True Crime Recommendations

By the way, youtube has a short series on Albert Fish. There's several, but one is better than the others. That was one weird dude . . . kill and eat a twelve-year old girl, then send a note to her parents telling them how delicous she was. Yyyyyyeah.

You must read Sebastian Junger's A Death in Belmont.

Not only is this slim book one of the best true crime stories I've read, it's one of the best, period. Junger is a FANTASTIC writer, one of the best working today, in my opinion. In this book he elevates the entire genre.

Read Fatal Vision by Joe McGinness. It's a great book about how Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald was accused of killing his family (his wife and two young daughters). It's one of the best true crime books I've ever read, and I used to read a lot of crime.

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, or one of her other books.

alleycat said:

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, or one of her other books.

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I also liked this book. I'm not a huge fan of this genre, but there are some books that are very good regardless of how they are categorized. This is one of them, in my opinion.

Also:

The Poet and the Murderer, by Simon Worrall. UNBELIEVABLE book. Emily Dickinson, forgery, mormons, and bombs. Do I have to say more?

I'm most interested in murder within families -- for example, people who kill their spouses and parents who kill their children -- and murderous youth, as well as greed murders.

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Rule's Small Sacrifices is excellent.

Jerry Bledsoe's Death Sentence and Before He Wakes are about family murders.

All the Ann Rule books are excellent. The ones already mentioned are good. I also recommend Everything She Ever Wanted, And Never Let Her GO, and Dead by Sunset. Her work never disappoints.

I second the recommendation for Small Sacrifices, which is truly heartbreaking.

Interestingly, Caleb Carr COMPLETELY ripped off Small Sacrifices in his follow-up to The Alienist -- I can never remember the title of that second one, which wasn't nearly as good. I really thought it was outrageous. It's one thing to base a story on a real event in history, but in this case I felt that he took these people's tragedy and re-used it -- almost verbatim, in the case of the courtroom scenes -- in a wholly different context, purely for entertainment. I don't remember any outcry about this, but I personally found that offensive.

I used to have two shelves packed full of true crime books until I decided they were warping my mind and decided to get rid of all of them ... except the very best. I kept everything by Jack Olsen. My favorite of his is Misbegotten Son, about serial killer Arthur Shawcross. Funny thing is, I don't usually like reading about serial killers, but Olsen's handling of the story makes it fascinating. Another interesting one is Son: A Psychopath and his Victims, about a serial rapist and his dysfunctional family.

Others I kept:

From Cradle to Grave, by Joyce Egginton, about Mary Beth Tinning, who killed 8 of her nine children, one by one. Good writing, incredible story.

Precious Victims, by Don W. Weber and Charles Bosworth, Jr., dealing with Paula Sims, who killed her two infant girls -- at different times -- claiming both times that a man had kidnapped them from her home at gunpoint.

Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth, about Andrew Cunanan and his cross-country killing spree.

As for historical cases, my favorite is A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight by Victoria Lincoln, who as a child knew Lizzie in her old age. Lincoln dissects the Borden family, the pre-WWI society of Fall River, and the murder case. I've heard her accused of being "fanciful," but the book is great reading.

Also: Crippen: The Mild Murderer, by Tom Cullen. Good account of the famous case where a mild-mannered quack murdered his wife, cut her up and buried her in the basement, then so thoroughly bungled his cover-up and escape that it would almost be comical if it weren't a matter of a woman's death.

At the moment I'm in the middle of Fire Lover by Joseph Wambaugh, about an arson investigator who was also a serial arsonist. First new true-crime I've read in a long time. A real page-turner, and I mean that in a good way.

I've read and can recommend all the books the other posters have mentioned, except the Sebastian Junger one, which I don't doubt is good but I haven't read it. I know from The Perfect Storm that he's a great writer, but the blurb on the back of A Death in Belmont seems to suggest that it concerns a case where someone is wrongfully accused, and I won't read those. Hey, some people read fantasy; I read (or used to) true crime books where they catch the bad guy/girl. I see the phrase "miscarriage of justice" anywhere on the cover and I put the book back on the shelf.

I second (third?) the Ann Rule recommendation and I usually like Jack Olsen too.

For crimes within the family -

"Bitter Blood" Jerry Bledsoe
"A Deadly Silence" Dena Kleiman
"Black Widow" R McDonald
"Cruel Doubt" Joe McGuiness
"Mockingbird" Gregg Olsen (this is more about MSBP)
"Murder at 75 Birch" Richardt Pienciak

For families that kill, the story of the Milat Family and the story of Kath Pettingill's family. Milat was a serial-killer in Australia, but it would seem that he comes from a family where crime is a pastime. "The Matriarch" by Adrian Tame is an amazing book. The entire family is twisted.

For a take on how it is to be on the other side of crime, "Victim" by Gary Kinder is interesting. It's not a family crime, the victims are in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the mother is murdered and the son survives. It is his story, as well as the family that remains, picking up the pieces. It is well worth reading.

Re: Fatal Vision

Was just reading The Journalist and the Murderer, which explores how Joe McGinnis completely misled Macdonald in writing Fatal Vision.

The book looks at what the role of modern journalists is, and how far a journalist should ethically go to get a story. McGinnis apparently knew Macdonald was guilty, but continued writing him letters -- even after he was convicted -- expressing the fact that he thought the trial was rigged. His purpose was simply to keep Macdonald talking so he could use the information in Fatal Vision. He even refused to let Macdonald read an advance copy of the book.

Years later Macdonald took McGinnis to court -- and won.

Ann Rule - If You Really Loved Me: A True Story of Desire and Murder
Father frames his own 14 year old daughter for the murder of his wife.

Every Mother's Nightmare - The Killing of James Bulger by Mark Thomas about the 10 and 11 year old who killed the toddler in England.

Prescription for Murder : The True Story of Harold Shipman (Paperback)
by Brian Whittle (Author), Jean Ritchie (Author) "

Blood and Money

by Tommy Thompson