ufo_tofu
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« on: July 04, 2011, 04:03:36 PM » |
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So, I've recently become interested in true crime books. It started with In Cold Blood, which I've taught for several years. Then, I read and loved David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and I'm about to buy his other book, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood about (as I understand it) the drug industry in Baltimore. I've also really enjoyed Jessica Stern's Denial: A Memoir of Terror, Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook, and Larson's Devil in the White City.
Seems like there are a lot of lurid paperbacks in this genre, so I'm interested if anyone has any recommendations. I particularly like long, dense works like Capote's and Simon's. Any suggestions?
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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whatsherknuckle
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« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2011, 04:44:38 PM » |
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Have you read Thunderstruck by Erik Larson? It is not as good as The Devil in the White City, but still excellent. I also liked The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale.
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« Last Edit: July 04, 2011, 04:45:30 PM by whatsherknuckle »
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ufo_tofu
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« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2011, 05:30:18 PM » |
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Have you read Thunderstruck by Erik Larson? It is not as good as The Devil in the White City, but still excellent. I also liked The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi and The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale.
Thanks Whats! I have read Thunderstruck and quite liked it (although I agree with you that it wasn't quite as good as Devil) but I'm not familiar with the other two. I'm adding them to my goodreads 'to read' shelf right now! |
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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mystictechgal
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One step at a time
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« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2011, 05:51:08 PM » |
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Helter Skelter was the first one to come to mind.
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If a pouting pluot ploughman planted pluots in a plot, and the plot were ploughed on Pluto, would his pluot ploy play out?
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detritivore
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« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2011, 06:49:57 PM » |
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A long time ago when I was interested in serial killers I liked Anne Rule's Stranger Beside Me.
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paddington_bear
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« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2011, 08:07:53 PM » |
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I just finished Hampton Sides' Hellhound on his Trail, about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the manhunt and capture (and then capture again) of James Earl Ray. Very, very interesting and well written, I thought.
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ufo_tofu
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« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2011, 09:24:44 PM » |
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Oooh! Good ones all! I've never read Helter Skelter but it's a classic of the genre! I've heard good things about Hellhounds in reviews too. Not familiar with Stranger, but I will admit to a interest in serial killers and psychopaths! I'm adding all these to my 'to read' shelf - thanks!
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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gimpnik
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« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2011, 10:15:35 PM » |
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If you think you might enjoy some scholarly history along with your true crime, I recommend The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cline Cohen.
And I second Helter Skelter.
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aliasme
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« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2011, 07:23:15 AM » |
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A long time ago when I was interested in serial killers I liked Anne Rule's Stranger Beside Me.
This one is probably the best of Rule's work. Likely due to its more personal nature. On Bundy and related killers, Robert Keppel's _The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt the Green River Killer_ is a very interesting variation on the genre. Keppel was a lead profiler for the FBI and got an interesting offer from Bundy (then on Death Row, all appeals ended, I believe) to provide "insight" into another killer. Keppel obviously also tried to get Bundy to talk about himself, and there's a lot of "well, here's how I would do it..." kind of talk. John Douglas, another former FBI profiler, has written at least three books. Mind Hunter and The Anatomy of Motive are my favorites. |
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dr_strangelove
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« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2011, 08:30:45 AM » |
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I read Helter Skelter way back in high school. That book really creeped me out. I'm sure I read it twice.
There's Wiseguy and Casino by Nicholas Pileggi (the basis for the Scorsese movies Goodfellas and Casino). Those are quite entertaining.
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face is a collection of true stories based on Edna Buchanan's years as a crime reporter in Miami.
Presumed Guilty by Martin Yant is a different sort of crime book. It tells the story of several wrongful prosecution cases, including Randall Adams of The Thin Blue Line fame. Quite fascinating, and scary.
I haven't read Get Capone by Jonathan Eig, but it got very good reviews when it came out. I see the reviews are split on Amazon, with lot's of one-star reviews by people who dispute some of the books assertions.
I liked Gerald Posner's Case Closed about the Kennedy assassination.
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2clueless
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In the classroom, with the red pen
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« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2011, 08:49:36 AM » |
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A long time ago when I was interested in serial killers I liked Anne Rule's Stranger Beside Me. When I saw the thread title, that's the book that I intended to suggest. Highly recommended. I've enjoyed all of Ann Rule's novel-length books, but the collections of short "stories" terrified me. (In my defense, I was in middle school at the time that I read Rule's body of work.) The first several collections seem to concentrate on crimes from the 1970s and boil down to: woman leaves windows/doors unlocked and is raped/murdered by someone random. The novel-length books explore the backgrounds of the victim/perpetrator/investigators, and often trace the crime through the conclusion of the trial. Some of them are about serial murders and some are about families/domestic violence; the latter never scared me, because I thought it could never happen to me. |
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Sometimes I can't sleep
I can't keep all these feelings at bay
I am rage, I am sorrow and grief
All alone in my way.
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ufo_tofu
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« Reply #11 on: July 05, 2011, 11:58:23 AM » |
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Oh yay! Well done everyone - these look great! As soon as this damn R&R gets finalized . . . off to Half Price Books!!
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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spork
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« Reply #12 on: July 05, 2011, 09:04:08 PM » |
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The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh
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a.k.a. gum-chewing monkey in a Tufts University jacket
"Please do not force people who are exhausted to take medication for hallucinations." -- Memo from the Chair, Department of White Privilege Studies, Fiork University
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ufo_tofu
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« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2011, 10:51:10 PM » |
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The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh
Oh! I heard about that one - I think my uncle loved that one. I'll get it! |
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Wash: Don't know. I'm starting to like this poetry thing. "Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower… somewhat less attractive now that she's all corpsified and gross-" [Zoe hits him with a pillow]
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kithara
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« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2011, 11:29:31 PM » |
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My mom liked true crime. When I was a kid in the fifties and sixties I got nightmares just from the pictures. I remember one book had a picture in it of a body wrapped in canvas and tied up with ropes lying in a creepy looking cellar. My older sister used to scare me with that picture and tell me our old canvas tent in the basement was a body. I remember a paperback about the Moors murders that had pictures of the murderers on the cover. Scared me to death just looking at that book. She had a book about John Christie, and would tell us about his murders, and how some poor young guy was hanged for one of the murders Christie later confessed to.
My sister likes true crime too. I'd pay money NOT to read it.
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We're talking about keeping an eye on students for a few minutes ... not juggling cats while riding a unicycle on the high wire while singing arias and solving differential equations in one's head.
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