Jonas Williker is considered one of the most sadistic serial murderers of the modern era. This epistolary novel explores the aftermath of his arrest and the psychological trauma of those who lived through it.

The Pennsylvania native brutalized his way into the zeitgeist during the early part of the new millennium, leaving a trail of corpses across five states before his eventual arrest. All told, Williker was responsible for the rape and murder of 23 women, and is suspected in the deaths of dozens more. His calling card—a torn piece of fabric found on or inside the bodies of his victims—helped popularize his now ubiquitous nickname.

The Purple Satin Killer.

In the years following his arrest, Jonas Williker received hundreds of letters in prison. Collected here, these letters offer a unique glimpse into a depraved mind through a human lens, including contributions from family, the bereaved, and self-professed “fans.” They represent a chilling portrait of the American psyche, skewering a media obsessed culture where murderers are celebrities to revere. What you learn about the man from these letters will shock you, but not as much as what you learn about yourself.

 PRAISE

“Letters to the Purple Satin Killer is in turns horrifying, illuminating, darkly hilarious, and always surprising.”

—Fangoria

"Chaplinsky breathes some much-needed life into the serial killer genre, taking the unique and utterly brilliant angle of turning the focus onto us, and our morbid fascination with these depraved individuals. This book ought to come with a bottle of bleach, to dip your soul in after you're done."

—Rob Hart, author of Assassins Anonymous and The Warehouse

“Joshua Chaplinsky is one of a handful of American novelists creating the literature of the future: dazzling, original and subversive.”

—Steve Erickson, author of Zeroville and Shadowbahn

 “Joshua Chaplinsky’s Letters to the Purple Satin Killer is the freshest, most inventive, and easily the funniest serial-killer novel in years. It says something scary and profound about America itself.”

—Nick Kolakowski, author of Absolute Unit and Love & Bullets

"A wicked feast of serial killer psychosis, Letters to the Purple Satin Killer steeps us in the lives of those who accidentally, and purposefully, love a bad, bad man. Told in blistering letters that heap hope, blame, lust and insanity on a monster, Joshua Chaplinsky’s haunting new novel will dazzle and trouble you in equal measure. An elegant and horrific epistolary of murder." 

—Brian Allen Carr, author of Bad Foundations

"A fascinating flip of the script here, think In the Belly of the Beast in reverse, where a reader doesn't satisfy their morbid curiosity from an incarcerated killer's insight, but instead derives a more dubious satisfaction by stealing the monster's mail. All the expected epistolary pleasures are intact, but here it's highlighted by a more perverse voyeurism, as well as some surprising character arcs from the obsessive penpals and rubberneckers, maybe less an arc but more like that inevitable trajectory that curves down down down into the cognitive gutter." 

—David James Keaton, author of Head Cleaner

OFFICIAL RELEASE 8/6/2024 

Joshua Chaplinsky is the Managing Editor of LitReactor.com. He is the author of The Paradox Twins, the short story collection Whispers in the Ear of A Dreaming Ape, and the parody Kanye West—Reanimator. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter at @jaceycockrobin. More info at joshuachaplinsky.com.