Home Articles posted by Dean Jobb
Dean Jobb
Dean Jobb writes a true crime column for Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and is the author of Empire of Deception, the true story of a master swindler who scammed the elite of 1920s Chicago. His new book, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream, now available from Algonquin Books and HarperCollins Canada, recreates the hunt for a Victorian Era serial killer who murdered as many as ten people in the U.S., Canada and England. He teaches in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Follow him on Twitter: @DeanJobb.
“They Wanted Something for Nothing”: The Many Cons of the Yellow Kid
He was America's "greatest con man," self-proclaimed and widely celebrated. But what was the real story of Joseph Weil?
I'm Alone: How One Canadian Rumrunner Defied the U.S. Coast Guard and Sparked an International Scandal
The Sinking of the I'm Alone
Henry More Smith: Canada's Forgotten Confidence Man and Escape Artist
The possibly true and all-but-forgotten story of a one-man crime wave.
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mutineers
After killing off Sherlock Holmes, why did Arthur Conan Doyle take a detour into true crime writing with the story of a bloody mutiny?
Fraud of the Century: The Ponzi Scheme, 100 Years Later
In 1920, Boston’s Charles Ponzi gave a classic confidence trick its name. Why are investors still falling for such a notorious swindle?
A Legendary Chicago Hotel and the Gilded Age Murder Trial That Embroiled a City
In 1882, in Chicago's most opulent hotel, a woman shot a man dead. Her defense would start a citywide debate about morality.
The Bizarre Newspaper Hoax That Nearly Ruined Lizzie Borden
An old grudge between a detective and a reporter led to one of the strangest—and most damning—fake news stories of all-time.
