This title tells the story of Edward Rulloff – a serial murderer who was called ‘too intelligent to be killed’ – and the array of 19th-century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind. By 1871 Rulloff was captured, chained in a cell – a psychopath holding court while curious 19th-century ‘mindhunters’ got to work. From alienists to neurologists to phrenologists, each one thought he held the key to understanding the essential question: is evil born or made? Kate Winkler Dawson draws on hundreds of source materials to present one of the first glimpses into the mind of a serial killer – a century before the term was coined – through the scientists whose work would come to influence criminal justice for decades to come.