Belle is both compelling and terrifying, and I was drawn into Belle's world and her twisted mind. She is engaging with how resourceful and determined she is to climb the social ladder and pull herself out of poverty. Her twisted mind is terrifying yet fascinating with how she justifies her actions. Well, I don’t want to give more spoils but I have to say: she reached most of her goals: she became wealthy and she married ( if you don’t count her husbands start to die suspiciously and any men she involves with vanished into thin air!)

Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce Review - MMB Book Blog Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce Review - MMB Book Blog

I think her love for her children and the complicated web surrounding them was what made her so compelling and the focus could have remained more on that part of the story. It’s hard to imagine such a person being a devoted mother, although it was hardly as cut and dry as that. Hard to be a successful working mother who also murders people and sets the occasional fire, there was only so much time in the day!What really got to me was how plausible this novel was, despite the author’s afterword explaining how she blended truth and fiction. Yes, there were a lot of embellishments, but a lot of it was rooted in fact too, integrating what is known about Belle Gunness and her heinous crimes. After reading this book, I went and did some reading of my own into her life, which gave me the heebie-jeebies all over again, but also an even greater appreciation for what Camilla Bruce achieved here. Triflers Need Not Apply is the reimagining of the life of Belle Gunness, history’s original female serial killer. Born Brynhild Paulsdatter Størseth, we read about her upbringing in Norway and the events that led to her becoming a ruthless murderer. We follow her as she changes her name and joins her older sister Nellie in America. Her sister, Nellie, who lives in America, gives her a chance to escape her ruined reputation- but even Nellie, who gives Belle the benefit of the doubt at every turn, can't turn a blind eye to her murderous ways… Come for the fabulous premise, stay for the razor-sharp portrait of a marvelously complex (and often totally terrifying) mind . . . Camilla Bruce has absolutely outdone herself' LAIRD HUNT

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Her second husband was a butcher wh taught her his trade. This came in handy after his death on bodies she dismembered before burying them on her farmland. She was excited and joyful at the sight and smell of blood, first from butchering farm animals and then her human victims. As the now wealthy owner of a large farm, her first victims were killed for their money and property, but later the killings were motivated by blood-lust. Numerous men came to court the wealthy widow, or to find employment working on the farm. These men vanished, often before breakfast the next day, robbed with any cash or property they brought with them, murdered, and buried.Bella must be one of the most unscrupulous women to have ever lived. A serial killer who lets no one stand in her way. It left me reeling between revulsion, horror and a rather unwilling… admiration! So the biggest weakness may be pacing but the greatest strength in the writing is fictionalizing actual events and plotting a female serial killers story in a realistic and historically accurate setting.

Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce | Goodreads

Starting with her long suffering husband, Mads, Belle embarks on a killing spree the like of which has never been seen before nor since. It’s clearly really well researched but I also liked how the author tries to explain who Belle Gunness was as a person. You can almost emphasise with her in the first part of the book but as the story progresses she becomes more disturbed and obsessive and her crimes just cannot be justified. I loved all the author's notes and thoughts and the end and can't stress enough that they too should be read. This truly was a gruesome delight and I'm so glad I took a chance on it. I think anyone fascinated with the past, with killers, anyone wanting a good thriller and a heart pounding read, is absolutely going to love this. The author succeeds in presenting the period and setting well and in telling a true crime story in an engaging way. This is not a high quality writing, however, the fictionalized version of events reads really well.

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As the years go by, Bella's life seems to be marked by obvious tragedy. Her husbands and children just keep...dying. And her homes and businesses just keep... burning down. What's up with that? Eventually, Bella moves to rural Indiana and marries Peter Gunness, her new persona as Belle Gunness begins. And once Peter suffers a tragic accident with a meat grinder—or cleaver, depending on who you ask—what's a twice-made widow to do with a huge farm but create an ad asking for male farm hands to come and help her? It's not exactly her fault if all the men disappear in the night... Set in 1877 Selbu, Norway, Little Brynhild is a precocious, tough little girl living under the hand of her brutish, drunk father and protective mother. They live in abject poverty, her older sister, Big Brynhild now Nellie as she is known has long since moved to America settling in Chicago with her husband where they too are struggling in a new land to survive. As Little Brynhild matures hoping for better circumstances she catches the eye of a farmer's son and ends up pregnant. Naively believing her lover will do right by her and marry her, he rejects her and with her declarations to the local folks of her baby being fathered by the farmer's son, her lover lures her to a secret meeting and savagely beats her leaving her for dead. This was the defining moment that will rule the rest of Brynhild's life and lead her to become the brutal serial killer Belle Gunness. Well, well, well a female serial who is not sugar and spice and everything nice. Although she would want you to think that she is! Based on real life serial killer Belle Gunness, a Norwegian-American who killed in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908 before disappearing.