Several years before Maggie Nelson was born, her aunt Jane was murdered. A law student at the University of Michigan, Jane was long believed to be the victim of a serial killer. In Jane: A Murder, Nelson is a poet-detective, using language to explore her aunt’s life and death. Excerpts form Jane’s diary appear alongside newspaper article and lurid true crime accounts of the murders. Not only is this a brilliant and deeply felt book, it is also a fascinating and necessary coda to American culture’s obsession with serial killers.
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