Starvation Heights: Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories

Given that the events in this book occurred so many years ago and involved victims from another country as well as the U.S.A., I have to commend the diligence and dedication of the author, Gregg Olsen, on the research efforts this book required to bring it to print! I can't imagine the hours that went into that alone -- much less the writing! I also want to say what is perhaps obvious to most who will read this. That is that true crime and "horror" don't always require "blood and gore" to qualify for that genre. In this book for instance, there aren't any stabbings or things like that. The things the victims go through are in fact initially much more subtle and gradual. The victims have sought out "the fasting cure" as a way to address real or perceived health issues and they look forward to resolving "what ails them" as well as hang on to every word spoken by the great doctor Linda B. Hazzard." It is only as the brutal starvation "treatment" progresses and they start wasting away, that some begin to have doubts and realize that they are in trouble. This case is not one I have ever heard of and I was intrigued from the very beginning. It definitely holds ones attention and the reader can almost imagine being so very isolated, your body beginning to waste away, and the horror of not having told family and friends where you were going when you left. How do you get word out? Who can be trusted? Certainly not the doctor and her passive husband and son. The reader gets a front row seat so to speak through all of that as well as the justice system in that time and place. I can easily recommend this book!

I really enjoyed this book. I know it is a true story, but I was horrified that people like this doctor really exist.

The book cover is enticing with the hidden bushes and trees and Linda Hazzard's mean looking face blending into the background. She isolated her victims and even kept Claire and Dora Williamson apart. I have the older version of the book without the present book cover.The story of Starvation Heights (wilderness heights as Linda Hazzard called it) took place in the early 1900's and teens. Mrs. Hazzard (I refuse to call her Dr.) targeted the weathly for her 'cure', the starvation diet and starved them to death for their riches.Claire and Dora Williamson read an advertizement in the local paper and Claire was very interested in the 'fasting cure' of diseases and ailments. The sisters were healthy enough, but they decided to try Mrs. Hazzard's cure after meeting and talking with her. Claire was gung-ho about the treatment and Dora went along with her because they were very close sisters.The sisters were on broth diets and given daily enemas as the 'cure, treatment'. Mrs. Hazzard beat them as part of her regimen and yelled: Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate! The sisters were so emaciated that Claire died and Dora, herself was close to death.There are heros in this story: Margaret Conway and the British vice consul who came to Dora's rescue and the Kelley atty who prosecuted the case. Eventually the case went to trial and Hazzard was found guilty.Every one of the players in this saga moved on after the guilty verdict. Hazzard, after serving time in prison moved to New Zealand to continue her fast and then, moved back to Olalla to practice her cure until her death.It is interesting to note that Hazzard died from her own 'cure' by starvation. Hazzard was a quack, serial killer and "hazzardous" to people's health and well-being. 50 or more people are thought to have died of her fasting/starvation regiman.Samuel Hazzard was bad in his own way as he condoned what his wife was doing. He was on trial for bigamy many years before they moved to Olalla. And Sam was found guilty and imprisoned. If he wanted love, he should have stayed with Viva, who for some strange reason, loved him.For the most part, I liked the book and the back story of the Linda Burfield Hazzard case, but there were times when it was lengthy, especially before the trial where it gets good. Otherwise, I recommend Starvation Heights to readers of true crime and history. Gregg Olsen does a wonderful job researching a case that is 100 years old and putting all the pieces together in a story that could be relevant today. A true story that is.

This was a very well written and captivating story. I have read many of Gregg Olsen’s books and this was probably the most well written one. The story is interesting and could ring true as much today as it did in to 1920s

i could not put it down

Starvation Heights was starved of any little thing that could hold my interest.

Heck am I glad that’s now read. Interesting story but far too long winded, far too much story telling, I stuck with it by speed reading chunks of it. Kept forgetting it was a true story as it reads like dramatic licence. I found the same with American Mother so perhaps I’ll give Mr Olsen a miss in future.

In 1910, two wealthy young Englishwomen, called Miss Claire and Miss Dorothea Williamson, travelling in America, saw an advertisement in a Seattle daily newspaper and wrote off for a book titled, "Fasting for the Cure of Disease." Although wealthy, the two sisters were orphaned and without any definite sense of purpose. In other words, they had both too much money and too much time on their hands. They had taken health cures before, but were afraid that relatives would mock them if they suggested they were interested in the work of Dr Linda Hazzard; who had plans to open a sanatorium in Olalla, Washington State. Her belief was that almost every ailment were caused by dietary factors and could be cured by fasting. With both Claire and Dora having a feeling that they were unwell and no sense of well-being, the two hugged the idea of a new cure as a delicious secret between them. Letters were exchanged and Dr Hazzard declared they would be perfect for the cure. Without letting their relatives know, Miss Clare and Miss Williamson set off to visit Dr Hazzard. Her clinic was not yet ready, but it would soon be known by locals as "Starvation Heights."This is an excellent historical true crime book. The beginning deals with the case of the Williamson sisters; which I have to say, unfolds like a thriller. As the two sisters head off, full of naïve optimism, you just wish you could do something to stop them. This is also a story of great bravery when the girls former nurse, believing something is wrong, goes against all the instincts of a servant of that time to take matters into her own hands and travels halfway around the world to discover what is going on. When the authorities become involved, Linda Hazzard has to defend her methods in a court case.The author really does a wonderful job of telling this story with great detail. There will always be the gullible and the naïve and there will always be those who intend to exploit them. Even now, Dr Hazzard's methods are shocking and, the beginning of the book, is often quite upsetting. However, there were those who defended her staunchly. She was, it has to be said, a woman who seems more suited to this, modern age, than the early 1900's. You can almost imagine her setting up a web page and drawing even more people into her net than she managed with newspaper advertisements. She was seen by many as loud and bossy. When she divorced, she left her two children with her mother and went off to follow her dream of having her own clinic. Viewed with suspicion, her lack of `normal' female delicacy saw her viewed askance, and possibly this lack of femininity went against her. However, read this fascinating book and make up your own mind about her guilt. I have never read anything by this author before, but I was very impressed. If you enjoy true crime, then this is certainly an excellent read.

Just finished this book. Absolutely appalled at the fact that Dr Hazzard was, eventually, given a pardon. Although sentenced to a mere 2 years, in my opinion, she literally "got away with murder". What an evil money-grabbing person she was. It made me shiver when reading how her so called patients were treated. She obviously took "the fasting method" to fatal extremes.