The 25 best crime books ever written
These investigations on serial killers, fraudsters and more are guaranteed page towers.
The real crime is one of the most popular genres of TV shows And podcasts , but many of the most shocking and convincing surveys on murder, scams and other illegal acts were first documented on the page. In fact, some of the most acclaimed True Crime series are adaptations of books (and many of these books are expanded versions of magazine articles). So, if you are trying to explore the depths of human depravity - or testify to the efforts that good people take such criminals - read for 25 best crime books ever published. We have deep dives in serial killers, fraud, dependence and even the flight of feathers.
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1 Bad Blood: Secrets and is in a Silicon Valley startup By John Carreyrou
All the real crime does not concern murder. In the 2018 Book Bad blood , journalist John Carreyrou Develop the reporting that he did for the The Wall Street newspaper About the biotechnological startup Theranos. The company promised that it had invented a medical device that changes the situation which could perform countless medical tests with a single drop of blood and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes , was positioned as the following Steve Jobs . It turns out that everything was lies and fraud, because Bad blood revealed.
2 Catch and Kill: Lies, spies and conspiracy to protect predators by Ronan Farrow
Ronan Farrow The 2019 book documents its role at the start of the #MeToo movement. The author, who worked for NBC News, had made large investigation reports on the many allegations of rape and sexual assault surrounding Major Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein . However, NBC refused to manage history because of what Farrow alleges the pressure of Weinstein, which prompted him to report New Yorker for what was going to become A revolutionary presentation . Catch and kill is a captivating story on journalism and the lengths to which powerful men will go to cover their crimes.
3 Columbine by Dave Cullen
Dave Cullen The 2009 book explores, sometimes in painful details, the infamous mass shot from Columbine High School. The book follows the two armed men at the head of the attack of April 20, 1999, and verifies many survivors while they are fighting in the decades after. The book also serves as a correction for many myths surrounding the massacre, including the largely detained belief that the shooters have been intimidated or influenced by Chock Rocker Marilyn Manson .
4 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the fair that changed America By Erik Larson
Erik Larson The extremely readable 2003 book (seriously, this thing is in each bookstore for a reason) tells two twin stories in Chicago at the end of the 19th century. The first is that of the 1983 Chicago World Exhibition and the numerous efforts that have made such an important and influential event. The other is that of H. H. Holmes , undoubtedly the first serial killer in American history whose frenzy was at its peak at the time of the fair.
5 Empire of Pain: the secret story of the Sackler dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
This 2021 book is developing on the journalist Patrick Radden Keefe New Yorker Sacklers article , the family behind Purdue Pharma, the company widely considered as responsible for the epidemic of opioids. Pain empire Traces the history of the family, the development of oxycodone and the efforts of the sacklers to escape any repercussions for the tragic damage caused by the very addictive medication (and the lies of Purdue on its addictive qualities).
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6 The feathered thief: beauty, obsession and natural history of the century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
If you are in mood for a real crime story that does not concern murder or violence or anything that will make you depressed, consult Kirk Wallace Johnson Book 2018 on a very singular crime. In 2009, a man stolen several precious and irreplaceable taxidermied birds of the Royal Academy of Music in London. For what? Because the aggressor was part of the niche subculture of the salmon fly, and some of the conceptions of the Victorian era for fly fishing lures involved rare feathers, including some birds that have since have disappeared. The feather thief Explore the history of the fly, this unique crime and its consequences.
7 Furious hours: murder, fraud and the last trial of Harper Lee By Casey CEP
Kill a mocking bird present what is largely considered to be one of the greatest judicial affairs in all fiction, so perhaps perhaps should not be surprising that the author Harper Lee , who was also friends with In cold blood 's Truman Capot , also tried the real crime. Casey CEP The 2019 book documents the life and experience of Lee covering the vigilant murder of an Alabama preacher who was found innocent of the crime of murder his five family members for insurance money.
