A Good Thriller discussion

What is a true crime thriller?
A non-fiction genre that reconstructs real-life, often violent, criminal events—such as murders or serial killings—using a fast-paced, suspenseful narrative.

Key characteristics of a True Crime thriller:
Factual Basis: The stories are rooted in real events, real people, and documented evidence, often focusing on the investigation and legal proceedings.
High-Stakes Tension: Similar to thrillers, these stories emphasize present danger and anxiety, highlighting the intense, sometimes desperate, efforts to solve cases.
Detailed Narrative: They often explore the psychology of the criminal and the impact of the crime on victims and society.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - 1966 non-fiction novel detailing the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, by two ex-convicts, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara - A blend of true-crime reporting, memoir, and a deep dive into the criminal investigation, including online communities and case files of the Golden State Killer (also known as the East Area Rapist), who committed dozens of rapes and murders.
Movie: Zodiac (2007): A slow-burn, methodical thriller focusing on the journalists and detectives obsessed with identifying the Zodiac Killer.
Goodfellas (1990): A fast-paced, intense look at the life of mobster Henry Hill.

Really Outstanding and Unknown Reads

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum: A fascinating, true story of forensic science in 1920s New York.

The Last Stoneby Mark Bowden: A detailed, procedural account of a cold case investigation into the disappearance of two sisters.

Shadowman: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling by Ron Franscell: Explores the hunt for a serial killer in the 1970s.

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris: A visceral look at the, often gruesome, history of Victorian medicine.

The Premonitions Bureau: A True Account of Death Foretold by Sam Knight (2022): A non-fiction account of a 1960s British experiment to test if people could predict disasters.

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar (2013): An investigation into the Dyatlov Pass incident.

Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French (2011): A true story of a brutal unsolved murder in 1937 Peking.

What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator by Barbara Butcher: A memoir from one of the first women to work as a death investigator in NYC, offering a gritty, insider view of forensics.

Provide intense, thoroughly researched narratives that offer, a, fresh, perspective, on, true, crime, beyond the most, commonly, cited, classics. They often reveal shocking, intimate, or forgotten stories that rival fiction in suspense.


A Hostage True Crime Outstanding and Unknown

Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator by Gary Noesner: While known in professional circles, this is an excellent, gripping account of real-world negotiations that reads like a thriller.

Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen: The shocking, true story of a doctor who ran a sanitarium where patients were starved to death, functioning as a psychological hostage situation.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann: While more known now, the story of the Osage Indian murders constitutes a massive, systemic kidnapping and extortion plot.

I don't read a lot of True Crime novels. However, I did read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote years ago.

One that I read in 2022 that I especially liked was The Forever Witness: How Genetic Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes.

There are a couple of the ones above that I would like to work into my reading schedule:
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum and Shadowman: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling by Ron Franscell.

Pam I also read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

It was hard for me to realize it was not fiction.
It felt like...who would really do that to a family that were gentle, kind and down to earth, as were the towns people. They lived in the beautiful prairies of American Farm life. the dream.

This experience shattered the folks of the town.

One I enjoyed was American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson about Edward Oscar Heinrich, America's first forensic scientist who pioneered the use of forensic tools, many still used today in criminal investigation.

I also recommend Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep which outlines Lee's lifelong friendship with Truman Capote and her contribution to In Cold Blood as well as her own obsession with writing a true crime novel about a family of five shot in Alabama for their insurance policies.

Australian crime journalist and novelist Helen Garner has written some excellent true crime novels including Joe Cinque's Consolation: A True Story of Death, Grief and the Law, about a young female law student accused of murdering her boyfriend and This House of Grief about a recently separated man accused of murdering his three children by driving them into a dam.

Garner is also co-author of The Mushroom Tapes, a recent infamous case where a woman (Erin Patterson) was convicted of killing three people by feeding them Beef Wellington made with death cap mushrooms.

One of the strongest and shocking true stories



a 5 star book.