FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Double Life of a Writer, Journalist, and International Serial Killer
Author reveals in new book the true story of a killer who deceived an entire nation
Vienna, Austria – In 1991, a string of prostitute murders baffled detectives in Los Angeles and Vienna, Austria. Unlike the earlier Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases, this murderer didn’t taunt police from afar. Instead he befriended them, participating in ride-alongs and interviewing them extensively about the recent murders. Yes, Jack Unterweger was a master of deception, reporting on the very crimes he had committed.
In The Vienna Woods Killer: A Writer's Double Life (Granta Books, November 2007), author John Leake investigates Unterweger – a murderer, writer and cause célèbre of the Viennese intellectual elite in the ‘80s. The son of an American soldier and Austrian country girl, Jack Unterweger was imprisoned when he was 24 for murdering an 18-year-old girl. While serving a life sentence, he penned seven books; his children’s stories were read on Austrian national radio, and his critically-acclaimed biography, Purgatory, was made into a film. The Austrian intelligentsia campaigned for his release, and in 1990 he was paroled in a blaze of publicity. In the 18 months that followed, he produced two plays and nurtured a new career as a freelance journalist.
Drawing from Unterweger’s diaries and letters, court records, police documents and countless interviews with those most closely connected to the case, Leake offers unparalleled insight into one of the only international serial killers ever documented.
Despite being a convicted murderer, Unterweger was strongly supported by female admirers and the Austrian intelligentsia. Handsome and charming, he was championed by countless women and celebrated in magazines and on Austrian national radio. His 1994 trial for the murder of 11 women (three in Los Angeles and eight in Europe) was deemed the Austrian “Trial of the Century,” attended by expert witnesses from all over the world.
“As an ‘extremely high-functioning psychopath,’ Jack was a master of manipulation and deception,” says Leake. “He was not a ‘nobody’ living on the fringe of society, but a well-known author who gave readings, produced his own plays and was often featured in the press and on television.”
In an interview, John Leake is available to discuss:
- How he cunningly manipulated prominent intellectuals, and, for awhile, the police
- Why women were attracted to this dangerous man
- How Leake gained the trust of Unterweger’s closest contacts and former lovers
- The mysterious phenomenon of the high-functioning psychopath
- How his supporters were more interested in ideology than practical and legal considerations
- How to bring a highly organized, carefully planning serial killer to justice
John Leake hails from Dallas, Texas. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in philosophy from Boston University. After receiving a graduate school fellowship in Vienna, Leake lived in the city for nine years, previously working as an editor and translator. He has narrated documentaries on Jack Unterweger for A&E “Biography” and the Discovery Channel. The Vienna Woods Killer: A Writer's Double Life is his first book. For more information, visit www.theviennawoodskiller.co.uk.
To schedule an interview with John Leake or to request a copy of The Vienna Woods Killer: A Writer's Double Life for review, please contact Pru Rowlandson at Granta Books, Tel. 020 7533 6605.
