True Crime

From classic accounts of legendary criminals to more recent headline-making crimes, these are the famous cases that every true crime reader will want to know more about.

Working on Summer Reading Book BINGO? Find more booklists to help at go.lincc.org/hvBINGObooks.

Updated May 19, 2026
L
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Happy Valley Library
This is your list in printable form. Simply print this page using your browser's print command.

True Crime

From classic accounts of legendary criminals to more recent headline-making crimes, these are the famous cases that every true crime reader will want to know more about.

Working on Summer Reading Book BINGO? Find more booklists to help at go.lincc.org/hvBINGObooks.

Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Tangled vines : power, privilege, and the Murdaugh family murders
Glatt, John
Paper Book
2024 EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FACT CRIME NOVEL In Tangled Vines, bestselling true crime author John Glatt reconstructs the rise of the prestigious Murdaugh family and the shocking double murder that led to the downfall of its patriarch, Alex Murdaugh. <...
Liliana's invincible summer : a sister's search for justice
Rivera Garza, Cristina
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK * "A searing account of grief and the quest to bring her sister's murderer to justice years after the fact" (The Boston Globe), from "one of Mexico's greatest living writers" (Jonathan Lethem)....
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...
Pulling the chariot of the sun : a memoir of a kidnapping
McCrae, Shane
Paper Book
Vulture's #1 Memoir of 2023 An unforgettable, "lyrical and poignant" (The Washington Post) memoir by an award-winning poet about being kidnapped from his Black father and raised by his white supremacist grandparents. When Shane McCrae was...
The Amish wife : unraveling the lies, secrets, and conspiracy that let a killer go free
Olsen, Gregg
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen solves a murder among the Amish and reveals the conspiracy to keep it a secret in a heartbreaking and horrifying true-crime story. In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman...
Framed : astonishing true stories of wrongful convictions
Grisham, John
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "The master of the legal thriller" (Associated Press) teams up with "the godfather of the innocence movement" (Texas Monthly) to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions. "Each of these stories is told with astonishing...
The Sullivanians : sex, psychotherapy, and the wild life of an American commune
Stille, Alexander
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE 2024 GOTHAM BOOK PRIZE The devolution of the Sullivan Institute, from psychoanalytic organization to insular, radical cult. In the middle of the Ozzie and Harriet 1950s, the birth control pill was introduced and a maverick...
Mistress of life and death : the dark journey of Maria Mandl, head overseer of the womens camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Eischeid, Susan J.
Paper Book
The first-ever biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, the highest-ranked woman in the Nazi killing machine and one of the few female perpetrators of the Holocaust. With new details and previously unpublished photographs, this gripping, unflinching examination charts her transformation...
The lost tomb : and other real-life stories of bones, burials, and murder
Preston, Douglas J.
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTELLER * A GOODREADS READER'S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST From the #1 bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God, a jaw-dropping discovery of an Egyptian tomb opens up a slew of archaeological mysteries and deadly tales...
Behold the monster : confronting America's most prolific serial killer
Lauren, Jillian
Paper Book
Jillian Lauren had no idea what she was getting into when she wrote her first letter to prolific serial killer Samuel Little. All she knew was her research had led her to believe he was good for far more murders than the three for which he had been convicted. While the two exchanged dozens of...
Gator country : deception, danger, and alligators in the Everglades
Renner, Rebecca
Paper Book
A New York Times Editors' Choice "Delivers everything its title promises and much more." - NPR "Remarkable... Every species, and every person who fights for its continued existence, deserves a book like this." -- The New York Times
The King of Diamonds : the search for the elusive Texas jewel thief
Pederson, Rena
Paper Book
The thrilling story of a brazen, uncatchable jewel thief who roamed the homes of Dallas high society--and a window into the dark secrets lurking beneath the surface of the Swinging Sixties. As a string of high profile jewel thefts went unsolved during the Swinging Sixties, the...
Anansi's gold : the man who looted the west, outfoxed Washington, and swindled the world
Yeebo, Yepoka
Paper Book
"Catch Me if You Can meets Coming to America in this epic tale of one of the greatest scammers of all time."-NPR Shortlisted for the Mark Lynton History Prize * A New York Times Notable Book of the Year * A New Yorker, NPR, Newsweek...
A thread of violence : a story of truth, invention, and murder
O'Connell, Mark
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the award-winning author comes the gripping tale of one of the most scandalous murderers in modern Irish history, at once a propulsive work of true crime and an act of literary subversion. "A...
Rabbit heart : a mother's murder, a daughter's story
Ervin, Kristine S.
Paper Book
A Washington Post "Most Anticipated" Book of the Year . A New York Times "Must Read" . Shortlisted for the Reading the West Book Awards . Finalist for the Clara Johnson Award For readers of My Dark Places and The Fact of a Body, a beautiful, brutal memoir...
Dear sister : a memoir of secrets, survival, and unbreakable bonds
Horton, Michelle
Paper Book
In this "incendiary" memoir, a woman fights the criminal justice system to release her incarcerated sister after she kills her longtime abuser (Publishers Weekly). In September 2017, a knock on the door upends Michelle Horton's life: she learns that...
Long haul : hunting the highway serial killers
Figliuzzi, Frank
Paper Book
"A true-crime masterpiece." --Don Winslow A Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award Finalist (Best Fact Crime) From the FBI's former assistant director, a shocking journey to the dark side of America's highways, revealing the FBI Highway Serial Killings Initiative's hunt for the long...
Murderland : crime and bloodlust in the time of serial killers
Fraser, Caroline
Paper Book
An Edgar Award winner for True Crime * A National Bestseller * A Washington Post Notable Book * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Forbes, NPR, Vulture, Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, Newsweek, New York...
The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster
Puhak, Shelley
Paper Book
A March Indie Next Pick * A Barnes & Noble Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026 * A Barnes & Noble Reads Best Book of February 2026 From the author of the national bestseller The Dark Queens, an incandescent work of true crime and feminist history about...
On my honor : the secret history of the Boy Scouts of America
Christensen, Kim
Paper Book
From a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, the shocking rise and fall of an American institution. Since its founding in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America has been the nation's premier youth organization, espousing self-reliance and honor. More than 100 million...
The house of my mother : a daughter's quest for freedom
Franke, Shari
Paper Book
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"" open="" /> "" open="" /> "Heart-wrenchingly personal...dizzying." --Rolling Stone"" open="" /> "" open="" /> From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral...
Killer story : the truth behind true crime television
St. Amant, Claire
Paper Book
Serial killers. Homicidal spouses. Sociopathic criminals. Claire St. Amant has met them all. She spent nearly a decade in network television chasing the biggest true crime stories in the country, including the murder of Chris Kyle, plastic surgeon turned murder-for-hire suspect Thomas Michael Dixon,...
The secret history of the rape kit : a true crime story
Kennedy, Pagan
Paper Book
Marty Goddard dreamed up a new crime-solving tool--a kit that could help rape survivors fight for justice. This thrilling investigation tells the story of the troubled, heroic woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics, and then vanished into obscurity. "Astonishing . ....
The Fairbanks Four : murder, injustice, and the birth of a movement
O'Donoghue, Brian
Paper Book
One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice. October, 1997. Late one night in Fairbanks, Alaska, a passerby finds a teenager unconscious, collapsed on the edge of the road, beaten nearly beyond recognition. Two days later, he dies in the...
Find this list online

https://librarian.syndetics.com/syndeticsunbound/lp/798.1161/list/3718

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