The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Holmes is at the peak of his powers as a murderer in these chapters, in which his control over the lives of his guests is akin to a magician’s ability to cause things to disappear. The range of methods that he used to dispatch his victims suggests a combination of playfulness and practicality, another parallel with the magic that manifests in a different way at the fair. In keeping with the decadence of the fair, Larson’s tone in presenting the events of the summer is playful, if darkly so:

This was when his quest for possession entered its most satisfying phase. […] The choice was his, a measure of his power. […] The possession he craved was a transient thing, like the scent of a fresh-cut hyacinth. Once it was gone, only another acquisition could restore it (256).

Just as Chicago failed to notice the first revolution of the Ferris wheel because it was distracted, it missed Holmes’ murderous activities. Larson’s presentation of the events of Holmes and Burnham’s lives in parallel emphasizes the theme of disappearance that runs throughout these chapters. Holmes’ hotel guests disappear just as the Infanta does from Chicago’s event schedule.