The 13 Best True Crime Books to Devour

‘Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice’ by Cristina Rivera Garza

read it

Driven by a powerful combination of grief and rage, Rivera Garza traveled from Texas to Mexico City in 2019 to dive into an investigation of her sister’s murder nearly 30 years before. This is her account of that work: Not only does she document her relentless quest for justice in Liliana’s death, but she also meticulously crafts an image of her beloved sister, all the way up to her relationship with the abusive boyfriend who would ultimately kill her. Liliana’s Invincible Summer was a finalist for the National Book Award and an entry on several prestigious “best books of 2023” lists, and it’s sure to fill you with the same feelings of heartbreak and devastation—not to mention an undying rage at the all-too-common crimes of femicide and intimate partner violence—that have shaped Garza’s life and work.

‘A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention, and Murder’ by Mark O’Connell

read it

“Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented.” Those words—and, more commonly, their acronym, GUBU—are often used to describe a shocking series of events that occurred in Ireland in the summer of 1982, and which are described in O’Connell’s book. At the center of those events was Malcolm Edward MacArthur, a socialite who was running out of money and decided to turn to robbery to help keep funding his lifestyle. On his way to buy a gun to use in his planned bank robbery, however, he stole a car and murdered its driver; a few days later, he carried on with his plans to buy the gun and promptly shot dead the farmer who’d sold it to him. MacArthur wasn’t caught by police until about two weeks later; his capture added another layer of scandal to the whole situation, since he was found staying as a guest at the home of Ireland’s then-attorney general. O’Connell’s book is based on many hours’ worth of conversations with MacArthur, who was released from prison in 2012 after 30 years, and explores the often-murky line between MacArthur’s version of the story and the actual facts of the case.

‘Lay Them to Rest: On the Road with the Cold Case Investigators Who Identify the Nameless’ by Laurah Norton

read it

A bit of a meta take on the true crime genre, this book is less about a specific crime, focusing more on the scientific advances that have helped crack open so many otherwise unsolvable cases. Norton is the host of the popular “The Fall Line” podcast, which digs into murders and disappearances in Georgia that didn’t receive much media attention and center on people from marginalized communities. In this book, she maps out the history of forensic science, stretching from the primitive techniques of the Roman Empire to the wildly advanced technologies used today. We also get to see those modern methods put to use, as Norton describes the work she put in alongside a forensic anthropologist to solve a 1993 cold case. If you really want to call yourself a true crime expert, you’ll need to give this one a read.

'The Babysitter: My Summers With a Serial Killer' by Liza Rodman and Jennifer Jordan

read it

A hybrid of memoir and investigative nonfiction, this is the story of Liza Rodman's lonely girlhood on Cape Cod in the 1960s. Her mother worked at a hotel and enjoyed the Provincetown night life. While she was out, the handsome hotel handyman babysat Rodman and her sister. They'd go get popsicles in his truck and hang out in his "secret garden" in the woods of Truro. Turns out, their nice-guy sitter was also a serial killer. Some of his dismembered victims were buried in that woodsy glade. Decades later, Rodman made the connection between her buddy and the splashy murder headlines and became obsessed with researching the case.

'Couple Found Slain: After a Family Murder' by Mikita Brottman

read it

True crime fans love to follow the trail of a whodunnit. This book analyzes what happens after. The author, a psychoanalyst, writes about how Brian Bechtold, who was 22 in 1992, walked into a Florida police station and confessed that he'd shot his parents back home in Maryland. Saying he was possessed by the devil at the time, Bechtold was judged not responsible for the murders on grounds of insanity. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, he lived for decades in a limbo of psychiatric hospitals—complete with escape attempts, being shot by police, and seeing several patient-on-patient murders. It's an insider's view of life in the psych ward and the long aftermath of an act of violence.

'Fuzz: When Animals Break the Law' by Mary Roach

read it

This much-anticipated book is from Mary Roach, the master of the weirdly delightful dive into scientific nonfiction. But this is less "when animals attack" and more of "when moose jaywalk" or "when macaques mug." Roach's books, including Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, have a cult fandom. This book looks at how we are in conflict with nature—and, just maybe, can learn to coexist.

'Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York' by Elon Green

read it

In the '90s, an elusive serial killer preyed on gay men in New York City. Instead of merely examining the crimes and turning the killer into an object of fascination, the author feelingly portrays the lives of the victims. The bars where they felt free turned out not to be safe spaces. A maintenance worker found the bagged remains of the first victim at a Pennsylvania rest stop. The nicknamed "Last Call Killer" took advantage of an era when it was, for many, difficult to be visibly and openly gay.

'Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion' by Tori Telfer

read it
A roundup of the most notorious female con artists by the author of Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. It's perfect for anyone fascinated by the likes of faux-blood test entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes and NYC society trickster Anna Delvey. Tori Telfer reaches back to 1700s France and a woman who claimed to be Marie Antoinette's BFF for scamming purposes (think: loads of jewels), tracing scams through to the present day, when New York sisters Kate and Maggie Fox started a movement when they claimed to speak with spirits. Telfer examines what we love about these devious women and why.

'The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing' by Sonia Faleiro

read it

Two teenage girls in a tiny Indian village were so close that they were known by a single name. One summer night in 2014, the pair went missing. A few hours later, the girls were found hanging in a mango orchard. The investigation into their murders started a national soul-searching about violence against women in India. At first, the girls' families refused to let the bodies be cut down and demanded an investigation. But what happened? Was it murder, suicide, or an honor killing?

'The Unusual Suspect: The Rise and Fall of a Modern-Day Outlaw' by Ben Machell

read it

A young British college student named Stephen Jackley was obsessed with the inequalities of the global financial crisis that began in 2007. A modern-day Robin Hood, Jackley planned to steal from the rich (banks) and give to the poor. It actually worked—he robbed a series of banks using disguises, elaborate escapes, fake guns, and all—until it didn't. Journalist Ben Machell had access to Jackley and his diaries for this combo of psychological thriller and heist story.

'The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP' by Alex Tresniowksi

read it

In a time between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, white schoolgirl Marie Smith was brutally killed in the seaside town of Asbury Park, New Jersey. This book weaves this and another story into a narrative. One thread tells of a pedophile, a sheriff, a detective on his first murder case, and the Black laborer who is wrongfully accused of murder and narrowly avoids being lynched. The other story involves Ida B. Wells, Black crusading journalist, abolitionist, and feminist who led an anti-lynching campaign in the 1890s. Through her writings, she was instrumental in helping found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization at the forefront of current events today.

'Two Truths and a Lie: A Murder, a Private Investigator, and Her Search for Justice' by Ellen McGarrahan

read it

This riveting read is the memoir of a reporter-turned-private investigator who looks back at the case that snagged her imagination. It also inspired her change of profession. As a reporter for the Miami Herald, she covered the execution of Jesse Tafero for the murder of two police officers. Years later, Ellen McGarrahan dives back into the criminal Miami of the 1960s and '70s to take another look at that case. As she follows the threads of evidence—court files, interviews, articles—looking for the truth, she realizes that the questions of who is innocent and who is guilty are complex and difficult to untangle.

'The Beauty Defense: Femmes Fatales on Trial' by Laura James

read it

This collection of true tales about hot women committing cold-blooded crimes follows a multitude of cases from 1850 onwards. Attorney and true crime historian Laura James asks whether these women—such as Glasgow socialite Madeline Smith, who poisoned one lover to move on to the next—got away with murder (and other mayhem) because of their good looks. Smith's lawyer used gender bias in her favor, making the case that someone so pretty and feminine couldn't possibly be a killer.