Reading... Who likes true crime related genre?

14 years ago

I am a big fan. I recently read John Grisham's The Innocent Man: Murder & Injustice in a Small Town and thought it was excellent. It is JG's first non-fiction book about 2 men who were arrested, convicted & served over 10 yrs in prison for the rape & murder of a woman in Ada, OK. They were eventually exonerated thru DNA testing & assisted by The Innocence Project.

One of these 2 men, Dennis Fritz wrote his own book Journey towards Justice that details his imprisonment & his fight for justice. I just finished reading it & found it to be very compelling & interesting. Very scary when justice goes awry.

I have another book to read that involves yet another murder trial in Ada OK prosecuted by the same overzealous DA Bill Peterson: The Dreams of Ada . It was actually the first one written & is authored by Robert Mayer.

Has anyone else read any of these 3? Anyone have any other recommendations along these lines?

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Comments (16)

linda_in_iowa
14 years ago
I am an Ann Rule fan. I buy her paperbacks.
alisande
14 years ago
I used to read it, but not so much in recent years for some reason. Ann Rule was a favorite of mine too. It was fascinating to read the story of how she knew Ted Bundy and liked him so much that she wanted to fix up her daughter with him.......

That's the way I remember it, anyway. I know she worked with him and found it impossible at first to believe he could be a serial killer.
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bee0hio
Original Author
14 years ago
I've read Ann Rule's books.... really like them. I remember the one she wrote about Ted Bundy & yes she really liked him... worked right beside him on night shift at a call-in hotline. SCARY!!!!

Another I recall was a lady physician who poisoned her husband with caster beans & also burned down their house, but children were killed instead of him, iirc.
alisande
14 years ago
I also remember a book about the airline pilot who put his wife's body through a wood chipper. Maybe that's why I stopped reading true crime! :-)
terilyn
14 years ago
I used to read Ann Rule, now, if I want a true crime fix I will watch an episode of Snapped!
littlebit_gw
14 years ago
Love reading true crime. Just finished an old Ann Rule.
sheesh
14 years ago
Try Erik Larson's "The Devil In The White City" about the Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a simultaneous serial murderer. Loved it.
sushipup1
14 years ago
Sherrmann, I loved that book, too. I even found a website with lots of pictures from the Expo that helped me imagine it all. Try googling 1893 Chicago Expo pictures. If I can find it (too late tonight), I'll post a link. I now have, but not yet started, Larson's next book about pre-war Berlin.

I don't read too many true-crime books, but I love the police-procedural-style mysteries. Anything by Michael Connelly is tops on my list. Many of the stories are based on real police cases, too, since he was a police-reporter before he started his books.
pammyfay
14 years ago
Ann Rule's "Last Dance, Last Chance" (which contains a few true-crime stories) is good.

"Devil in the White City" has been in my to-be-read stack for a while. Someday ...

I also Tivo a few "48 Hours"-type crime shows on TV.
(I once looked at what I had stored up on my Tivo and thought, gee, what would people assume about me when they came in to claim my body and clean out my home?!)

If you can find any of Edna Buchanan's 2 early books -- "Never Let Them See You Cry" and "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face" -- those are great. (There's also "Carr," about a rapist/killer.)

She won a Pulitzer for breaking-news reporting (crime) for the Miami Herald. Then started writing a string of crime fiction books.
alisande
14 years ago
Sushipup, thanks for recommending Michael Connelly. I've never read him, but after seeing your post I ordered a used copy of The Poet. I'll look for the Harry Bosch series at my library's used book sale. I like police procedurals too.
sushipup1
14 years ago
Alisande, try to read them in order if possible, because Harry does have a personal life that's woven into the stories. And The Lincoln Lawyer (great movie, too) is an offshoot. There are now two or three Lincoln Lawyer books.
alisande
14 years ago
Thanks, I'll do that. His website probably has a list of them in order.
ghoghunter
14 years ago
I love Michael Connelly books too especially the Lincoln Lawyer and Also the Harry Bosch series. I did read Ann Rule but that was a long time ago. I think her best was the Ted Bundy story.
Joann
susanjf_gw
14 years ago
what about truman capote's "in cold blood"? (also a movie)

in searching that, found this site...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://thehairpin.com/2012/03/really-good-books-about-real-murder
vee78910
14 years ago
I worked in the criminal court system for nearly 30 years and worked with the attorneys on some truly fascinating cases. Now that I'm retired I still like to read about true crime, especially Ann Rule. It still just amazes me what some people can do to others.
marilyn_c
14 years ago
I used to read it almost exclusively. I got started because there were some books written about some famous Houston murders. The Cop that Wouldn't Quit, Cold Kill, and one about a wealthy family whose daughter was a socialite (and showed horses) and her father believed she was murdered by her husband, a prominent doctor and so he had him murdered. I vaguely knew of some of the people in it from horse show circles, years back. Jack Olsen wrote a lot of true crime too.

I finally quit reading it when some of it got so gruesome that I couldn't get the pictures of the depravity out of my mind. I had to quit.

Reading... Who likes true crime related genre?

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