Bad Seeds: True Crime

Not all seeds grow beautiful flowers! Check out some of these stories of real-life criminals, grifters, cult leaders, con artists, thieves, and murderers. These books range from mild to intense - please choose with care. Plant a seed, read!

Updated May 11, 2026
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Hype : how scammers, grifters, and con artists are taking over the internet--and why we're following
Bluestone, Gabrielle
Paper Book
"Hype is the best kind of nonfiction: juicy, sharp, savage and wildly entertaining, with a celebrity behaving badly on every page. What more could you want?" -Cat Marnell, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Murder Your Life From former Vice...
Furious hours : murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee
Cep, Casey N.
Paper Book
ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019 NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY Time, LitHub, Vulture, Glamour, O Magazine, Town and Country, Suspense Magazine, Inside Hook New York Times Best Seller   "Compelling...
The Monsters We Make: Murder, Obsession, and the Rise of Criminal Profiling
Corbett, Rachel.
Paper Book
Criminal profiling--the delicate art of collecting and deciphering the psychological "fingerprints" of the monsters among us--holds an almost mythological status in pop culture. But what exactly is it, does it work, and why is the American public so entranced by it? What do we gain, and endanger,...
Catch and kill : lies, spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators
Farrow, Ronan
Paper Book
In this instant New York Times bestselling account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost. Inspiration for the HBO Max streaming...
The art thief : a true story of love, crime, and a dangerous obsession
Finkel, Michael
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century * "The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing."--The New Yorker A...
Death in the jungle : murder, betrayal, and the lost dream of Jonestown
Fleming, Candace
Paper Book
How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious cults in American history. A YALSA...
Crimes of the centuries : the cases that changed us
Hunt, Amber
Paper Book
A fascinating pop-history dive into the stories behind the incredibly impactful crimes--both infamous and little-known--that have shaped the legal system as we know it. When asked why true crime is so in vogue, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Amber Hunt always...
Chase darkness with me : how one true-crime writer started solving murders
Jensen, Billy
Paper Book
Have you ever wanted to solve a murder? Gather the clues the police overlooked? Put together the pieces? Identify the suspect? Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common...
The feather thief : beauty, obsession, and the natural history heist of the century
Johnson, Kirk W.
Paper Book
As heard on NPR's This American Life "Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air "One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime...
Say nothing : a true story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * From the author of Empire of Pain--a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One...
A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides
Pelicot, Gisele
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A rousing feminist manifesto." - The New York Times Book Review "Staggering . . . a lyrical book about monstrous events, a compelling exploration of what it feels like to hold two existences in your brain at once." -...
The trial of Lizzie Borden : a true story
Robertson, Cara
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY BOOK AWARD In Cara Robertson's "enthralling" book, The Trial of Lizzie Borden, "the reader is to serve as judge and jury" (The New York Times). Based on twenty years of research and recently unearthed evidence, this true crime...
Practice to deceive
Rule, Ann.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author and Queen of True Crime Ann Rule delivers another gripping true-crime story-this time a shattering case of Christmastime murder off the coast of Washington State, with a shocking amount of drama, greed, sex, and scandal and no shortage of suspects. ...
The 57 bus
Slater, Dashka
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller Stonewall Book Award Winner A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the 21st Century (So Far) The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you...
My friend Anna : the true story of the fake heiress
Williams, Rachel DeLoache
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Sex and the City meets Bad Blood and Catch Me if You Can in this riveting true crime memoir that tells the astonishing firsthand story of Anna Delvey--the...

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