BVBook Verdict

Nonfiction

True Crime That Grips

Real cases told with rigour, not just sensation.

14 books · ranked

  1. 1

    In Cold Blood

    Truman Capote · 1966 · True Crime

    A Kansas farm-family murder reconstructed in novelistic detail; the book that created the true-crime genre.

  2. 2

    Killers of the Flower Moon

    David Grann · 2017 · True Crime

    The murders of wealthy Osage people and the birth of the FBI; a riveting, important investigation.

  3. 3

    I'll Be Gone in the Dark

    Michelle McNamara · 2018 · True Crime

    One writer's obsessive hunt for the Golden State Killer; haunting and meticulously reported.

  4. 4

    Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

    John Berendt · 1994 · True Crime

    A killing and the eccentric world of Savannah, Georgia; atmospheric and richly told.

  5. 5

    Say Nothing

    Patrick Radden Keefe · 2018 · True Crime

    A disappearance during the Troubles opens onto a whole history of violence and memory; superb narrative nonfiction.

  6. 6

    A Mother's Reckoning

    Sue Klebold · 2016 · True Crime

    On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In a matter of minutes, they killed twelve students and a teacher and wounded twenty-four oth

  7. 7

    All Dressed in White

    Mary Higgins Clark · 2015 · True Crime

    Five years ago, Amanda Pierce was excitedly preparing to marry her college sweetheart in a lavish ceremony at The Grand Victoria Hotel in Palm Beach. Then, with their guests and families on site, Aman

  8. 8

    Beyond the Body Farm

    William M. Bass · 2007 · True Crime

    There is no scientist in the world like Dr. Bill Bass. A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition—three acres of land o

  9. 9

    Billion dollar whale

    Tom (Wall Street Journal reporter) Wright · 2018 · True Crime

    Two Pulitzer-finalist Wall Street Journal reporters document the true story of how a young social climber orchestrated one of history's biggest financial heists, exposing the secret nexus of elite wea

  10. 10

    Black mass

    Dick Lehr · 2001 · True Crime

    John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the tough streets of South Boston. Decades later in the mid-1970s, they met again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston

  11. 11

    Cape May Court House

    Lawrence Schiller · 2002 · True Crime

    No one in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was surprised when Eric Thomas, a popular young doctor, sued Ford Motor Company for the wrongful death of his pregnant wife, Tracy. The accident they were i

  12. 12

    Catch and Kill

    Ronan Farrow · 2018 · True Crime

    In this newly updated edition of the “meticulous and devastating” (Associated Press) account of violence and espionage that spent months on the New York Times Bestsellers list, Ronan Farrow exposes se

  13. 13

    Cosa Nostra

    John Dickie · 2004 · True Crime

    From the mafia's origins in the 1860s to its current tense relationship with the Berlusconi government, this is a vivid and gripping history of the Sicilian Mafia's inner sanctum.

  14. 14

    Dead by Sunset

    Ann Rule · 1995 · True Crime

    The first 464 pages of this book are standard Ann Rule. A beautiful, brilliant attorney marries a psychopath and suffers dreadfully for her choice of mate. She bears him three beautiful, brilliant lit

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