerily similar crime committed in peaceful Pembroke, New Hampshire, in the autumn of 1875. This one, even more gruesome. Everyone questions whether the two beauties were intended victims or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Amid mounting fear, dedicated detectives and a persistent populace will stop at nothing to ensure the murderous fiend is brought to justice.

For the first time, the true crime story that has inspired dozens of podcasts and blogposts is now a gripping novel called Malice Aforethought, and the author shares an exciting theory never before explored.