Fifty-five year old John Reginald Halliday Christie seemed normal to neighbors in the working-class neighborhood of Notting Hill Gate. He lived in a dingy flat with his wife, until her disappearance, and had respectably served as a Special Police Constable during World War II. But nobody, including those who trusted him, knew the real Christie--a habitual liar, convicted thief, and sexual psychopath haunted by his physical inadequacies. After Christie was discovered by police, his wife's remains were found under the bedroom floor and the decomposed bodies of prostitutes were found hidden in the garden and the pantry.

The circuitous path to Christie's discovery began with a miscarriage of justice. In November of 1949, twenty-four year old Timothy Evans, who lived upstairs, came home from his van-driving job to find his wife and 14-month old daughter dead. They had been strangled. The semi-literate Evans reported the murders, explaining that Christie...