Book Reviews

Badal, who teaches history at Cuyahoga Community College, effectively illuminates the key personalities and carefully considers all the suspects who were investigated for the Kingsbury Run murders. The most likely candidate, Ness’s top suspect, was Francis Sweeney, a physician who suffered from a broken marriage, alcoholism, and mental illness, and who fits the timeline and profile of the murderer. But the case against Sweeney could never be proven and the crimes are destined to remain a subject of speculation.

Students of true crime and Ohio history will benefit from Badal’s exhaustive and engaging study. The book is handsomely produced--but grotesquely illustrated with several photographs of mutilated corpses--by Kent State University Press.

Walter Hixson
University of Akron
Akron, Ohio

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