Greatest true crime book you’ve ever read

The Executioner’s Song.

The Stranger Beside Me

R2 my mum and I always liked Ann Rule

Until the Twelfth of Never: The Deadly Divorce of Dan & Betty Broderick by Bella Stumbo

What r1 said.

Ann Rule’s best is actually Small Sacrifices, but her connections to Bundy are what make Stranger Beside Me stand out.

But for my money, the GOAT of true crime is Dave Cullen’s Columbine. That’s just a masterpiece.

Lost Girls by Robert Kolker and Sandy Hook by Elizabeth Williamson

EVIDENCE OF LOVE by John Bloom and Jim Atkinson, about the grisly ax murder of one suburban Texas housewife, Betty Gore, by another, Candy Montgomery.

Truly chilling and fascinating page-turner and if you don't know it, you should. Unfortunately, there've been at least a couple of terrible TV movies based on the book that don't come near the bizarre and complex emotional ride of the source material.

Indecent Exposure. The David Begelman story. Captures as well the coldest winter I can remember in New York, 1978.

[quote] Ann Rule’s best is actually Small Sacrifices, but her connections to Bundy are what make Stranger Beside Me stand out.

It stands out because it's the better book.

Murder among friends : how Leopold and Loeb tried to commit the perfect crime

Whut the Bellz did to me wass a true krime.

Happy Like Murderers about Fred and Rosemary West. I couldn't read it a second time because it goes into great detail about how they abused their children.

Until the 12th of Never by Bella Stumbo. It’s about Betty Broderick. I actually got the recommendation from a Betty Broderick thread right here at the DL.

Fatal Vision may’ve been the first one I read — I was young, and it captivated me.

R9, did you read it that winter, or is that when the story takes place?

Blood and Money

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen

My Life for the World to See, by Liz Renay.

Liz in Terminal Island Prison!

Perfect Poison and two I read about Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo. Both were good but one writer had clearly seen the tapes and violated the gag order. I had to stop myself from reading and watching too much true crime. I thought it just couldn't be good for me.

Mikal Gilmore's book about his brother, Gary Gilmore: Shot in the Heart.

"Serpentine" by Thomas Thompson

[quote]It stands out because it's the better book.

See, I don't agree. Bundy, although unusual in that his crimes were committed in multiple states, and his Florida rampage was certainly dramatic (and his love of the spotlight up until his execution certainly helped), was just another serial killer praying on women. It works because not only did Rule know him, but she had other connections to the story, such as being a sister in Chi Omega herself.

By contrast, Diane Downs is a female family annihilator. Those are incredibly rare, and the only other one I can think of is Susan Smith.

Anyway, while my pick is still Columbine, I will also throw in for Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, which talks about murders in a fundamentalist Mormon branch (not the same one that Warren Jeffs lead).

People Who Eat Darkness, by Richard Lloyd Parry, about the disappearance and murder of an English girl working as a hostess in Japan. I also really liked Underground, about the Tokyo subway gas attack, by Haruki Murakami.

The Stranger Beside me was tighter crime writing, but Small Sacrifices the more interesting story.

[Quote] Anyway, while my pick is still Columbine,

A fantastic book that dispels myths and clearly explains why the massacre happened.

[quote]Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, which talks about murders in a fundamentalist Mormon branch

Andrew Garfield stars in the Hulu miniseries.

R16, that's when it takes place.

Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders

I just finished it last week... Terribly sad and gruesome. I couldn't put it down. I finished it in like two days.

[quote] was just another serial killer praying on women.

You yourself wrote an entire paragraph about the unusual aspects of the Bundy case and then conclude it was just another anodyne serial killer story? Makes no sense.

I remember enjoying Echoes in the Darkness but barely remember any details.

thank you

American Kingpin by Nick Bilton is a great true crime book if you like to read about technology related crimes.

Killer: A Journal of Murder. By Thomas Gaddis. About notorious serial killer Carl Panzram.

R30, I grew up in the vicinity of that story. For a short span I was pen pals with William Bradfield, Jr.

33 replies and no one mentions Helter Skelter?!!! It freaked me and all my teen friends out. A close second is In Cold Blood.

[R23], Chris Watts comes to mind.

R35 Read the OP not just the headline. All will be explained.

Thanks, R37, for pointing out my stupidity and doing it very kindly.

- R35

Fatal Vision as someone already mentioned is a really good one.

It’s funny, but I’ve read that book several times now and somehow I missed just how miserable Jeff and Colette’s life was. McGinniss quotes Jeff extensively describing his life with Colette, but it was only when I re-read the book a few months ago that it penetrated fully. He just kind of dragged her and their first born around like a U-Haul. He wanted to live his life as a single man from the college years on so he basically did.

Fictionalized but a page turner all the same

I really liked LAST CALL, by Elon Green.

As well as R40's choice, which I know is fictionalized but was interesting to me.

Fatal Vision by Joe McGuinness

Devil in the White City by Erik Larsson

Final Cut by Steven Bach about how Michael Cimino murdered United Artists

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. It's mainly about the disappearance and murder of young mother but there's a lot of detail about what it was like to live in Belfast in the 1970s. I thought the Irish-American Keefe was a little too credulous and understanding when it came to the sectarian violence but it's still very interesting.

