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 …
Tag: review
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 …
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 …
Lost in the Valley of Death by Harley Rustad
Harley Rustad’s new book, Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas, recounts the strange and tragic story of one travel blogger’s disappearance into the Himalayan mountains. With journalistic excellence, however, Rustad connects this mystery to a number of other strange disappearances in India, asking important questions about …
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True Crime Holiday Gift Guide – True Crime Index
This year at True Crime Index, we have been fortunate enough to read some of the best and most-anticipated true crime texts published this year. Covering an array of crimes and historical periods, the texts we reviewed this year featured something that appealed to nearly every true crime buff. Therefore, we’ve decided to put together …
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A Killer by Design by Ann Wolbert Burgess
For fans of John Douglas’ Mindhunter (1995) and Robert Ressler’s Whoever Fights Monsters (1992), foundational true crime texts on the history and genesis of FBI criminal profiling, Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess’s new book A Killer by Design: Murderers, Mindhunters, and my Quest to Decipher the Criminal Mind (Hachette Books 2021) is the culmination of an …
White Hot Hate by Dick Lehr
A thoroughly researched and incredibly expansive true crime text about a recent case and its social, political, and geographical contexts, Dick Lehr’s White Hot Hate (Mariner Books 2021) is perfect for readers interested in the US justice system and the complex consequences of fanaticism and misinformation. Lehr’s book is a deep-dive into a 2016 case …
Murder, Madness, and Mayhem by Mike Browne
In Murder, Madness and Mayhem: Twenty-Five Tales of True Crime and Dark History, Mike Browne, host of the popular Canadian Podcast, Dark Poutine, recounts some of his favourite true crime stories. His book, which features episodic, compelling writing that reminds the reader of a podcast, is a must-read for true crime lovers looking for a …
Midnight in Peking by Paul French
In Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China (Penguin, 2013) author Paul French takes the reader back to January 1937 and sheds light upon the gruesome murder of Pamela Werner. The case was never solved and has been largely forgotten for more than half a …
Details are Unprintable by Allan Levine
One could not possibly ask for a more thorough, suspenseful, and fascinating true crime story than Allan Levine’s Details are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Café Society Murder (Lyons Press 2020). A consummate historian and writer, Levine provides a compelling account of one of the most brutal transnational murder cases of the mid-twentieth century. …
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