I would like to start reading more true crime books. Recommendations?
Hi! I would like to start reading more true crime books. What are the best ones that you’ve read so far? Preferably something that won’t make me paranoid to be home alone.
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Ann Rule’s books are a good place to start, because she doesn’t go into gruesome details about violence. Small Sacrifices and Everything She Ever Wanted are good ones to start with to see if you like her style.
Ditto the Ann Rule thing, love her work. Also Jack Olsen is really good for super detailed true crime. I’ll be Gone in the Dark is a good one, and audible just put out a sort of companion piece to it called Evil Has a Name by Paul Holes and Jim Clemente, sort of finishes her work.
I am a sensitive reader and cannot stomach extreme violence. But I enjoy Sophia Hannah and J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith
Hardly true crime, though.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
My first choice!
awesome choice. Chilling
I agree!!!
Definitely paranoia inducing.
The Man From the Train. Possibly the most prolific serial killer in the US. It’s a slow read and not action packed but really interesting on how no one worked together to discover that this man was all over the place.
Lost Girls by Robert Kolker. People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry. On the historical side, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale.
Devil in the white city
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit!
Small sacrifices!
@Danielle For sure!! Took place where I live.
helter Skelter.
in cold blood… my starter for this genre.
And that won’t make her paranoid? An excerpt in Playboy kept me terrified for months!
@Susan Maybe I can work up to this one ?
Devil in the White City
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Stranger Beside Me by Anne Rule …..she writes about the Ted Buddy case and she actually knew him was working with him at the time
@Leah all Anne Rule books
Killers of the Flower Moon is excellent. Reads a lot like a novel.
I liked Wise Guys by Nicholas Pileggi. I think he’s the guy the movie Goodfellas was based on?
Literally just listened to this podcast! They have some excellent true crime recs! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-should-i-read-next/id1073499086?mt=2&i=1000425098735
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule – a lot of her others, too. The Devil in White City.
Thank you everyone! I appreciate the recommendations!
“Arthur and George” by Julian Barnes.
The Wicked Boy: An Infamous Murder in Victorian London by Kate Summerscale. a happy ending… go figure. i think you’d really enjoy this one
Deadly Innocence. It’s about the Ken & Barbie Killers in Canada, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.