Greetings & Salutations Dear Readers!
Welcome to my *NEW* weekly series! Each week I’ll be featuring 10 Nonfiction Books with a common theme or subgenre. This week I’m featuring 10 titles all about TRUE CRIME.
True crime fascinates us because it’s true. True crime has never been more popular than it is today, just take a look at the many podcasts, TV shows, and documentaries dedicated to the genre. At its core, however, true crime is a type of nonfiction literature.
- When a Killer Calls: A Haunting Story of Murder, Criminal Profiling, and Justice in a Small Town by John E. Douglas – on sale 2/1/22 From John Douglas–the legendary FBI criminal profiler, #1 New York Times bestselling author, and inspiration for the Netflix show Mindhunter–comes a chilling journey inside the mind and crimes of Larry Gene Bell, one of the most dangerous serial killers Douglas confronted, and the desperate effort to identify and catch him.
- Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case by Joel Schwartz (on sale 2/22/22) is the explosive, first-ever insider’s account of the case that’s captivated millions – the murder of Betsy Faria and the wrongful conviction of her husband – told by Joel J. Schwartz, the defense attorney who fought for justice on behalf of Russel Faria, and New York Times bestselling author Charles Bosworth Jr.
- Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases by Paul Holes – available 4/26/22 From Paul Holes, the detective who found the Golden State Killer, Unmasked is a memoir that grabs its reader in a stranglehold and proves more fascinating than fiction and darker than any noir narrative.
- The Murder Gene: A True Story by Karen Spears Zacharias – on sale 5/10/22 As the soft-spoken, highly intelligent son of missionaries in Morganton, North Carolina, Luke Chang gave no indication of the killer he would become. But after hacking into a teacher’s computer at his school, a stint in the Marines was his only option. As a young recruit, Luke was taunted for being a virgin who didn’t cuss, drink, or smoke pot. That all changed when Luke met Casey Byrams, a fun-loving musician and fellow Marine from Cullman, Alabama. Their friendship set off a series of events that would eventually lead Luke to Pendleton, Oregon, where he brutally murdered nineteen-year-old Amyjane Brandhagen in August 2012.
- Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman – on sale 7/12/22 Before Charles Manson, there was Tony Costa-the serial killer of Cape Cod. 1969: The hippie scene is vibrant in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Long-haired teenagers roam the streets, strumming guitars and preaching about peace and love… and Tony Costa is at the center of it all.
- Golden Boy: A Murder Among the Manhattan Elite by John Glatt – PB on sale 7/26/22 In Golden Boy, author John Glatt tells the true story of Thomas Gilbert Jr., the handsome and charming New York socialite accused of murdering his father, a Manhattan millionaire and hedge fund founder.
- Deer Creek Drive: A Reckoning of Memory and Murder in the Mississippi Delta by Beverly Lowry – on sale 8/2/22 In 1948, in the most stubbornly Dixiefied corner of the Jim Crow south, society matron Idella Thompson was viciously murdered in her own home: stabbed at least 150 times and left facedown in one of the bathrooms. Her daughter, Ruth Dickins, was the only other person in the house. She told authorities a Black man she didn’t recognize had fled the scene, but no evidence of the man’s presence was uncovered. In Deer Creek Drive, Beverly Lowry–who was ten at the time of the murder and lived mere miles from the Thompsons’ home–tells a story of white privilege that still has ramifications today, and reflects on the brutal crime, its aftermath, and the ways it clarified her own upbringing in Mississippi
- A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy by Andy Kroll – on sale 9/6/22 A Death on W Street unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness, and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest DC and the most powerful voices in American media. It’s the story of an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars until his family decided that they had no choice but to defend his name and put an end to the cruel deceptions that surrounded his death.
- American Mother: The True Story of a Troubled Family, Motherhood, and the Cyanide Murders That Shook the World by Gregg Olsen – on sale 11/8/22 Gripping and heart-breaking, Gregg Olsen uncovers the shocking true story of a troubled family. He delves into a complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception, and the journey of the sweet curly-haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American Dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal.
- The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon’s Presidency by Matthew Krogh – available 12/27/22 (Soon to be a 5-part HBO series, starring Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux) The true story of The White House Plumbers, a secret unit inside Nixon’s White House, and their ill-conceived plans stop the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, and how they led to Watergate and the President’s demise.
Do you live in or near a town where a “true crime” happened?
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