This is the true story of the Archer Home in Windsor, Connecticut, run by Amy Archer in the early 1900s. Billed as a home for the elderly and invalid, Amy charged $1000 for total care for the rest of a person's life, a business plan that only worked out for her if she kept bodies coming in with money and going out in body bags. Because of her saintly persona in the small town, and her constant letters telling relatives and officials how "hurt" she was whenever someone pointed out how high the death rates were in her house, she was able to hold off a real inspection of her house for too many years.
This is the basis for Arsenic and Old Lace, but there is a psycho, dead husbands, and a lot more dead people in the real story. ( )

Historical novel about a female serial killer, whose actions spurred a government change on how nursing homes are monitored. The writing style could've been better, but the story came through, if a little dry. Exhaustive research was done for this story. ( )

Phelps' Devil's Rooming House is a book stranger than fiction. In the history of serial killers, females do not seem to saturate the market. But then we meet Amy Archer, and the fascinating story of the rooming house for the elderly that she runs. Engrossing and shocking, this is a must-read for true crime buffs. ( )

I was lured into this book by the subtitle. Female serial killers are so rare, especially one that was killing people 100 years ago, that I decided to give this book a go. Unfortunately, this book turned out to be just OK. The story, while interesting, wasn’t all that compelling. I didn’t really care for the way the story was told, either. The author drug the story out longer than was necessary and there was a ton of detail about the weather and how hot it was during the summer of 1911. I’m sorry, but I don’t really care how hot it was. It added nothing to the story other than to make it longer.

I think Phelps was trying to be very Truman Capote In Cold Blood with this book, and it just wasn’t that kind of tale and it didn’t work.

I can’t honestly say I would recommend this book. If you are a die hard true crime fan and want to read this book, get a copy from the library. ( )

I'm a huge fan of Arsenic and Old Lace, both as a play and a movie, so I thought it would be really cool to know more about the real world story. I was expecting something more like The Devil in the White City, especially because initially the author provided a lot of history about the destructive heat wave of the time. In retrospect I don't know why he included that since it had nothing to do with the murders and wasn't linked contextually once the social history was abandoned for the facts of the case. I got as far as the trial and then thought, "Ugh. I'm slogging through this. Make it stop." So I did. ( )