Gregg Olsen's true crime books are an auto-buy for me -- I was captivated by If You Tell and American Mother, so I look forward to any chance to read another of his narrative journalistic nonfiction works. In Starvation Heights, Olsen details a harrowing torture "sanitorium" run by "Dr." Linda Hazzard. Hazzard's cure-all? Strict fasting diets that leave those under her care completely emaciated, some of them dying as their organs and bodies shut down from lack of nourishment. Sisters Clara and Dora Williamson, heiresses to a fortune and with little to do, find Hazzard's methods intriguing and are looking to try anything they think may cure their ails. But after a severe fast that leaves one sister dead, it's up to the sisters' long-time nanny and caregiver to save them from a woman who knows nothing about saving people and only seems to be after their money. This wasn't my favorite of Olsen's nonfiction works, but still interesting and worth the read for true crime fans. Olsen knows how to weave a story and shock readers.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

I was really hoping this would delve into the life and background of Dr. Linda Hazzard more. Since Gregg Olsen is local to the Kitsap Peninsula, I was really excited to see how he would cover the history of the area and how this all came to be. We spent so much time focusing on the trial that everything else felt like an afternthough, for example, only a very brief exploration of the fire that destroyed the sanatorium was done. The focus on Claire and Dora Williamson got a little monotonous. I wish it would have dug into some of the other victims of Dr. Hazzard.

I have enjoyed other work by the author and will continue to pick up his books, however this specific title was a let down.

The story was intriguing and it’s what kept me reading. The writing was initially pretty interesting and captivating but quickly became dull and difficult to follow. I was disappointed that the author chose to focus on one particular patient/s story rather than exploring more of the motives and psychology of why it happened, and also went pretty heavy on the boring stuff and skimmed over the interesting stuff. Overall it was a fairly good read but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the copy of #StarvationHeights by #GreggOlson
They say truth is stranger than fiction and this story is a case in point.
It amazes me how evil some people are, and how some perfectly rational people can be so gullible.
A very good real crime book.

There have always been plans and programs to live your best life, marketed and hawked to vulnerable, gullible buyers.
Starvation Heights highlights a great charlatan who sold recipients a bill of goods, promising extreme fasting would bring relief from a litany of medical ailments.
It didn’t surprise me when I read the outcome or the outrage that followed.
It’s an interesting look at 20th century chicanery and hoodwinking.

Fascinating! I wasnt sure how I was going to like this one since it is a much older true crime from the early 1900s, but i found it incredibly gripping. I have never heard of this case before now. its extremely disturbing and i'm surprised it is not more notorious, then again i do live on the east coast so who knows. I thought it was very well written and well paced.

I chose to read this because in the past I have enjoyed reading from Gregg Olsen before. I was not disappointed this time around. I've been in the true crime community for years now and I've only now learned the details of the Starvation Heights/ Dr. Laura Hazzard case. Olsen certainly knows how to set the scene. He has a beautiful writing style even though his works are based on gruesome and disturbing incidents. That being said there were some weird jumps in the story that made it jarring and the first few chapters were repetitive. Other than that the writing itself was great. Laura Hazzard makes for a fascinating villain. She was delusional, cruel and obnoxiously good at manipulating. I think she'd be a fabulous cult leader. I find it disgusting what she did and I find it worse that the state of Washington was content in letting her continue. I understand it was the early 1900s but still. Anyway, If you like books with a lot of court scenes and beautiful writing, check this one out.

This is one of those rare novels that manages to be deeply informative and a page-turner at the same time. Greg Olson has managed to juggle a shocking early 20th century criminal case with compelling characters and intriguing history to relate a true story relatively unknown to most of us.

The real life characters, two wealthy British sisters lured by the promise of health and vitality and the “Doctor” in whom they placed their trust, are brought to life with luminous clarity managing to preserve the reader’s curiosity while controlling the flow of information and turning this small bit of Pacific Northwest history into a fascinating read.

