Great Falls resident Tim Spencer has recently published a book many years in the making, with Scott Publishing Company of Kalispell.

 

“55” The Zodiac Killer Identified is not your typical, overly dry or borderline hysterical serial killer investigative book.  It is a fast-paced running account of 15 years of relentless thought and wide-ranging research into the identity of California’s Zodiac Killer, a 1956 Great Falls, Montana unsolved double murder, prolific confessed serial killer Ed Edwards, and other slayings possibly attributable to him. The author and his former County Attorney friend pour over boxes of serendipitously acquired police case files, uncovering a buried eyewitness statement in the process, log a lot of fieldwork miles, and meet with key Great Falls characters who help shed a unique light on pivotal points in their investigations.

 

There are down-to-earth scenes of charming humor and “Only in Montana” moments, revelations, visions and extremely eerie “coincidences” and family connections that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. In addition to meeting with Edwards’ close relatives, including an ex-wife and her girlfriend from the ‘50s who also knew him well, and fellow inmates from Montana State Prison, the author communicated directly with Edwards via phone calls and letters, and was a few days from visiting with him in prison when he died. Tragically, Edwards had said there were a lot of things that no one knew yet about his crimes, and if Spencer published a book before they could talk, he wouldn’t have that revealing information directly from the horse’s mouth.

 

In the course of his long journey through the mind, soul, words and hints of a shameless serial killer, often provided through the well-thumbed pages of Edwards’ own personal copy of his book Metamorphosis of a Criminal, the author realizes the penultimate significance of Edwards’ first prison number as the key that ultimately unlocks the Zodiac cipher. He also uncovers the revelatory pertinence of a specific, recurring calendar date. “55” The Zodiac Killer Identified is a paradoxically fun and easy read as it exposes many buried secrets along the way.