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True crime has been having a renaissance for the past decade, but the genre was popular long before the Serial podcast made its debut. The best true crime books read like thrillers, with twists and turns to keep you hooked. But they also tell a story larger story, contextualizing the crime as if they were gripping works of historical fiction. While serial killers and grisly murders might immediately come to mind when discussing the true crime genre, there's more to this literary motif than that. The books are elegant explorations of the criminal justice system, and crimes' effects on individuals. Further, these books also make for excellent book club picks, each a springboard for questions. We guarantee your book club will be absorbed while talking about the central murder in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, or Lacy Johnson's painful experiences in her memoir, The Other Side. Whether it’s art forgery, white collar sins, or political traitors, this list captures the best nonfiction true crime books of all time.
At 8:15 in the morning, Lita McClinton, a Black socialite in the “richest, whitest neighborhood in all of Atlanta,” was murdered on her doorstep by a stranger carrying a box of long-stemmed pink roses and a Smith & Wesson. The date was January 6, 1987, and the victim was scheduled to settle her divorce from her white, millionaire husband later that day. While on the surface, this may look like a tragically common tale of male violence and human greed, Landau situated Lita’s death within the context of the changing racial and sexual dynamics of her time, and of ours. In the wake of #metoo and the swell of protests over the murder of George Floyd, Landau returns to a case she had first covered in the early 2000s, eager to see how her original perspective and the case files she had not been able to part with for more than 20 years looked under the light of “this new day of reckoning.” With a journalist's eye, a novelist’s vivid evocation of character, and some chilling interviews with the recently released hitman, Landau brings Lita to life on the page—and calls the people and forces responsible for her death to account.
Carolyn Bush was 25 when she was stabbed to death in Queens by her roommate, Render Stetson-Shanahan. A story emerged that Stetson-Shanahan, a fellow Bard graduate who mostly kept to himself at home, had suffered from a manic episode the night he killed Carolyn. That account—and a long list of unanswered questions—haunted Carolyn’s friend, Sarah Gerard. To write this nonfictional account, Gerard spent six years interviewing Carolyn’s family members and friends, reading court documents and Reddit threads, and attending Render’s trial to piece together the full story. Given the care and persistence Gerard shows in each chapter, the book is as much a methodical crime drama as a moving tribute to Carolyn’s life.
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As the host of the wildly popular and deeply researched true crime podcast The Fall Line, Laurah Norton has come across many cases of Jane and John Does—people whose bodies have been discovered but whose identities have not. Teaming up with biological anthropologist Amy Michael, Norton takes readers along for a real-time investigation of one such case—that of an “Ina Jane Doe,” whose head was discovered in a public park in 1993. In thrilling (and digestible) detail, Norton reveals the cutting-edge science behind “every attempt to connect her to the woman she’d been in life, and to the people who never stopped looking for her.”While on the hunt for forensic answers in “Ina’s” case, Norton also looks for social and legal answers for how so many human beings become unidentified bodies—roughly 40,000 in the United States alone. Over the course of the book, we are introduced to a number of these so-called “Does”—cases that often get the least coverage even though they need it the most. “if you can construct a story with the pieces that death has left behind,” Norton points out, “someone might recognize the life that preceded them.” Rather than simply scratching a morbid itch, obsessing over these sorts of true crime stories can lead to true justice. A win in anyone’s book.
You know the story from the headlines: In the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their off-campus home. The victims were devastatingly young—20 and 21—and notably beautiful. Six weeks later, a student at nearby Washington State University was arrested for the calculated massacre—one who just so happened to be a PhD candidate studying criminology.
In his meticulously researched account, Appelman cuts through the sensationalism and speculation that has surrounded this case to uncover a profoundly human story with far-reaching implications. Having lived in Idaho for nearly a quarter century, the author offers an intimate, insider’s perspective on a case that rocked the globe—and an urgent reckoning with the ways internet sleuthing can impede justice and healing. By drawing from extensive interviews with their family, loved ones, and acquaintances, he captures Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves in empathetic detail, showing us that these lives—complicated, nuanced, and touchingly interconnected—are so much more than their violent ends
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True crime books often focus on crimes—but this poignant memoir focuses on even more on aftermath, and how people are caught in their pangs long after the headlines have moved on. Leah Carroll was only 4 when her mom, a talented photographer, was murdered by her drug dealers, both figures in Providences crime underworld. After a childhood spent shuttling between homes, Carroll then endured her father's death when she was 18. Now an adult, Carroll looks into the circumstances surrounding her parents' beginnings, and their ends. She tells the story of her parents with honesty and grace, and without an ounce of self-pity.
Lacy M. Johnson is a gorgeous, powerful, eloquent writer. And with that style, she is able to voice an experience so harrowing it's almost hard to believe. Johnson was kidnapped by her abusive ex-boyfriend, and had to fight to escape from his grasp. The Other Side features personal narrative alongside the stuff of true crime: police reports and clinical details.
