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Erik LarsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue
Part 1, Chapters 1-3
Part 1, Chapters 4-6
Part 1, Chapters 7-10
Part 2, Chapters 1-3
Part 2, Chapters 4-6
Part 2, Chapters 7-9
Part 2, Chapters 10-12
Part 2, Chapters 13-15
Part 3, Chapters 1-3
Part 3, Chapters 4-6
Part 3, Chapters 7-9
Part 3, Chapters 10-12
Part 3, Chapters 13-15
Part 3, Chapters 16-19
Part 3, Chapters 20-22
Part 4, Chapter 1
Part 4, Chapters 2-4
Part 4, Chapters 5-6
Epilogue
Key Figures
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
Reading of his increasing fame in the national newspapers, Holmes sat smugly in his cell. He wrote a largely fictional memoir and a letter to Carrie Pitezel designed to exculpate himself from blame, in which he claims, “I was as careful with the children as if they were my own” (352).
When the three parties moved again to Toronto, none of the hoteliers remembered seeing Howard. By this time Geyer had become a national celebrity and he and his partner followed up on one of many tips, from a Thomas Ryves. Ryves said Holmes had arrived at the house with little furniture, a large trunk, and asked to borrow a shovel, which he returned the following day. He never saw Holmes again. On St Vincent Street, Geyer borrowed the same shovel from Ryves, and discovered the nude corpses buried three feet beneath the basement. Nellie’s feet had been amputated. Mrs. Pitezel learned of the discovery of her children via the newspaper. She came to identify them. Holmes had killed them with gas piped into the trunk. Howard remained missing.
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By Erik Larson