STARVATION HEIGHTS is a powerful brew of intrigue laden history, mystery and suspense with casual details that suddenly take on surprising significance all served up to reveal a tale so dark and shocking that it literally takes your breath away. This is a narrative that delivers as only Greg Olson can.

Gregg Olsen couldn’t write a bad book if he tried. Starvation Heights reads like a crime novel rather than a piece of historical non fiction and I devoured it in a few days.
It’s a fascinating case that I’d never heard of and Olsen weaves the various sources and witnesses of the time into a chronological and suspenseful tale.
A must read for all true crime fans.

@greggolsen has written another truly disturbing true crime book, with this one focusing on the Dr. who starved her patients in the early 1900s. I bounced between the e-book and audiobook for this one. This true crime story is not one that I was aware of and is well researched.

Thank you @threadbooks and @netgalley for allowing me to read and listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was introduced to the true story of Claire and Dora Williamson through a YouTube video by Caitlyn Doughty on her Ask A Mortician channel. She recommended this book for further reading and information on the horrors of this story. Its hard to believe this is true, but Gregg Olsen does a wonderful job of laying out this story. He is a master at telling the story of people "caught in extraordinary circumstances". (Goodreads bio) I found myself wondering how Dr. Hazard (yep, that's the name) kept getting away with the thing he she did. I'm glad to have been introduced to Greg Olsen and have already set my sights of a couple more I'd like to read from him.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Starvation Heights was very fascinating, but also extremely disturbing. It’s hard to think that this is based off a true story because it is just chilling. The author does a fantastic job on telling the story, and it honestly reads like fiction novel. It keeps you totally engrossed and wanting to read just one more chapter.

If you’re looking for the perfect winter read that will truly thrill and haunt you in equal measure, I cannot recommend Gregg Olsen’s Starvation Heights: The Chilling True Story of the Doctor Who Starved her Patients to Death (Thread Books 1997 [reissued 2023]) more. By turns captivating and heartbreaking, Starvation Heights kept me guessing until the very end.

Olsen’s book recounts the story of “Dr.” Linda Burfield Hazzard, but it begins with the stories of two wealthy women, Claire and Dora Williamson. The two sisters, who were extremely and inseparably close, were somewhat obsessed with their health and wellbeing. Their money allowed them to pursue various medical treatments and natural ‘cures’ for the various ailments they believed they had. So, in 1911, when the two women encountered Linda Hazzard and her so-called ‘fasting-cure,’ wherein extreme dieting could lead to healthier bodies and minds by clearing out and limiting the toxins in the body, Claire and Dora became deeply intrigued.

Treating their time under Hazzard’s care as a holiday, the two sisters travelled to her sanatorium deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. However, within a month of arriving, the two women were found to be emaciated and in extreme crisis. Both were near death from starvation and were deeply unwell. As Olsen goes on to account, Claire and Dora were not the first to fall victim to Hazzard, and in the aftermath of their time at the sanatorium—known to the locals as Starvation Heights—and in the trial that follows, the extent of Hazzard’s malice, greed, and callousness is revealed to the public and to the reader. As jewelry and other valuables start to disappear from the Williamson’s belongings, and papers and bank drafts they don’t remember signing start to move their wealth to the Hazzards’ hands, Dora Williamson resolves to do all she can to escape the torture, isolation, and awaiting death at Starvation Heights.

The first time I heard about this case was on My Favourite Murder, years ago. At the time, I found it to be one of the most chilling and shocking true crime cases I had ever heard. The systematic starvation, torture, and abuse of people at the hands of a woman in a position of authority and trust is almost too shocking to contemplate. The story of what Dora and Claire endured at the hands of Hazzard is truly not for the faint of heart. However, Olsen, who has also had a sharp spike in popularity due to interest in his recent true crime book If You Tell (Thomas & Mercer 2019), is an expert true crime writer who is able to strike a balance between informative storytelling and suspenseful narrative. In the first part of this book especially, I was hooked and on the edge of my seat. I could hardly stop myself from flipping to the end to see how this narrative ended.