Compulsion by Ira Levin. Fictionalized but compelling take on Leopold and Loeb gay teenage thrill killers.

Shanna Hogan wrote some great books: Picture Perfect (about Jodi Arias), Dancing With Death (about Marjorie Orbin), and The Stranger She Loved (about Dr. Martin MacNeill)

The Perfect Father by John Glatt. It's about Chris Watts and made Shanana look like a controlling, evil bitch.

R45, I haven’t read Glatt’s book, and Chris Watts is obviously about as vile as one can get…but I wouldn’t have lasted one day with his wife.

R15, agree on Fatal Vision. I first read it in high school in the 80s, then again this year. It holds up. Joe McGinnis was very unjustly pilloried by Janet Malcolm for his relationship with Jeffrey McDonald.

R43, I just started that one. Apparently it's going to be a Netflix series next month.

Embarrassingly, I seem to conflate McGinnis and Wambaugh… were they both accused of planting evidence?

I finally read Compulsion earlier this year and found it rather plodding and boring.

If you read Fatal Vision, get McGinniss' sequel, an e-book called Final Vision (which also became a tv movie in 2017), where he answers all the crazy theories and charges that he made errors that had come up in the aftermath of the publishing and miniseries of Fatal Vision.

Did McGinniss end up thinking that McDonald was guilty or not?

Not her best, but I really liked Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule. It was about a batshit doctor in Kansas City named Debora Green. When her husband filed for divorce, she slowly poisoned him with risin, and he almost died. Later, she set her house on fire with her three kids inside (only one managed to escape). Before she accepted a plea bargain, her trial strategy was to blame her dead 13 year old son for starting the fire.

If you like true crime AND 1960's / counterculture stuff, be sure to read these three excellent books:

The Unicorn's Secret: Murder in the Age of Aquarius by Steven Levy - about the murder of Holly Maddux by her truly evil boyfriend, Ira Einhorn, one of the founders of Earth Day.

For the Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman by Jonah Raskin - the reason I am including this in a thread about true crime is because of the way Abbie successfully adopted a new public identity for years and years-- in leftist circles! People don't know what they don't WANT to know. Fascinating story.

Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin and Its Aftermath by Tom Bates - paranoid hippies on the run after accidentally killing someone.

In His Garden by Leo Damore and I third "Until the Twelfth of Never by Bella Stumbo.

McGinniss was hired by Jeffrey MacDonald to write a book proving his innocence. He later became convinced that MacDonald was guilty and the book supported MacDonald's conviction.

My favorite genre after modern Presidential history. I've read, e.g., every book on the OJ case bar defense ones; every Jon Benet one; dozens of JFK assassination tomes; Lindbergh baby, Robert Marshall, Bundy, etc.

Without question my choice is "Fatal Vision" by Joe McGinniss. The definitive work on family-annihilator Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald.

Well, r35, I am not kind. You are stupid.

R53 I agree about Bitter Harvest. I did my High School English Literature project on this and several other books about crime

Killing For Company by Brian Masters, an account of the murders of serial killer Dennis Nilsen. It was a serious attempt to understand the psychology behind the killings and was very engrossing, if disturbing.

Autumn of Terror by Tom Cullen. All you need to know about Jack the Ripper.

You should check out the miniseries Des if you haven't seen it, r60

My recollection of Columbine - which left me depressed for weeks - is that Harris was psychopathic and Klebold an unstable and rageful borderline personality. And that it was the combination of those two disorders that produced the violence.

As a student in London in the 80s I was friends with a woman from North London and we once visited her mother for dinner, the mother was wracked with guilt as a young man had arrived at the shelter for homeless persons she worked at and she had not been able to accommodate him, I think due to lack of beds, and he ended up at Nilssen's home and was killed.

It's not a book but I'd say Pretty Woman. The depiction of prostitution really made an impression on me.

Yes, obviously you're not, R58. Have a blessed day.

R58 here, r66. I am very sorry. I really don't know WTH I got on such a high horse, especially as if I mentioned all the ways recently I have owned the opprobrium you would change your post, deservedly, to "Bless your heart." (Unless it's the same?)

Anyway, as I find myself often saying, "Don't mind me."

My top favorites (Fatal Vision, Evidence of Love, The 12th of Never, and The Stranger Beside Me) have all been named, so I'll give an honorary mention to Son of Grifter by Kent Walker - Sante Kimes' OTHER son.

It's a fascinating, behind the scenes look at a completely psychotic fantasist who even her closest family could not truly know.

I read a ton of Anne Rule true crime books a few winters ago. They all blurred together for me but were all interesting.

Another vote for Under the Banner of Heaven.

So many really good books!

I have not read Say Nothing but I remember Patrick Radden Keefe looking rather handsome.

I highly recommend it if you're interested in learning more about the conflict in Northern Ireland, r72. He manages to include a lot of information without becoming tedious or incomprehensible.

I read "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" straight-thru one day, which I never do (I'm a slow reader). Every little sound I heard while reading made me twitch. I just knew the GSK had escaped and was crawling through the window.

