Books

FromIn Cold BloodtoSay Nothing, these page-turners will keep you up at night.

Starting with Truman Capotes nonfiction novelIn Cold Bloodin 1966, that fascination birthed a genre: true crime.

The books on this list span historical eras and geographic place.

A selection of true crime books, including ‘The Real Lolita’ by Sarah Weinman and ‘Say Nothing’ by P…

Some are pulpy, while others deal with serious questions about racial violence and prejudice.

But above all, they tell gripping stories.

Below, 30 true-crime books to add to your reading list.

‘Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession,’ Rachel Monroe

InSavage Appetites, Texas-based journalist Rachel Monroe explores why women are so drawn to the morbid and violent.

She abandoned it before publishing, but Casey Cep picks up where she left off inFurious Hours.

The crime in question, which Cep thoroughly investigates herself, was the murder of the Rev.

‘In Cold Blood’

Willie Maxwell in rural Alabama.

The local Ku Klux Klan quickly stormed the town, unleashing terror.

But not long after, legendary civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall arrived to investigate the case.

‘Furious Hours’

Corchados interest in the violence that results from drug trafficking wasnt abstract: He was targeted personally in 2007.

The crisis was so severe that the femicides inspired TV shows, movies, and novels.

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This article was originally published onApril 28, 2023

‘The Devil in the White City’

‘The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer,’ Kate Summerscale

‘The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India’s Quest for Independence’

‘The Ghosts of Eden Park’

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

‘Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Ji…

‘Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobs…

‘The Blood of Emmett Till’

‘Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America’

‘Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era’

‘Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime’

‘The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World,’ Sarah We…

‘We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence’

‘Last Call’

‘The Orchid Thief’

‘Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption’

‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’

‘Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery’

‘Unbelievable: The Story of Two Detectives’ Relentless Search for the Truth’

‘Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland,’ Patrick Radden Keefe

‘‘A Death in the Lucky Holiday Hotel: Murder, Money, and an Epic Power Struggle in China’

‘Seven Fallen Feathers’

‘Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and …

‘There Are No Dead Here: A Story of Murder and Denial in Colombia’

‘Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent Into Darkness’

‘The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border,’ Teresa Rodriguez and D…

‘Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram’