The Stranger Beside Me
2022 (First published: 1980)
In 1971, while working the late-shift at a Seattle crisis clinic, true-crime writer Ann Rule struck up a friendship with a sensitive, charismatic young coworker: Ted Bundy. Three years later, eight young women disappeared in seven months. But she had no idea that the “Ted” the police were seeking was the same Ted who had become her close friend. Bundy eventually confessed to killing at least thirty-six women.
640 Pages
5/5
271
Too Late to Say Goodbye
A True Story of Murder and Betrayal
2007 (First published: 2007)
Idyllic life in Atlanta's wealthy suburbs turned into jealous rage, as the murders of two beautiful, successful women were made to look like suicides. Perhaps Ann Rule's best book so far with detailed descriptions of cutting-edge forensic techniques.
480 Pages
4/5
287
The Perfect Victim
The True Story of the Girl in the Box
1989 (First published: 1988)
In 1977 twenty-year-old Colleen Stan left home to hitchhike from Oregon to California. Seven years later she emerged from hell, the victim of a bizarre and extraordinary crime. This is Colleen's incredible true story, told by the determined young district attorney who prosecuted the man who had forced her to endure years of sexual perversion.
400 Pages
4/5
282
Bloodline
2021
In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a childhood on the move and chasing the screams and swirls of news-rich city life, she’s eager to settle down. Lilydale’s motto, “Come Home Forever,” couldn’t be more inviting. And yet, something is off in the picture-perfect village.
347 Pages
3/5
278
The Quarry Girls
2022
Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.Heather and Brenda have a secret. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But then their friend disappears?the second girl to vanish in a week.
335 Pages
3/5
437
The Executioner's Song
2012 (First published: 1979)
The Executioner's Song is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. He robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. And that fight for the right to die is what made him famous.
1126 Pages
5/5
276
The French Connection
A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy
2003 (First published: 1969)
In this true, absorbing and often frightening documentary, Detectives Edward Egan and Salvatore Grosso almost stumble into a case of heroin smuggling that ultimately leads to the seizure of the largest cache of heroin ever picked up in New York. Crime syndicate heads in Canada and France are involved.
336 Pages
4/5
348
In Cold Blood
1994 (First published: 1966)
A masterpiece from the author of "Breakfast at Tiffanies". With this thriller Capote invented a new genre. It reconstructs the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote describes the investigations, capture, trial and execution of the killers in harrowing, yet empathic prose.
343 Pages
5/5
339
Helter Skelter
1995 (First published: 1974)
Helter Skelter is the true Story of The Manson Murders. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the notorious 1969 murder of Sharon Tate, Rosemary La Bianca and other by Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the Manson Family. It is the best-selling true crime book in history.
736 Pages
5/5
255