R62,

I have seen it. David Tennant was quite startling in the role.

I lived in London throughout the 90s, and Nilsen’s crimes were a recent memory. I had a friend who took crazy risks, getting stupefied on drink and going home with guys. He would wake up not knowing where he was. I was always scared he would end up coming to harm. No amount of nagging him made any difference. Thankfully he’s sober now.

Mary J Blige: The Making of a Star

I'm not the biggest fan of Ann Rule, mostly because of her gross inaccuracies in her Green River Killer book, but Small Sacrifices is a s good as a true crime book gets.

A few of my favorites have been listed as well, but I'll two more, one older and one more recent:

"Remembering Satan" by Lawrence Wright, the longtime New Yorker reporter. A grim, fascinating look at the ritual abuse/recovered memory phenomenon of the early '90s, told through the story of a sheriff's deputy in Olympia, Washington who was accused of ghastly crimes by several of his daughters. Novelistic.

"Chaos" by Tom O'Neill, about the Manson family murders with a particular focus on all the conspiracies that have swirled around possible connections between Manson and the CIA. O'Neill spent decades reporting this story on an off, he makes his own story part of the narrative, and somehow it all works. One of my favorite reads of the last couple years.

[quote]I'm not the biggest fan of Ann Rule, mostly because of her gross inaccuracies in her Green River Killer book

Green River, Running Red is exactly the reason I’m not her biggest fan.

I can't remember the title but it stayed with me. Club kids, one was murdered and chopped in pieces and I think he got away with it.I want to say it had some connection with Studio 54.

Ann Rule likes to lick the cops shitters to help her get details for her book. Normally that works out great for her. However, the truth is, the Green River Killer was able to kill a lot longer than he should have been simply because of the incompetence of the police.

On Club Kids. Little known fact: son of the novelist Paul Auster, Daniel Auster, was in the apartment at the time of the murder - he was 18 at the time, and he died of a drug overdose in 2022

[quote]Daniel’s role in the grisly slaying at Apartment 3K at the Riverbank West complex, however, has always been shrouded in mystery and little-known to the public. Daniel and Alig, who became known as the “Club Kid Killer,” had been lovers for a time before the Melendez murder, according to one of Alig’s former Club Kid friends, James St. James.

[quote] he truth is, the Green River Killer was able to kill a lot longer than he should have been simply because of the incompetence of the police

True for a majority of cases, not just this one.

What was wrong with Green River Running Red please?

Son: A Psychopath and His Victims by Jack Olsen. He has several good TC books, but this one stuck with me the most. About a serial rapist with major mommy issues.

In a rather different vein, Mr. Nice by Howard Marks, his memoir of life as an international marijuana/hash smuggler. Very gripping, reads like a thriller.

No worries, R67. I really appreciate your apology. We all have our not so great moments. I have had mine especially lately. Take care.

- R66

Jack Olsen is really good.

I do not need to read about true crime when I can stand inside my home and look outside to see true crime. Thank you very much.

R88, what do you read?

I really like a lot of Jeffrey Toobin’s non-fiction. Talk about deep-dives.

[quote]What was wrong with Green River Running Red please?

She spends an inordinate amount of time basically fellating the guy who just happened to be Sheriff when Ridgway was arrested and basically took credit for solving the case, even though most of the investigative work happened before he was in office. He also served a few terms in Congress (as a Republican, of course) whose platform was essentially "I caught the Green River Killer."

R80 The title was Disco Bloodbath, by James St. James.

R1 I came to say that. Still is my favorite true crime. Now his crimes seem so piddly and the fact he got executed is no big deal anymore either, but what a great book. Larry Schiller of course went on to do the JonBenet book.

No "Oh dear" for R23? Preying on women, not praying. I agree, "Small Sacrifices" is the best Ann Rule book.

R39 Oh yeah, I agree about Fatal Vision too. I think about that case a lot. I was watching some murder show and the cops had taken evidence and were giving it back. It reminded me of the valentines Jeff McDonald's kids made him, for some reason they wound up with McGinnis after the cops released things back, Jeff didn't want them, he didn't want the last gift his slaughtered kids had made him. Yes, he hired McGinnis to hang out with him during the trial and write a book that he was sure would exonerate, unfortunately, McGinnis slowly realized Jeff was guilty and a psychopath.

The Chris Watts book mentioned was also great, "My Daddy is a Hero" or whatever it was called. Yeah Sha'nann was a big pain in the ass. I've been on a Chris Lilley kick this week and started with "Angry Boys" and ended with "Ja'mie; Private School girl" and every time any adult called her "Jamie" instead of Ja'mie, it reminded me of Sha'nann and her stupid affectation with her name, but her parents just called her Shanann.

R94, Chris Lilley is the best! Which is the series where he plays the Asian skateboarder?

R95 Angry Boys! I just bought it. Tim and Jen Okazaki are the skater and his mom. Yes, he's a genius. And drama teacher Mr. G on "Summer Heights High" is perfect.

"Say you Love Satan" was another great one, with Ricky Kasso, who hanged himself in jail after being arrested for the murder.

Enjoy this PSA from S'mouse.