Review: Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie

Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie by Harold Schechter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short story about the true crimes of the Bender family, known serial killers from 1871-1873. The "Bloody Benders" was a family living in Labette County deep in the prairie lands of Kansas. They build a makeshift store and inn for lonely travelers along the Osage trail between Independence, Missouri and Kansas. They would entice these travelers into the inn for dinner and kill them, disposing of their bodies in the night. After a few too many people went missing, loved ones started searching and came across the abandoned home of the Benders, who had disappeared.

Schechter details the events that lead up to the discovery of the Bender home and the search of the Benders afterward, including the urban legends that live on. This is a quick read and is run to read as a "Kindle in Motion" that should be read via the Kindle app on an iPad or Kindle Fire to check out the fun moving graphics.

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