Penguin Random House, author portrait placeholder image

Mary Ellen O'Toole Ph.D

MARY ELLEN O’TOOLE, Ph.D. has spent her career studying the criminal mind. One of the most senior profilers for the FBI until her retirement in 2009, Dr. O’Toole has helped capture, interview and understand some of the world’s most infamous people including:

·         Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer
·         Derrick Todd Lee and Sean Vincent Gillis, both serial killers in Baton Rouge
·         The Collar Bomb Case, a bank robbery and murder of a pizza delivery man
·         Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber
·         The Polly Klaas child abduction
·         David Parker Ray, a serial sexual sadist
·         The Red Lake School Shooting
·         The Monster of Florence serial murder case
·         The Zodiac serial murder case
·         The bombing during the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT
·         The mass murder in Florence, Montana in 2001

Dr. O’Toole also worked the Elizabeth Smart and Natalee Holloway disappearances, the Columbine shootings and many other high profile cases. Dr. O’Toole worked as an FBI agent for 28 years, spending more than half of her Bureau career in the organization’s prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU)—the unit that is the focus of the hit crime series “Criminal Minds.”

Dr. O’Toole is recognized as the FBI’s leading expert in the area of psychopathy. She has served as adjunct faculty to the FBI’s Prestigious Leadership Development Institute (LDI) at the FBI Academy and also frequently lectures at the Smithsonian Institution about everything from Sherlock Holmes to personal safety. She is a Fellow with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
Dangerous Instincts

Books

Dangerous Instincts

Three Penguin Random House Authors Win Pulitzer Prizes

On Monday, May 5, three Penguin Random House authors were honored with a Pulitzer Prize. Established in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes are the most prestigious awards in American letters. To date, PRH has 143 Pulitzer Prize winners, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Josh Steinbeck, Ron Chernow, Anne Applebaum, Colson Whitehead, and many more. Take a look at our 2025 Pulitzer Prize

Read more

Books for LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

In June we celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual + (LGBTQIA+) Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. Pride Month is a time to both celebrate the accomplishments of those in the LGBTQ+ community and recognize the ongoing struggles faced by many across the world who wish to live

Read more