In many ways, this book is straightforward true crime, presenting the facts of the case, the backgrounds of those involved, and the ordeals contained in the aftermath of such trauma. Starvation Heights is well-researched, thorough, and clearly required a great deal of work in the archives—in newspaper archives especially—to piece this story together. Alongside all of his evidence, he finds a way to accurately pace the story and weave crucial details together seamlessly. For those who have never heard of this case, or people like myself who have been fascinated by it, Olsen’s book will offer fresh insights.

Fans of historical true crime will really appreciate Starvation Heights and Olsen’s narrative work here. I highly recommend this book for both Olsen’s writing and the truly shocking elements of this case from over a century ago!
Please add Starvation Heights to your Goodreads shelf.

Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.

About the Writer:

Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen is the gripping true story of early 20th Century healer "Dr. Hazzard". This fake doctor used dangerous fasting techniques combined with daily enemas on her patients as a cure to all that ailed them.

What is truely shocking is how long she got away with her murderous treatments.

A fascinating non-fiction read for fans of medical and/or true crimes.

As usual Gregg Olsen tells a true crime story that reads like a novel. I was fascinated by the story here and appreciated the deep dive into the lives of the victims. While I did crave for some more intel into "Dr."Hazzard's motivations, this was a fascinating read.
Thank you Bookouture and Thread books for the ARC of this one!

I read the first book by the author. What a gem. It was like going back in time and being a witness to starvation horror. The book is beautifully written and I was engaged with the story from the first page. After researching the topic further I found that copies of the three books by Dr Hazzard are still on sale on Amazon.

True story that you can't believe happened, and probably, sadly, will continue to happen.
Early 1900's Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard (in my opinion should not carry the title of Dr.) brings the term "fasting" to treatment at a whole new level. Sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson, wealthy and always looking for away to improve their health, decide to undergo the "fasting treatment" - the book details how they came to that decision, the road taken, Claire's death, and trial that followed.

Fascinating story, and so aweful that you shaking your head as what people are thinking.

Sometimes it is bit hard to follow what is going on, but over a great book.

The title and the cover were so inviting that I thought I was going to love this book as I'm obsessed with true crime. In reality I found it really boring and more than once I thought I wasn't going to finish it expect from the fact that when I start a book I have to finish it. The writing was so abrupt at times that I didn't know what I was reading until most of the paragraph/paragraphs in. I think that it could have been written in half the pages as well. The only thing I appreciate is the amount of work and research that transpires and that is why I gave it two stars.

I have been wanting to read this book for YEARS, but have been unable to source a copy - we often get both US and UK releases here, but sadly for me this was one US release that didn’t make it. So I was overjoyed when I received a copy of this ARC! And it did not disappoint.

This book primarily follows the story of Claire and Dora Williamson, sisters who had wealth but no immediate family other than each other. They came across Linda Hazzard’s “starvation cure” through a book and decided that it would be the thing to cure their various vague ills.

The book jumps around timelines a little, with some interjections from interviews and statements from people in Olalla, who knew the Hazzards, who remembered Starvation Heights. It also jumps back to give us some history on the Williamsons as well as some background on Linda and Sam Hazzard. I felt these segues were clearly delineated, and it was really interesting to read the words of people who remembered the Hazzards and their sanatorium.

I was fascinated by the story of how Linda Hazzard finally met her match, and the court case chapters were absolutely riveting. It was quite surprising how many people she killed after defrauding them, and how the justice system worked back in the early 1900s. A riveting and well researched book, and I would absolutely recommend to anyone interested in historical true crime, or an interest in historical fake medical cures.

4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thread Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own and freely given.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I’d never heard of this story before and the book is a really well written and horrifying account.