Hell's half-acre The untold story of the Benders, a serial killer family on the American frontier

Innumerable dangers marked America's westward expansion in the 1800s. Yet, when people began to disappear on the Osage Mission Trail, which led to Independence, Kansas, everyone knew something was terribly wrong. Hell's Half-Acre explores the serial killings in Kansas during the 1870s, committed not by a sole individual but an entire, murderous family. The Benders settled in Kansas, farming and selling groceries to travelers on the nearby road. Spiritualist daughter Kate held séances, and while she initially ingratiated herself with the community, locals quickly grew wary, steering clear of the family's dilapidated farmhouse. Jonusas paints a vivid picture of nineteenth-century Kansas, bringing the affected area and its citizens to life. Odd encounters with members of the Bender family lead to a series of disappearances, the victims' gruesome discovery, the Benders fleeing, and the wild chase that ensued across the American frontier. Fans of true crime will be just as enthralled with the tale of the Benders' crimes as were initial readers of the sensational tale, which spread far and wide in nineteenth-century newspapers.

Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, historian Jonusas debuts with an impressive and deeply unsettling account of the Benders, a family of German immigrants who killed at least 10 people after they settled in Kansas's Labette County in 1870. The Benders used their cabin as a general store and as lodging for travelers. After some of their guests went missing, the Benders eventually came under suspicion, and they abandoned their home in 1873 as the net was closing in. When their cellar was excavated, human remains were found in a gruesome crime scene that a reporter dubbed "hell's half-acre." Investigators later figured out the killers' m.o.: after a lodger was fed and felt relaxed, one of the Benders stunned the victim with a hammer before smashing in their head and slitting their throat. The killers, whose motives were never learned, escaped justice, as they were never found after fleeing the county, and Jonusas lays out evidence for alternate theories of their fate, which included a successful escape into Arizona or Colorado, and the family being killed by the Texas Rangers. Radiant prose ("Creeks, dancing and clear, divide vast expanses of prairieland rolling toward the sky") enhances the page-turning narrative. The combination of true crime and a vivid depiction of frontier life earn this a spot on the shelf next to David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon. Agent: Georgina Capel, Georgina Capel Assoc. (Mar.)

Jonusas, a former bookseller, recounts the story of the "bloody" Benders, a family who murdered at least 11 people in Kansas in the 1870s. The Bender family sold dry goods and provided lodging to travelers in their remote Kansas home. Occasionally, they murdered travelers and fenced their belongings. After the Benders killed William York, the brother of a prominent Kansas politician, they drew the attention of the authorities and fled. Although legend holds that the Benders vanished without a trace, Jonusas shows that the authorities tracked the family to the Texas frontier but were unable to gather the necessary force to capture them. As the years went by, many tips about the Benders' whereabouts emerged, one of which led to a prominent trial of two women claiming to be Ma and Kate Bender. Jonusas places the story of the Benders in the context of Kansas's turbulent history. Additionally, she discusses the sensationalist media coverage of the case as well as its impact in the present day. VERDICT A fascinating look at a case that still captures the imagination. Fans of historical true crime will be pleased.--Rebekah Kati

A spirited, occasionally plodding account of a murderous Kansas clan. It's no In Cold Blood, but this history of a band of cutthroats proves that the epithet "Bloody Kansas" was not confined to the Civil War. Indeed, when searchers arrived at a cabin in the southeastern corner of Kansas in 1873, the veterans among them immediately recognized the smell of death. The place had been inhabited by a mysterious group of settlers who lured travelers indoors and then dispatched them, dumping their bodies nearby or in the cellar. "Their case," writes Jonusas of the Bender gang, "is a stark reminder that buried beneath the myth of the outlaw are very real criminals whose violence left an indelible imprint on communities across the frontier." That is certainly so, though the dramatic tensions in her story sometimes go slack when she cuts away for historical disquisitions. Nonetheless, she ably captures the dangers involved in the westward trek that so many of the Benders' victims did not live to see through: "If travelers were lucky enough to escape death at the hands of the natural world," she writes, "there were myriad bizarre accidents to fall foul of." And then there were the Benders themselves, whose neighbors knew that terrible things happened whenever they were near but who nevertheless looked the other way as the list of victims mounted. One young woman, in particular, achieved a certain degree of untouchability: Even if "the more superstitious citizens of Labette whispered to one another that she was a witch," the menfolk were taken with her. The narrative holds up until the author recounts how the Benders disappeared when the law began to close in; her extended theorizing about what happened to them goes too long. Still, it's a story that, grisly and unsolved, fascinates on its own merits. A smart though bumpy melding of frontier history and true crime. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.