8 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry
The brutal murder of the Manson family from 1969 actor Sharon Tate And his friends in the Hollywood Hills are among the most sadly famous crimes of American pop culture, and Helter Skelter is the final book on murders. Vincent Bugliosi , who co-wrote the 1974 book with Curly gender , had a first -hand experience with Charlie Manson Because he was a prosecutor during his 1970 trial. At the time of Bugliosi's death, Helter Skelter was the real book of successful crime of all time.
9 If you tell: a true story of murder, family secrets and the unbreakable bond of fraternity By Gregg Olsen
Gregg Olsen The 2019 book is a true story heartbreaking of abuse, murder, survival and perseverance. Sisters Nikki ,, Sami , And Tori Knotek Horribly in the hands of their growing mother in Raymond, Washington, but far from breaking under the stress of their mother's torture, the trio formed a powerful link which allowed them to fight for their freedom.
10 I will be gone in the dark: the obsessive research of a woman from the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
Few real books on the crime can say that they are quite directly responsible for translating the author into justice. Michelle McNamara has developed an interest in a relatively underlined serial killer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 80s, finally inventing the nickname "The Golden State Killer" while his investigation attracted renewed attention to the case and caused breakthroughs. The author died tragically before the completion of the book but his widower, actor Patton Oswalt , finished the book with the help of the crime writer Paul Haynes and investigative journalist Bill Jensen To publish it in February 2018. Two months later, the Golden State Killer was finally arrested and brought to justice.
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11 In cold blood by Truman Capote
Complete disclosure: from the point of view of strict journalism, Truman Capot Emblemie of 1966 work of narrative non-fiction does not quite hold. The writer invented and modified details on the 1959 quadruple homicide from a Kansas farm family to make a better story. Always, In cold blood is a captivating reading and undoubtedly the first real crime book.
12 The innocent man: murder and injustice in a small town By John Grisham
John Grisham is probably the most famous author of fictitious crime stories, but the legal literary giant has also written a non-fiction book, 2006 The innocent man . The book tells the story of a minor league baseball player who spent 11 years in the death corridor after being mistakenly sentenced for rape and murder of 1988 and before DNA evidence 'Exempted.
13 The journalist and the murderer By Janet Malcolm
In 1983, author Joe McGinniss wrote a real crime book entitled Fatal vision . Although this book, which covers the Captain of the Army Jeffrey R. Macdonald's The murder of his wife and children was a bestseller, it is probably more famous now because of Janet Malcolm The journalist and the murderer , which depicts a complicated and inexpensive image of the ethics of journalism. Macdonald thought that McGinniss was his friend who was trying to help him exempt him. As The journalist and the murderer Details, the author really used this hypothesis to get the story and write his book.
14 Killers of the Flowers Moon: Ossage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann
Recently adapted in a film acclaimed by The Great Martin Scorsese ,, David Grann 2017 book Flower moon killers is a captivating story of one of the great sins of America, the systemic killings of people of dosage by white men who inherited the control of extremely lucrative oil rights of the American tribe. These murders were one of the first major tests for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, then emerging, although the damage was largely caused when they fell in love. Note that, unlike the film, the identity of people or people behind the murders is deliberately left a mystery when you read the book, which makes it a work of history.
15 Last call: a true story of love, lust and murder in Queer New York By Elon Green
Elon Green Book 2021 Last call Tell the story of a serial killer who attacked homosexuals in New York in the 80s and 90s. The victims of the last killer call did not make the headlines at the time, at the 'A period when murder rates were raised in the city, because of their identity. Last call is a revealing and nuanced look at a dynamic culture that had to face a serial killer in addition to the AIDS epidemic and other struggles of the time.
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16 Lost girls: an unresolved American mystery by Robert Kolker
The identity of the serial killer responsible for the death of several young women whose leftovers were found on the beach of Long Island in Gilgo Maybe recently discovered . But Robert Kolker The 2014 book is rightly focused on the lives of five of his alleged victims, who were all sex workers with a personal life and people who loved them. It is a touching and deeply reduced exploration of American society and which is neglected. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
17 Midnight in the garden of good and evil By John Berendt
John Berendt's The first non-fiction novel in 1990 tells the story of Jim Williams , an antiquity merchant in Savannah, Georgia, who was accused of having killed Danny Hansford , her living lover, as part of an argument. Williams was tried four times for crime, and Berendt, who lived in Savannah for many years when the tests continued, depicted a captivating portrait of the killer, the victim and many other fascinating characters in the community.
