Product Description

In his next volume, Geary takes us out to the wild west and the just opened up prairies of Kansas. Out on a deserted stretch of road linking newly forming towns, a mysterious family stakes a claim and builds an inn for weary visitors. Soon, reports multiply of disappearances around that area. Generally, those who disappear have plenty of cash on them. A delicious tale of a gruesome family fronted by a beguiling lass who led their victims on???

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #746429 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-07
• Released on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 80 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781561634989
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:

From Publishers Weekly
Geary's ninth volume in his violent but informative and well-researched series covers the little known tale of the so-called Bloody Benders, a mysterious family of possibly German immigrants who set up a small grocery/hotel catering to travelers along the Osage Trail in southern Kansas in 1870. The townspeople figure out pretty quick that the Benders are an odd lot (the ethereally beautiful daughter holds séances and claims to be a healer, while the ape-like father barely speaks, and the son seems simpleminded). It takes them quite a bit longer to glom on to the fact that too many travelers, especially those with money, are disappearing near the Benders' place. By the time the locals catch on, the Benders have fled, leaving a multitude of gruesome clues behind. Because much about the Benders remains unknown, the story easily lends itself to fantasy and speculation, and Geary recounts theories about who they really were and what happened to them, presented in a quite credible manner, all accompanied by his usual exquisite art. Geary's riveting writing has a journalistic, matter-of-fact tone, making it quite palatable to adult audiences; though the subject matter may make some school librarians think twice. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 10 Up—The Bender clan—nearly silent mother, German-speaking father, voluble adult son, and flirtatious adult daughter—arrives in Kansas in the early 1870s. On the prairie, along the Osage Trail that travelers take from northeast to central south in their new state, the family builds a combination dwelling, inn, and grocery. It's just a small frame house really, with family quarters curtained off from the larger area of the building where the public stops in for provisions, a meal, or perhaps a night's rest. There's a basement underneath, with a large, flat stone serving as its floor. Travelers in the vicinity are disappearing, but for a long time no one realizes it. As ever, Geary's details are well researched and presented in suspenseful, Victorian-like perspective, moody with minimalist detail. Period social concepts are folded into the storytelling, including the use of the term "savages" by a visiting missionary who manages to escape alive when he senses movement behind the curtain partition-the movement of Mr. Bender passing, carrying a small sledgehammer. True-crime fans will enjoy this book and history teachers may find inspiration for joining research to compelling storytelling.—Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
A nineteenth-century prototype of that B-movie staple, the family-that-slays-together, the Benders were four early-1870s German immigrants: shaggy, hulking John Sr.; friendly, stupid John Jr.; silent, no-named "Ma"; and pretty, outgoing Kate. They built a small house on the Osage Trail in southeastern Kansas and used the front of the building as a grocery store and inn. They seemingly thrived, from Kate's sidelines as a healer and spiritualist as well as the store-and-stopover. And then Osage Trail travelers started disappearing—murdered, of course. Besides the facts, Geary limns the historical context and the legends of the Benders case, including different versions of their demise, collectively or individually, and supposed sightings of Ma and Kate up until 1890. Geary's visualization of the killers' modus operandi shows him once again blending impeccable composition and layout of both frames and pages, the aura of documentary realism, and the humor attendant on deliberately deadpan treatment of the stuff of grand guignol histrionics. Another triumphant entry in Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder series. Olson, Ray

Customer Reviews

drollery
Victorian era crimes have an oddly enduring appeal for folks of every literary taste and political predilection. For liberals, the dark underbelly
of that prim and proper age seems to demonstrate the notion that moral repression breeds violence and hypocrisy; for conservatives, the fact that
evil and sin lurked even beneath such a blessedly restrained surface, confirms a view of the world as old as the story of the Garden of Eden.
Fans of the great detectives take comfort in the idea that the mysteries of human behavior must yield to reason, science, and rigorous
procedure. Fans of the criminals revel in the impenetrability of the darkest recesses of the human heart and mind. But regardless of your own
personal views, there's no gainsaying the hold that Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes and company continue to exert on our imaginations.

Illustrator Rick Geary has been tapping into this lurid fascination for over a decade now, and NBM Publishing is reissuing some of the earlier
works in his acclaimed "Victorian Murders" series, beginning with the first, A Treasury of Victorian Murders. Mr. Geary accompanies three
brief tales of deliciously bloody (or poisonous) mayhem and murder with an introductory section that sets the Victorian stage and provides some
background on the times and the more famous personages of the day. His black-and-white drawings--which might owe something to Edward
Gorey but are nonetheless distinctive and original--provide a winsome, tongue-in-cheek contrast to the horrid events that he relates. As he
mentions in a 1987 introduction, one of the things that makes the cases so much fun is that even though the society maintained a veneer of
respectability, it coincided with the rise of mass daily papers, all intent on out-sensationalizing each other. So when such ghoulish crimes did
occur, they gave free reign to the newspapers to engage in the most outrageous speculations about peoples backgrounds and behaviors. He
takes evident delight in casually dropping such rumors into the midst of the ornate and fusty little sitting rooms and the forbidding courtrooms
in which his stories occur. It all makes for a delightfully droll good time.

GRADE : B+

Another Treasury of Victorian Murder, and another hit.
The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary is part of A Treasury of Victorian Murder put out by NBM Comics Lit. Geary has done another bang-up job merging history, murder, and detailed drawings to pull the reader into a time that is often difficult to understand. Without the historic underpinnings the Benders killing spree would seem a bit comical to the jaded readers of today -- as we lock up our cars, our houses, keep aware of our surroundings. Could the Benders do what they did if they existed today? But that would be a different tale -- and you'll want to enjoy the chill horror of this one.

The story of the Benders and their place in the history of Labette County, Kansas, along the Osage Trail is one that highlights the dangers faced by the settlers as they began moving west to find a better life for themselves and their families. Without the historic overview of Kansas becoming a state, the demographics of the settlers, and the geographical overview of the Osage Trail -- it would be difficult to understand how the Benders could do what they did for so long before anyone began to even suspect that something wasn't right at the Bender Inn and Grocery.

It was 1871 and inquiries were coming to the local officials from relatives, friends, or business associates trying to locate a person known to have traveled along the trail but who had not been heard from after passing through Labette County. Later it was found that the disappearances began shortly after the Bender men, Pa and John Bender Jr., bought land, built a Inn and Grocery at a high point along the trail and sent for the women, Ma and Kate Bender. The Benders kept to themselves -- dour and silent. Kate however was a beauty and fairly outgoing -- setting up a side business telling fortunes. Most thought them eccentric but harmless.

What happened to the Benders? How did they manage to kill so many people undetected? Why did it take so many years before anyone even looked closely at the Bender Inn and Grocery? Geary gives you a sense of place and people leading you step by step through the setup and discovery and aftermath of the crimes. The illustrations are such an intrinsic part of the narrative that often you forget that his is a graphically told tale because the flow is so smooth you're drawn into the pages and the story.

Richly Detailed and Legitimately Spooky!
I almost didn't order this book for the teen section of the library where I work, and I was honestly surprised at how fantastic it was when it came in. The pen and ink illustrations are beautiful and detailed, and Geary tells the story with interest. All of our staff members are hooked on this series now, I'm currently reading "The Case of Madeline Smith" and love it! Great series for fans of true crime..