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![Best true-crime stories A collage of images ranging from Joe Exotic in Tiger King, a fingerprint, a book cover for The Devil in the White City, Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout and Michael Peterson and an evidence bag](https://aarp.widen.net/content/umllchmhkj/jpeg/top-true-crime.jpg?crop=true&anchor=0,0&q=80&color=ffffffff&u=1javjt&w=1140&h=655)
Few genres have as strong a chokehold on the American consciousness as true crime. How often do you find yourself chatting casually with friends about the latest murder docuseries or wrapped up in a podcast about scammers or cults? The psychology behind our fandom is complicated. We want to feel superior, that we would never find ourselves in similar dark circumstances, while also expressing a bit of morbid curiosity and, perhaps, even learning some tips and tricks for staying safe ourselves. From whodunnit documentaries to podcasts about systemic societal failings, these are the 25 crime stories that get our adrenaline pumping and our inner detectives working overtime.
True-crime books
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote (1966)
This 1966 “nonfiction novel” just may be the book that launched America’s true-crime obsession. Capote and childhood friend Harper Lee compiled 8,000-plus pages of research while investigating the 1959 murders of four members of a farming family in small-town Kansas. The story went on to inspire a film and a miniseries and formed the basis of dueling Capote biopics, starring Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toby Jones, 57.
Read it: In Cold Blood
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![The Devil in the White City Book cover for The Devil in the White City](https://aarp.widen.net/content/sxfw4ktaty/jpeg/cropped-9780375725609.jpg?crop=true&anchor=0,0&q=80&color=ffffffff&u=1javjt&w=570&h=902)
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, by Erik Larson (2003)
The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition was a time of infinite hope and promise for Chicago, best exemplified by the beaux arts architecture of Daniel Burnham. Not enjoying that hope and promise? The victims of H.H. Holmes, who committed his dastardly deeds during the fair and is widely considered America’s first serial killer.
Read it: The Devil in the White City
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, by Michelle McNamara (2018)
McNamara spent years investigating a series of murders, rapes and burglaries committed across California between 1974 and 1986, though she sadly died in 2016 before completing this project. Her widower, actor Patton Oswalt, 55, crime writer Paul Haynes and investigative journalist Bill Jensen took on the task of finishing her work and published it in February 2018, at which point it topped the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Soon after the book was released, Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested for the crimes; he was later sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms.
Read it: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
![Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Book cover for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil](https://aarp.widen.net/content/hkiugyf3jb/jpeg/cropped-9780679751526.jpg?crop=true&anchor=0,0&q=80&color=ffffffff&u=1javjt&w=570&h=879)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt (1994)
Long before Clint Eastwood directed the film version, this Savannah-set story began as a Pulitzer-finalist nonfiction novel that stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 216 weeks. The story of the 1981 murder of a male prostitute by respected antiques dealer and historical preservationist Jim Williams proved so juicy, with a sprawling cast of compelling characters, that Savannah became a hot spot for literary tourists almost overnight.
Read it: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (2017)
Before it was an Oscar-nominated Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moon was an enthralling finalist for the National Book Award by journalist David Grann. After oil deposits were discovered on tribal land in Oklahoma, members of the Osage Nation started showing up dead because of a devious plot to secure their headrights. The newly formed FBI stepped in to investigate a case that burst the bubble of many of our great Western myths, revealing an underworld marked by racism and greed.
Read it: Killers of the Flower Moon
Party Monster: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland by James St. James (1999)
Set in the drug-fueled world of New York City’s late ’80s and early ’90s club scene, this memoir by flamboyant celebutante James St. James, 57, charts the rise and fall of his friend Michael Alig, a founding member of the Club Kids who later killed his roommate, Andre “Angel” Melendez. Originally titled Disco Bloodbath before being renamed to match the title of the film adaptation, the story is tawdry and gossipy and won’t be every reader’s cup of cheap booze. But if you spent any time in a club during that era, you’ll enjoy going along for the ride.
Read it: Party Monster
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