Looking for some good True Crime in time for Halloween?

Over the summer I also spent a lot of time reading Historical True Crime books for an article I wrote for Library Journal. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to research and write, but it was fun. For a while. And then I started to get creeped out by all the True Crime. You can only read so much of that stuff at a time, even if it's set far back in history.

Here's the article:

Prior Misconduct: Historical True Crime

And here's my behind-the-scenes findings and recommendations:

Everything you read on Jack the Ripper is just creepy, creepy, creepy. It doesn't matter what part of the story is being told or when the book was written. I picked up one of the older books on that killer and it flipped open to a photograph of one of the victims--not good. Not books you want to leave laying around where children could peruse them.

I read Kate Colquhoun's Murder in the First-Class Carriage: The First Victorian Railway Killing before I started work on the article, and really enjoyed it on its own merit;

The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
by Paul Collins

Paul Collins's The Murder of the Century was perhaps my favorite book of this entire group. Easy to read, fascinating stuff, just the right amount of gory. Collins is one of my favorite nonfiction authors (who writes on a wide variety of subjects); do give him a try.

Thumbs up also on J. North Conway's awesome The Big Policeman: The Rise and Fall of America's First, Most Ruthless, and Greatest Detective and Carrie Hagen's We Is Got Him: The Kidnapping That Changed America.

Comments

[Venta]

Hey, CR! I also spent the summer reading true crime, but I read (or many times reread) the "classics" in true crime (e.g., In Cold Blood; The Executioner's Song; Helter Skelter). I started my reading journey with The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer. This was one scary book. I'm worried about reading anything about John Wayne Gacy...

Also, loved your article. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I realized that we need an RA book on true crime when I was at the library checking out "The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" when the librarian turned to the library assistant, held up the book, and said, "We should let so & so know about this book."

[Teresa]

I hadn't heard about that Paul Collins book. His book on the Shakespeare first folios was terrific, and I've been wanting to read more of his books, so I'll be looking for that one for sure.

[Citizen Reader]

Venta,
Oh, the True Crime classics. I was BLOWN AWAY when I finally read Helter Skelter. What a book--Vincent Bugliosi is a super-talent. Have you ever read his recent-ish book about how George W. Bush should be prosecuted for murder? LOVE Bugliosi.

See, librarians ALWAYS know "a so-and-so who needs" certain books. We totally need an RA guide for True Crime--and I think a certain someone who spent the last summer reading it should consider writing it. Hint hint!

Teresa,
I love Paul Collins too. I think he's written one about his kid having autism, which I haven't yet read, and also a great book about Thomas Paine and what happened to his body after he died. Forget the title but will go look it up--ah yes, "The Trouble with Tom." And DO give this one a try. Pretty interesting stuff.

[Venta]

Hint received, CR! I'll get in touch!