True Crime

Updated April 19, 2023
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
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...
Helter skelter : the true story of the Manson murders
Bugliosi, Vincent.
Paper Book
In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually...
The poisoner's handbook : murder and the birth of forensic medicine in Jazz Age New York
Blum, Deborah
Paper Book
Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum follows New York City's first forensic scientists to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder. Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of...
The road to Jonestown : Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
Guinn, Jeff
Paper Book
2018 Edgar Award Finalist--Best Fact Crime By the New York Times bestselling author of Manson, the comprehensive, authoritative, and tragic story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre--the largest murder-suicide in American history. ...
The stranger beside me
Rule, Ann.
Paper Book
A new edition of the iconic, best-selling account of America's most fascinating serial killer, "perhaps the most unnerving true-crime book ever published" (Victoria Beale, The New Yorker). In 1971, while working the late-shift at a Seattle crisis clinic, true-crime writer Ann...
The devil in the white city : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America
Larson, Erik
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century Two...
For the Thrill of It : Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago
Baatz, Simon.
Paper Book
It was a crime that shocked the nation, a brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had first met several years earlier, and their friendship had blossomed into a love affair....
The innocent man : murder and injustice in a small town
Grisham, John.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES * "Both an American tragedy and [Grisham's] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true."--Entertainment Weekly John Grisham's first work of...
Lost girls : an unsolved American mystery
Kolker, Robert
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller Now a Netflix film The bestselling account of the lives of five young women whose fates converged in the perplexing case of the Long Island Serial Killer. Now updated, with a new afterword by the author.  "Rich, tragic . . . monumental.....
The monster of Florence : a true story
Preston, Douglas J.
CD
In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), New York Times-bestselling author Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy. Unabridged. 7 CDs.
American fire : love, arson, and life in a vanishing land
Hesse, Monica
Paper Book
The arsons started on a cold November midnight and didn't stop for months. Night after night, the people of Accomack County waited to see which building would burn down next, regarding each other at first with compassion, and later suspicion. Vigilante groups sprang up, patrolling the rural...
I'll be gone in the dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer
McNamara, Michelle
Paper Book
THE BASIS FOR THE MAJOR 6-PART HBO® DOCUMENTARY SERIES #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post | Maureen Corrigan, NPR | Paste | Seattle Times | Entertainment Weekly | Esquire | Slate | Buzzfeed | Jezebel | Philadelphia Inquirer | Publishers Weekly |...
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
Capote, Truman
Paper Book
An account of the senseless murder of a Kansas farm family and the search for the killers.
A killer by design : murderers, mindhunters, and my quest to decipher the criminal mind
Burgess, Ann Wolbert
Paper Book
Written by the forensic nurse who transformed the way the FBI profiles and catches serial killers, this thought-provoking book takes an intimate look at the creation of the Behavioral Science Unit-the inspiration for Hulu's Mastermind documentary. In the 1970s, the...
The third rainbow girl : the long life of a double murder in Appalachia
Eisenberg, Emma Copley
Paper Book
*** A NEW YORK TIMES "100 Notable Books of 2020" *** A stunning, complex narrative about the fractured legacy of a decades-old double murder in rural West Virginia--and the writer determined to put the pieces back together.   In...
The good girls : an ordinary killing
Faleiro, Sonia
Paper Book
By the award-winning writer of Beautiful Thing, The Good Girls is a masterly inquest into how the mysterious deaths of two teenage girls shone a light into the darkest corners of a nation. On a summer night in 2014, Padma and Lalli went missing from Katra Sadatganj, an eye...
Portrait of a killer : Jack the Ripper--case closed
Cornwell, Patricia Daniels.
Paper Book
The number-one New York Times-bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell is known the world over for her brilliant storytelling, the courage of her characters, and the state-of-the-art forensic methods they employ. In this headline-making new work of nonfiction, Cornwell turns her...
Midnight in the garden of good and evil : a Savannah story
Berendt, John
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city--now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author The basis for the upcoming Broadway musical, coming in 2025! "Elegant and wicked . . . might be...
Death in Mud Lick : a coal country fight against the drug companies that delivered the opioid epidemic
Eyre, Eric
Paper Book
A New York Times Critics' Top Ten Book of the Year * 2021 Edgar Award Winner Best Fact Crime * A Lit Hub Best Book of The Year From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the smallest newspaper ever to win the prize in the investigative reporting category, an...
American serial killers : the epidemic years 1950-2000
Vronsky, Peter
Paper Book
Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the American "Golden Age" (1950-2000).   With books like Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers and Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky has established himself as...
Missoula : rape and the justice system in a college town
Krakauer, Jon.
Paper Book
From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana -- stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rape Missoula, Montana, is a typical college...
Empire of sin : a story of sex, jazz, murder, and the battle for modern New Orleans
Krist, Gary.
Paper Book
From bestselling author Gary Krist, a vibrant and immersive account of New Orleans' other civil war, at a time when commercialized vice, jazz culture, and endemic crime defined the battlegrounds of the Crescent City        Empire of Sin re-creates the...
Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
Grann, David
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, "one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."--New York...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.