Historic True Crime (52 books)

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True crime books about crimes from 100+ years ago

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1	The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale 3.51 avg rating — 25,726 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Goodreads Author) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 787,684 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale 3.48 avg rating — 6,832 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World's Most Famous Detective Writer by Margalit Fox (Goodreads Author) 3.70 avg rating — 2,412 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Murder by the Book: A Sensational Chapter in Victorian Crime by Claire Harman 3.21 avg rating — 1,521 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley 3.83 avg rating — 5,206 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum 4.02 avg rating — 38,416 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The Unsolved Murder that Shocked Victorian England by Paul Thomas Murphy 3.39 avg rating — 564 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James 3.47 avg rating — 10,061 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick 3.67 avg rating — 1,800 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr 3.87 avg rating — 5,408 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	Hell's Half-Acre : The Untold Story of the Benders, America's First Serial Killer Family by Susan Jonusas 3.44 avg rating — 5,609 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	All That Is Wicked by Kate Winkler Dawson (Goodreads Author) 3.57 avg rating — 3,368 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster by Shelley Puhak (Goodreads Author) 3.36 avg rating — 3,494 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (Goodreads Author) 4.08 avg rating — 74,582 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter 3.47 avg rating — 15,253 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England by Marcia Biederman (Goodreads Author) 3.69 avg rating — 110 ratings score: 84, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Woman at the Devil's Door: The Untold True Story of the Hampstead Murderess by Sarah Beth Hopton (Goodreads Author) 3.43 avg rating — 570 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	The Good Old Days: Crime, Murder and Mayhem in Victorian London by Gilda O'Neill 3.62 avg rating — 434 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable: A True Tale of Passion, Poison and Pursuit by Carol Baxter 3.57 avg rating — 191 ratings score: 81, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder by Kate Colquhoun 3.54 avg rating — 1,209 ratings score: 80, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science by Sandra Hempel 3.21 avg rating — 882 ratings score: 79, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders (Goodreads Author) 3.41 avg rating — 4,560 ratings score: 78, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Did She Kill Him?: A Victorian Tale of Deception, Adultery, and Arsenic by Kate Colquhoun 3.59 avg rating — 525 ratings score: 77, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	The Lady in the Cellar: Murder, Scandal and Insanity in Victorian Bloomsbury by Sinclair McKay 3.51 avg rating — 506 ratings score: 76, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	The Secret Poisoner: A Century of Murder by Linda Stratmann (Goodreads Author) 3.72 avg rating — 361 ratings score: 75, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean (Goodreads Author) 4.01 avg rating — 11,421 ratings score: 74, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester 3.84 avg rating — 125,095 ratings score: 73, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer by Dean Jobb (Goodreads Author) 3.61 avg rating — 5,619 ratings score: 72, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse: An Extraordinary Edwardian Case of Deception and Intrigue by Piu Marie Eatwell (Goodreads Author) 3.31 avg rating — 1,693 ratings score: 71, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	Murder by Candlelight: The Gruesome Slayings Behind Our Romance with the Macabre by Michael Knox Beran 2.86 avg rating — 466 ratings score: 70, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James (Goodreads Author) 3.39 avg rating — 1,925 ratings score: 69, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist by Jennifer Wright (Goodreads Author) 4.13 avg rating — 3,697 ratings score: 68, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson 3.43 avg rating — 8,533 ratings score: 67, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
35	H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil by Adam Selzer (Goodreads Author) 3.62 avg rating — 1,446 ratings score: 66, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution by Katherine Grandjean (Goodreads Author) 3.90 avg rating — 288 ratings score: 65, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer (Goodreads Author) 3.80 avg rating — 15,745 ratings score: 64, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
38	Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold (Goodreads Author) 4.19 avg rating — 2,825 ratings score: 63, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
39	Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca (Goodreads Author) 3.29 avg rating — 7,083 ratings score: 62, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
40	The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief by Ben Macintyre 3.86 avg rating — 2,414 ratings score: 61, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
41	Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment by Madeleine Pelling 4.18 avg rating — 166 ratings score: 60, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
42	Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain by Blessin Adams 3.56 avg rating — 1,023 ratings score: 59, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
43	Murder: The Biography by Kate Morgan 3.97 avg rating — 1,550 ratings score: 58, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
44	The Mysterious Mrs Hood: A True Victorian Mystery of Scandal, Arson, Murder & Betrayal by Kim Donovan (Goodreads Author) 4.01 avg rating — 148 ratings score: 57, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
45	An Expert Witness: The Story of Forensic Science in the Courtroom by Sue Black 4.21 avg rating — 320 ratings score: 56, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
46	The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne by Kate Winkler Dawson (Goodreads Author) 3.46 avg rating — 3,262 ratings score: 55, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
47	Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco by Gary Krist (Goodreads Author) 3.77 avg rating — 670 ratings score: 54, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
48	The Killer and Frank Lloyd Wright: The True Story of Mass Murder in Paradise by Casey Sherman (Goodreads Author) 3.66 avg rating — 969 ratings score: 53, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
49	The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller (Goodreads Author) 3.65 avg rating — 4,013 ratings score: 52, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
50	The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by C. Alexander Hortis (Goodreads Author) 3.56 avg rating — 1,453 ratings score: 51, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
51	Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard by Paul Collins (Goodreads Author) 3.64 avg rating — 1,245 ratings score: 50, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
52	Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Goodreads Author) 4.14 avg rating — 475,543 ratings score: 49, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars