At his death, three months ago, 65-year-old Executioner Elliott had done 387 executions. At $150 per person he had executed about $50,000 worth. They included Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray, Sacco ...

ROCKING THE BOAT [300 pp.)—Gore Vidal—Little, Brown ($5.00). With the publication of this wistfully titled collection of literary and political essays, Gore Vidal must be acknowledged ...

Schmidt documented his gory tenure in the book “A Hangman’s Diary,” which provided insight into crime and punishment in the Middle Ages ... It was home to the municipal executioner until 1806.

When Leningrad’s city streets are haunted by a murderer in the winter of 1952, there’s only one man with the brains and insight to track down the brutal killer.