Following a discussion of homicide in England and Wales, the history of sex murder is reviewed, and its relationship to gender and culture is discussed. The mythologizing of the sexual murderer as a male subhuman in the crime tabloids, and the gothic, romantic, and clinical/academic literature then is considered in terms of how these traditions influence responses to sex murder. The view of the murderer as deviant is further elaborated in a review of criminological, sociological, and psychological explanations of sex murder, including biogenetic causes (e.g., body type, hormones, chromosomes), personality factors, the psychopath, and learning, labeling, and subculture theories. The theme of the sex murderer as both hero and deviant is further examined in accounts of rippers, sadists, necrophiles, and serial killers. Finally, it is argued that these two major themes have failed to consider the issue of gender -- the absence of female sex killers and the role of woman as object -- and therefore provide incomplete explanations. An appendix provides additional information on sex murderers referred to in the text. Chapter footnotes, index, and approximately 200 references.