''Zodiac'' is a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

written by

Robert Graysmith Robert Graysmith (born Robert Gray Smith; September 17, 1942) is an American true crime author and former cartoonist. He is known for his work on the Zodiac killer case. Career Graysmith worked as a political cartoonist for the ''San Francisc ...

about the unsolved

serial murder A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

s committed by the "

Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The case has been described as the most famous unsolved murder case in American history. It became a fixture of popular c ...

" in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in the late 1960s and early '70s. Since its initial release in 1986, ''Zodiac'' has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Graysmith was a

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' and later also wrote ''Zodiac Unmasked''.

Synopsis

This book chronicles the history of the self-named "Zodiac" killer who was active in the 1960s and 70s in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

from first hand details covered by Robert Graysmith's investigative efforts to unmask the "Zodiac" killer. The book describes the investigations of the many law enforcement branches such as the

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

, the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, etc., that worked on the case and other murders that the "Zodiac" had proclaimed he committed, including the 1966 Cheri Jo Bates stabbing. Later chapters deal with Graysmith's many theories on the case, and the book eventually cites two possible suspects (who are given pseudonyms), Bob Starr and Donald Andrews, and details some of the circumstantial evidence against them. Graysmith received assistance from

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

departments that fell within the jurisdictions of the murders, and especially from

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Dave Toschi David Ramon Toschi (; July 11, 1931 – January 6, 2018) was an American law enforcement officer widely known for his efforts in the San Francisco Police Department as an inspector in the Zodiac Killer case. His personal style was the model for ...

from the San Francisco Police Department, who had worked the Zodiac case.Graysmith, Robert. 1986. ''Zodiac''

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

Although the case was never solved, there were instances where solid evidence was held among a number of suspects, even after the Zodiac murders had stopped.

Background

Robert Graysmith was a

working for ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' in the 1960s when the Zodiac murders started. The Zodiac sent letters to ''The Chronicle'' which he urgently wanted published in the paper. The letters included evidence that he was in fact the Zodiac; while committing one of his crimes, the "Zodiac" cut a piece of bloody cloth from one of his victims and attached it to several of his hand written letters to disable the thought of a fake "Zodiac" writing to the

. Graysmith saw the letters arriving at ''The Chronicle'' and became intrigued. For years the cartoonist kept his own scrapbook of evidence, from which he independently attempted to determine the Zodiac's identity. When asked why he began working on the book, Graysmith replied, "I saw it going into obscurity. Nobody is sharing all the different jurisdictions, and all this information. What if I as a private citizen went around and got all this information?" This led to a 10-year period to collect information, and eventually the book was published in 1986 after a number of delays.

Film

The film adaptation ''

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

'' (2007) is roughly based on Graysmith's books, ''Zodiac'' (1986) and ''Zodiac Unmasked'' (2002). The film follows the work of Graysmith as a cartoonist in 1969 aiding the authorities in figuring out the identity of the infamous Zodiac killer.

References

{{Zodiac killer 1986 non-fiction books Non-fiction crime books Books about the San Francisco Bay Area Crimes in the San Francisco Bay Area Cultural depictions of the Zodiac Killer Non-fiction books about serial killers Non-fiction books adapted into films