Debra Komar’s The Ballad of Jacob Peck (Goose Lane, 2013) is a noteworthy attempt to resurrect one of New Brunswick’s earliest murder cases from the murkiness of the historical record and the well-meaning, but often inaccurate retellings of amateur historians over the decades. In the bleak early months of 1805, self-styled preacher Jacob Peck arrived …
Tag: reading
Murder in the Neighborhood by Ellen J. Green
Ellen J. Green’s new novel, Murder in the Neighborhood: the True Story of America’s First Mass Shooting (Thread 2022) is an in-depth look at the gun violence in post-war America through the lens of one man’s violent crime in a small community. The text begins in East Camden, New Jersey on 6 September 1949, when …
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The Madman in the Woods by Jamie Gehring
Jamie Gehring’s new book, The Madman in the Woods: Life Next Door to the Unabomber (Diversion Books, 2022),combines classic elements of memoir and true crime in the latest take on the Unabomber and his crimes. The text focuses primarily on Jamie Gehring’s personal experiences with Ted Kaczynski, more prominently known as the Unabomber. Gehring grew …
The Women’s House of Detention by Hugh Ryan
Hugh Ryan’s new social history, The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, is one of the most important books published this year. Equal parts true crime, queer artifact, American history, and societal critique, The Women’s House of Detention (Bold Type Books 2022) is a must-read. Ryan’s book details the history …
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Snake Eyes by Bitty Martin
Snake Eyes: Murder in a Southern Town by Bitty Martin (Rowan & Littlefield 2022) is a straightforward and classic example of true crime that focuses on a little-known case, beginning in 1960s Arkansas, and the complex people and events that led to its resolution years later. Martin’s book begins with the sudden and shocking death …
Shadowman by Ron Franscell
Shadowman: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profilingby Ron Franscell (Berkley Books 2022) was an expertly paced and thoroughly researched true crime book about a strange and tragic series of crimes and the early days of FBI profiling that had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Franscell’s …
Scoundrel by Sarah Weinman
Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Constative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free (Knopf 2022) tells the wild tale of Edgar Smith, a man who was convicted of the 1957 murder of fifteen-year-old Victoria Zielinski and was sentenced to death. Smith, however, was never put …
The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale
In her award-winning book The Wicked Boy: An Infamous Murder in Victorian London (Penguin Books, 2017), Kate Summerscale provides a vivid narrative of the life of Robert Allen Coombes, who at age thirteen murdered his mother in her sleep. Born in 1882, Coombes and his younger brother Nattie spent most of their childhood in the …
A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury
Neil Bradbury’s new book, A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them, is a fascinating and fresh take on true crime narrative forms. Rather than just recount the stories of killers who murder by poisoning, Bradbury shifts the focus to the substances themselves. Across eleven sections, accompanied by a helpful …
The Prince, The Princess, and the Perfect Murder by Andrew Rose
True crime lovers and royal history fans alike need look no further than The Prince, The Princess, and the Perfect Murder: The First Great Love of Edward VIII’s Life, the Sensational Consequences, and the Establishment Cover Up (Coronet, 2013) by Andrew Rose for a book that combines both. Before he became King Edward VIII in …
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True Crime Index 