STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

Historical true crime books?

laken1 · Hermes

do you have portrait of a killer? I do & i'd be happy to send it to you - i want my books to end up in happy homes

cc · Marc Jacobs

Truman Capote's In Cold Blood is a classic in this genre. And while it is more about the legal system and the death penalty than about the crime, The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer is one of my favorite books of all time.

crystal · Kate Spade

i'm just starting ann rule's "green river running red" about the green river killer. it's gonna take me a while cuz it's hard cover so i can't read it in bed (comfortably), but i'll let u know how it is when i'm done. it was passed down from my aunt & then my mom so it must be decent.

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

quote:
Originally posted by: laken1
"do you have portrait of a killer? I do & i'd be happy to send it to you - i want my books to end up in happy homes
"

Oh, that is such a nice offer. I did just buy it the other day at a 50% off book sale I stumbled upon. I know what you mean about finding good homes for your books, though. I have trouble letting them go.

smash · Dooney & Bourke

this is my absolute favorite genre for books. cc already recommended two of my personal favorites, but here are a few other suggestions.

homicide by david simon (this is what the TV series was based on, now the author writes for the HBO series "the wire")

helter skelter by vincent bugliosi (story of the manson murders)

bitter blood by jerry bledsoe

the stranger beside me by ann rule (about ted bundy)

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

Two great ones (though not based on specific crimes/murderers)...

1. Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver (Set in modern-day NYC about a former cop who is called in for a special assignment to find a serial torturer/murderer who is basing his or her crimes on historical ones)

2.The Alienist by Caleb Carr (Set in 19th-century NYC about a private detective/psychologist who solves the crimes of a serial murderer murderering children in the Lower East Side.)

I have a special interest in this subject matter -- crime in NYC... probably a little twisted of me...

-- Edited by Starstuff at 14:57, 2005-05-12

f413 · Kenneth Cole

I know you said historical, but Ann Rule is absolutley superb and riveting!! I have read almost all of her books. I can't even begin one of her books unless I know I have a couple days off, because once I start I cannot put her books down until I am finished.

Pardon, I am a wicked true crime buff and again I know you said historical, but "America's most bizarre murderer:Edward Gein" by Judge Robert H Gollmar, "The Milwaukee Murders" (Jefferey Dahmer) by Don Davis, "Buried Dreams" (John Wayne Gacy) by Tim Cahill, and "Black Mass" ("Whitey Bulger" a.k.a one of the FBI's most wanted set in Boston) by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neil.

"The complete Jack the Ripper" byDonald Rumbelow (watch out for gnarly photos).

Joseph Wambaughs "Echoes in the Darkness," (set in Philly) "The Choir Boys," (set in L.A.) and "The Blooding."

Sorry if i'm too lengthy, I wasn't quite sure what your criteria was regarding "historical."

P.S. Patricia Cornwell, whose books i've never read also put out a book claiming that through forensic evidence she has determined who Jack the Ripper was.

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

I want to thank you all so much for the recommendations. I felt weird even asking because it seems like a creepy interest to have...but I just find those books so fascinating. Apparently, I'm not alone!