From here: Did Dr. Henry Holmes kill 200 people at a bizarre “castle” in 1890s Chicago? - The Straight Dope
Dr. Holmes’s grisly tale was later, of course, the subject of Erik Larson’s 2003 bestseller The Devil in the White City: The Devil in the White City - Wikipedia
There’s no really good reason to bring this up here, but I like talking about it and there aren’t many chances to make the connection.
The mystery and science fiction writer, editor, reviewer, and critic Anthony Boucher - itself a pseudonym for William A. P. White - used H. H. Holmes as an alternate pseudonym. Although Cecil never specifies, Mudgett’s pseudonym was Henry Howard Holmes and he went by H. H. Holmes. The use of a serial killer’s pseudonym for a writer’s pseudonym was unusually cheeky for the world of 1940.
The essential book under that pseudonym, mostly finadable under the Boucher name in reprints, is Rocket to the Morgue. It’s a mystery but it is set in the world of science fiction authors of the early 1940s, all taken from Robert Heinlein’s Mañana Literary Society," which Boucher was a member of.
It’s the best description - in fiction or nonfiction - of the sf world of the day and how enthusiastic the writers were to be part of something that new and with such a bright future.
In addition, one of the murder weapons is a rocket. Really. That might still be unique in the awesomely voluminous annals of mysterydom. And a nun solves the crime.
I always took accounts of Holmes’ story at face value.
But Richard Zacks, in An Underground Education, claimed that Holmes’ image was morphed by the tabloid papers from a loser who committed a few bumbling insurance murders into a monstous mass murderer. (Note: my link to the book on Amazon does not discuss Holmes, but is merely provided for reference).
This is the only place I’ve ever heard this account. Anyone else?