18 People who eat darkness: the true story of a young woman who has disappeared from the streets of Tokyo - and the evil that swallowed it by Richard Lloyd Parry
Richard Lloyd Parry , Correspondent in Asia for The Times of London , plunged deep into the culture and legal system of Japan in 2012 People who eat darkness . Lucie Blackman , a young British blonde woman, disappeared one night in Tokyo in 2000. The search for research - and finally his killer after her remains was found in a cave - reveals a lot on the limits of the Japanese police, Cultural clashes and a deeply bad man responsible for the death of Blackman and hundreds of other crimes.
19 The manual of the poisoner: murder and birth of medical-legal medicine at the age of jazz New York by Deborah Blum
If you wanted someone who died in the early 1900s in New York and that you did not want to get caught, Poison was the weapon of choice, because science and protocols were not sufficiently developed to detect reliably the tools of the poisoners and translate them into justice. But as Deborah Blum Documents in his 2011 book, which began to change when Charles Norris became chief forensic scientist in 1918 and worked with a toxicologist Alexander Gettle To revolutionize criminalic.
20 The stranger next to me: the interior story of the serial killer Ted Bundy by Ann Rule
Do you know the line on how no one suspected that the nice guy next door was actually a serial killer? This was the case for the author Ann rule , who met and became a close friend with Ted Bundy In the early 1970s. They fell disconnected before the end of the decade, but Bundy returned to Rule's life when he became a suspect in a series of serial murders in Seattle - of the USPions that Rule shared. Rule's book in 1980, which has been reprinted with revisions and new additions for four times, is a captivating examination of one of the most infamous serial killers in the country mixed with autobiography.
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21 The suspicions of Mr. Quier: a shocking murder and the loss of a large Victorian detective by Kate Summerscale
Inspector Jonathan who was the largest detective in England in the mid -1800s; His manners and skills in the resolution of crimes were so great that he was going to be the inspiration of several fictitious detectives. However, his inability to definitively resolve a horrible murder turned out to be his ruin, even if the circumstantial evidence was good. Kate Summerscale tell the story of its 2009 pages turner.
22 The Lizzie Borden trial by Cara Robertson
Cara Robertson Go deep on one of the oldest and most sensational judicial affairs in America in his 2019 book The Lizzie Borden trial . Accused of hacking his father and a mother -in -law to death with an ax in their house in Massachusetts, the subsequent trial of Borden - and a possible acquittal - captivated the nation, and Robertson relies on tons of research and equipment To make it also captivating (and perhaps more examined) today.
23 Under the banner of heaven: a story of violent faith by Jon Krakauer
Adapted in a dramatic series by Hulu in 2022, author Jon Krakauer The 2003 book of the same name tells the story of a double brutal murder of 1984 committed by two members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect. The book also zooms in to explore the history of the Mormone faith and how such extreme fundamentalism appeared and led to the violence of the genre Ron And Dan Lafferty committed in the name of their version of faith.
24 Bird yellow: oil, murder and search for justice for a woman in the Indian country by Sierra Crane Murdoch
Sierra Crane Murdoch The 2020 book follows Lissa yellow bird , an indigenous woman who took it upon her to try to resolve a case of missing persons that no one else in the Indian reserve of Fort Berthold of Dakota of the North seemed too eager to investigate, especially since the oil industry had become such a powerful force at home.
25 Zodiac by Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith , the editorial cartoonist who has become the author of the crime of True Jake Gyllenhaal takes place in David Fincher Zodiac Film, wrote on his efforts to identify the infamous serial killer who tormented San Francisco in the 1960s. Combining the efforts of investigation of the police with his own research on the case (including certain information which had not been shared with the public before the original release date of the book in 1986), Zodiac reads like a horror novel almost as much as an emblematic work of real crime.
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