Pretty Evil Pennsylvania: True Stories of Mobster Molls, Violent Vixens, and Murderous Matriarchs

Pennsylvania may have been founded by peaceful Quakers, but the sect’s pacifist ways didn’t dampen the state’s enthusiasm for violent scandals—or capital punishment. In Pretty Evil Pennsylvania, historical true crime author Stephanie Hoover recounts the crimes of some of the Keystone State’s most violent female criminals from the 1850s through the 1930s. The stories of these law-breaking ladies are complex and nuanced. On occasion you may find yourself wondering if the crimes—matricide, kidnapping, horse theft—were justified. In other cases, there can be no doubt of the presence of mens rea, a guilty mind. Many of these women were dismissed as luckless lonely hearts or homely housewives—right up until the time that their cases proved interesting enough to sell newspapers. They then magically transformed into heartless, alluring she-devils who knew how to handle a gun or manipulate men into all manner of evil deeds.