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Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita is a cultural touchstone, repulsing readers with a story of child abduction and assault, yet keeping them turning the page anyway. Sarah Weinman's tour de force prompts a necessary reexamination of the Lolita phenomenon. In The Real Lolita, Weinman presents the convincing evidence that Lolita was inspired by a real case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is true crime that reads like a novel. John Berendt showcases the many colorful characters adjacent to a murder that shook up Savannah in May 1981. The bestselling book about a male sex worker, shot and killed by an antiques dealer, was later turned into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
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In the 1950s, an idealistic minister named Jim Jones amassed a following. And in 1978, that 900-strong following—now living on a compound in the jungles of Guyana—died after being forced to imbibe a cyanide-laced drink. The Road to Jonestown is the definitive account of how Jones's cult, the Peoples Temple, culminated in the massacre at Jonestown.
One of the deadliest serial killers of the 21st century is someone you’ve probably never heard of. Journalist Maureen Callahan takes readers into the case of Israel Keyes, a diabolical man who broke all the rules and was only caught because of some serious missteps. It's as much a story of this terrifying murderer as it is the tale of how law enforcement bungled the case.
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Michelle McNamara’s account of her search for the Golden State Killer has become a modern-day true crime classic. It’s all the more poignant because of its unfinished nature: McNamara died unexpectedly before she could complete the book. But after her death, the Golden State Killer was caught, thanks, in part, to McNamara’s tireless work on the case. Pair this one with the Audible Original Evil Has a Name for the complete story.
In 1986, a young woman named Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The police initially suspected that it was a random occurrence, that Rasmussen had interrupted a burglar. But the truth was much more sinister: Years later, a test matched DNA from the crime scene to a female police officer, Stephanie Lazarus. This investigation takes a close look at the murder, the case, and how Lazarus’s status as a police officer protected her from becoming a suspect.
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It’s easy to overlook financial crimes when you’re listing out true crime books, but Sheelah Kolhatkar’s Black Edge shouldn’t be missed. This work of investigative journalism takes the reader into the dangerous world of insider trading on Wall Street. It takes on Stephen A. Cohen, a brilliant hedge fund founder who was willing to break any rule in order to succeed, and the ensuing FBI investigation that delved into this man’s unchecked power and wealth.
Some of the best true crime books are intensely personal, and that’s just what The Fact of a Body gives us. When Marzano-Lesnevich—who, since this memoir's publication, has come out as nonbinary—began working at a law firm in Louisiana, they were assigned a case defending Ricky Langley, a man accused of murder. But Marzanoa-Lesnevich experiences such a visceral reaction to the man that they must sift through his case and their own buried family history to understand what it was about his horrific crime that called to them on such an instinctual level.
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In the 1920s, thanks to the oil on their land, the Osage Indian nation were the amongst the richest people per capita in the world. When the tribe members began dying under strange circumstances, the newly created FBI investigated the murders as one of their first large cases. In this incredible story, Grann takes the reader through history, looking at new evidence and tracing how the case would have gone differently if it was handled today. This book is definitely worth the read even if you have already seen the all-star film; even three and a half hours isn't long enough to capture all the twists and turns of this remarkable story.
When writer Kirk Wallace Johnson first learned about the bizarre robbery from the British Museum of Natural History’s ornithological collection, he was immediately intrigued. He knew that a 20-year-old American flautist, Edwin Rist, was responsible for the heist. But Johnson’s question was “Why?” What kind of strange obsession leads a person to steal bird skins that are over a century old? This magical account answers this and so much more.
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This harrowing, yet eye-opening, document of the Columbine tragedy and its chaotic aftermath may seem out of place on a list of true crime books. However, this incredibly well-researched account of the school shooting that shocked an entire country deserves its place on this list. Cullen takes readers into Columbine High School, discussing the motives for the shooting and how everything we thought we know about this terrible piece of history could be wrong.
There have been countless stories about Ted Bundy, but this account is one of the most interesting—and gripping. Ann Rule—who launched a career as a well-loved true crime author after this 1980 book—was a young writer on the trail of a serial killer. She was sure she could figure out who was behind the killings. What she didn’t realize was that her coworker, the charming and personable Ted Bundy, was responsible for the brutal attacks.
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As the journalist who broke the story of the rise and fall of tech startup Theranos, John Carreyrou is uniquely positioned to take the reader on the journey of the much-lauded company creating devices that, quite simply, didn’t work, and how CEO Elizabeth Holmes defrauded investors and the public with her secrets and lies.
The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was a spectacle, to say the least. Designed and overseen by Daniel Hudson Burnham, the White City was a masterpiece of skill and planning, but there was a darkness lurking within this shining beacon. Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor, used the fair as a hunting ground, preying on the people who came from near and far to witness the event.
Swapna Krishna
Swapna Krishna writes about books, sci-fi, space, and technology.
Elena Nicolaou
Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily.
Charley Burlock
Associate Books Editor
Charley Burlock is the Associate Books Editor at Oprah Daily where she writes, edits, and assigns stories on all things literary. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from NYU, where she also taught undergraduate creative writing. Her work has been featured in the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Review, Agni, the Apple News Today podcast, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a book about collective grief (but she promises she's really fun at parties).