Brian Masters

On February 9th 1983 Dennis Nilsen was arrested at his Muswell Hill home, after human remains had been identified as the cause of blocked drains. Within days he had confessed to fifteen grusome murders over a period of our years. His victims, all young homosexual men, had never been missed. Brian Masters, with Nilsen's full cooperation, has produced a study of a murderer's mind which is unique of its kind. KILLING FOR COMPANY must stand as one of the most remarkable and accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society. Brian Masters, in the writing, has achieved the impossible. Through dealing with sensational and horrific matters he has managed to treat his material with such objectivity and restraint that what we have is not a penny dreadful from the Hammer House of Horror, but a bloody masterpiece' BERYL BAINBRIDGE Observer. . . . .

Killing for Company

When Milwaukee police entered Jeffrey Dahmer's North 25th Street apartment in July 1991, they discovered that for some time this quiet, undemonstrative man had been living amidst the debris of an orgy of killing. A severed head lay in the refrigerator. A freezer contained two more heads and a human torso. Two skulls and a complete skeleton were found in a filing cabinet. A styrofoam box concealed two more skulls, and a large blue plastic drum was found to contain three further human torsos in various stages of decomposition. This is the story of the mass murderer, Jeffrey Dahmer.

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

The Story of a Man Addicted to Murder

Traces the life of the British novelist and humorist, looks at his prominent, yet eccentric family, and discusses his major works

The Life of E.F. Benson

Frederick West cheated everybody when he hung himself on New Year's Day 1995. Was this a sign of overwhelming guilt? Was West criminally insane or merely a sexual sadist of the worst kind? Brian Masters sets out to answer these questions. Attending the Rosemary West trial on a daily basis, Masters has come up with a penetrating study of the sexual obsession that led to the measured killing of twelve women and girls. In the wake of the horrific detail of murder, sadism and torture that has come to light in the last few months, Masters, from his privileged courtroom vantage point, looks closely at how and why ordinary human beings were driven to serial killing of the most devious kind, and how an evil psychopath was able to ensnare so many in a web of unseeing complicity. He unravels with particular precision the legal means used to bring the whole matter to trial and weighs the evidence coolly and objectively. Brian Masters has established his reputation as an authority on the criminal and psychopathic mind. This is his highly reasoned and psychologically acute look at what has become Britain's serial-killer trial of the century.

The Trial of Rosemary West

She Must Have Known

The Case of Dennis Nilsen

Drawing on the personal journals of mass murderer Dennis Nilsen, this recounting of the exploits of the mild mannered civil servant details how he strangled fifteen men over four years, kept their dead bodies as companions, and was undone by blocked plumbing.

A Study

Camus

Sarte: a study

Sartre

A Student's Guide to Saint-Exupéry

Born of a preoccupation with saints and sinners, The Evil That Men Do is Brian Masters' investigation into the nature of good and evil, and the different ways in which they can be manifested. It examines the fundamental questions of why we are as we are: why we are good, why we care for one another, why we can be altruistic and kind as well as selfish and cruel. According to science, we are prisoners of our genetic inheritance. Are our impulses therefore to some extent inescapable, compelling us to behave in a certain manner, irrespective of the guidelines imposed by instinct or civilization? Or can we determine our individual patterns of behaviour? Do we really have a choice? Using a diverse multitude of examples, from St. Francis of Assisi, Audrey Hepburn, Bruce Chatwin and Bob Geldof to the Marquis de Sade, Adolf Hitler and Peter Sutcliffe, from the Spanish Inquisition to Nazi Germany to the Vietnam War, Brian Masters examines this age-old yet intensely contemporary subject. At a time when civilization seems on the verge of meltdown, he has produced an incisive, thoughtful and provocative meditation on a fundamental human question.

The Evil That Men Do

The Life of E. F. Benson

Captivated by the hit ITV true crime drama DES? Uncover the truth behind the trial of Rosemary West, another of Britain's most infamous serial killers. 'Anyone reading this brilliant book will wonder whether justice was really done.' Evening Standard In 1994, Frederick West was arrested and accused of murdering twelve young women. But it was the trial of his wife, Rosemary West, that became Britain's serial-killer trial of the century... Detained for the murder of the twelve women found at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, Frederick West hung himself on New Year's Day 1995. The case had enraged the nation, and the subsequent trial of Rosemary for the same crimes caused a media sensation. How are ordinary human beings driven to become serial killers? How did this psychopath ensnare so many women? And how much was Rosemary truly involved? Brian Masters attended the Rosemary West trial on a daily basis. In "She Must Have Known" he produces a penetrating study of the sexual obsession that led to a series of horrifying and measured killings, ultimately leaving the reader to make up their own mind on the guilt of Rosemary West. _______________________ 'By far the most interesting book on the subject... profound and illuminating.' Sunday Telegraph 'Another serious, compelling account of a serial killer.' The Sunday Times 'A classic of criminological literature.' Spectator What readers are saying: ***** 'Brave and compelling and beautifully written. And it will certainly make you pause to think.' ***** 'I am grateful for the existence of writers like Brian Masters . . . This is an excellent book.' ***** 'Gives you the opportunity to consider the evidence against Rose West as a juror would rather than as a tabloid reader.'

Brian Masters

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