How a Florida Mom Became the Author of a Hit-Man Manual

Gayle McCool spent decades haunted by a recurring dream, and even longer by the fallout from Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, a book she wrote as "Rex Feral." It was a how-to guide on contract killing, written in the early 1980s after her boyfriend, Richard Hance—a charismatic ex-cop with a taste for martial arts—egged her on. McCool, by then a divorced mother in Florida, never imagined anyone would take the book seriously. Then, in 1993, a triple murder in Maryland was carried out almost step-by-step according to her manual, triggering not just criminal trials but a First Amendment battle over whether publishers can be liable for readers' crimes, as Abbott Kahler writes in a deep dive for Vanity Fair.

McCool's own life reads like a Southern gothic novel: an abusive marriage, a whirlwind romance with Hance, and a descent into a world filled with fake IDs, drug labs, and sketchy friends. Hance alternated between tenderness and paranoia, running scams and even coming under suspicion as the Unabomber at one point. McCool's book earned her notoriety, but also a lifetime of regret. She says she never read the book after submitting it, and tried, unsuccessfully, to have it destroyed after learning of the Maryland murders. Hance was ultimately killed by McCool's son during a violent confrontation, and McCool served time for drugs. Now 77, the great-grandmother lives quietly, her lone copy of the infamous book tucked away. As for the victims' families, McCool says, "I absolutely feel responsibility for what happened. How do you say sorry when someone is dead?" More here.