28. The Saga of the Bloody Benders

The Saga of the Bloody Benders: The Infamous Homicidal Family of Labette County, Kansas by Rick Geary
A Treasury of Victorian Murder, Book 9

Pages: unpaginated
Finished: Feb. 7, 2009
First Published: 2007
Genre: true crime, graphic novel
Rating: 3.5/5

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

First sentence:

The state of Kansas is born in blood and fury.

Comments: The Benders were a strange family who bought a homestead in the early days of Kansas settlement. There land lay on the main road through the state and they partitioned there home into part grocery store, with their living quarters separated in back by a canvas sheet. Suddenly the near towns start receiving letters from people asking for news of relatives who were headed that way and the townsfolk realize a large number of people have disappeared in the area. When searching the countryside the townsfolk find the Benders home abandoned and it doesn't take long until they start digging and uncovering the bodies.

This is a case I had never heard of and found it quite intriguing. The artwork is what one expects from Rick Geary and this is just as good as others in the series. I must say I'm a bit surprised that Geary chose this case to feature though as it lacks the detail of his other books. Though through no fault of the author's, there just doesn't seem to be much information on the case and much of the information is solely suppositions. It does make me wish we knew more about the Benders.