True Crime books

The Shocker · December 20, 2010, 03:39:53 PM

Any fans? I read a ton of them when I was younger, but stopped reading them as many are poorly written. A review by Godshifter of Tweakbird on RYM started a conversation about serial killers and I've gotten back into reading the true crime books. Currently reading "Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree." Dude killed at least 60 & was arrested with a dead body in the car beside him!

lowdaddy · December 20, 2010, 05:24:23 PM

i've never been big into this genre but i do remember reading helter skelter years ago and being unable to put it down. that is a weird, weird saga and a really engrossing read.

The Shocker · December 20, 2010, 05:29:44 PM

Quote from: lowdaddy on December 20, 2010, 05:24:23 PM
i've never been big into this genre but i do remember reading helter skelter years ago and being unable to put it down. that is a weird, weird saga and a really engrossing read.

That's a good one. Along those lines, Raven is good. It's about Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Really fascinating how he could manipulate so many people when he was an out & out loon.

black · December 21, 2010, 05:43:57 PM

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule is a good one. Read it long ago and now I see it's been updated. Besides her working litteraly next to Ted Bundy, the book shows how the machisimo of police departments and their unwillingness to share ingo allow crimes to get out of hand.

Check it out;
http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Beside-Revised-Updated-Anniversary/dp/0451203267

The Shocker · December 21, 2010, 05:57:40 PM

Quote from: black on December 21, 2010, 05:43:57 PM
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule is a good one. Read it long ago and now I see it's been updated. Besides her working litteraly next to Ted Bundy, the book shows how the machisimo of police departments and their unwillingness to share ingo allow crimes to get out of hand.

Check it out;
http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Beside-Revised-Updated-Anniversary/dp/0451203267

Jurisdictional issues come up in almost every true crime book about serial killers. I read this book a long time ago - Ann Rule certainly had a hook for her book, but she's a hack, IMO.

black · December 21, 2010, 06:19:00 PM

Heh.
Yeah, I agree, she is a hack, but I figured that had to do with her working in the pulp trade days.

*whoa, didn't mean to have my previous post all bold and shit.

The Shocker · December 30, 2010, 09:04:35 AM

Ok, I finished Angel of Darkness and while interesting it was basically straight reporting. No analysis of why he did his crimes.

Next up: " Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper."

colonic rocker · January 10, 2011, 07:55:14 PM

Severed:The True Story of the Black Dahlia by John Gilmore
Remember this caused quite a stir when it came out, read it recently. Some shocking details other than the obvious one.

The Shocker · January 10, 2011, 08:00:51 PM

Is that the one where he said his dad did it? Is it well written?

colonic rocker · January 11, 2011, 07:27:35 PM

The author of Severed doesn't pin the blame on his father (that is a different case/book), his father was a detective involved in the case of the Black Dahlia.
The book is well written in my opinion and has the crime scene photos as well as just about everything that can be verified about her life and her final days.
One of the big secrets about the Black Dahlia I'll give away, the book states that she had under developed genitalia and could not have sex in the conventional sense which is really unnerving when you read about her lifestyle in California.

yiyiyi · January 24, 2011, 07:21:45 PM

Vincent Bugliosi, who wrote 'Helter Skelter,' also wrote another true crime book that really hooked me, called "And the Sea Will Tell." (The book was also made into a really cheesy mini-series starring Rachel Ward and Richard Crenna, which you shouldn't waste your time watching)

QuoteIn 1974, wealthy Californians Mac and Muff Graham sailed to Palmyra Island, 1000 miles south of Hawaii, in their boat the Sea Wind . Buck Walker and Jennifer Jenkins arrived soon after on the same atoll, fleeing drug charges in Hawaii. Several months later, Walker and Jenkins returned to Hawaii in the Sea Wind , claiming that the Grahams were presumed dead when the dinghy in which they had gone fishing was washed ashore unmanned. However, in 1980, vacationers on Palmyra found bones soon identified as those of Muff Graham, who was determined to have been shot. Walker and Jenkins were charged with murder: in separate San Francisco trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and she was acquitted.

yiyiyi · January 24, 2011, 07:28:46 PM

QuoteThe author of Severed doesn't pin the blame on his father (that is a different case/book), his father was a detective involved in the case of the Black Dahlia.

The guy who blames the Black Dahlia murder on his dad is Steve Hodel - he has a couple of books about his theories out:

http://www.stevehodel.com/hodel-books.htm

The Shocker · January 25, 2011, 11:31:03 AM

Quote from: yiyiyi on January 24, 2011, 07:21:45 PM
Vincent Bugliosi, who wrote 'Helter Skelter,' also wrote another true crime book that really hooked me, called "And the Sea Will Tell." (The book was also made into a really cheesy mini-series starring Rachel Ward and Richard Crenna, which you shouldn't waste your time watching)

QuoteIn 1974, wealthy Californians Mac and Muff Graham sailed to Palmyra Island, 1000 miles south of Hawaii, in their boat the Sea Wind . Buck Walker and Jennifer Jenkins arrived soon after on the same atoll, fleeing drug charges in Hawaii. Several months later, Walker and Jenkins returned to Hawaii in the Sea Wind , claiming that the Grahams were presumed dead when the dinghy in which they had gone fishing was washed ashore unmanned. However, in 1980, vacationers on Palmyra found bones soon identified as those of Muff Graham, who was determined to have been shot. Walker and Jenkins were charged with murder: in separate San Francisco trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and she was acquitted.

I have that book! Found it at a thrift and bought it because Bugliosi wrote it. That Buck Walker was a scary dude.

demon gal · February 22, 2011, 10:17:35 PM

You want a well written True Crime book you can't go wrong with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

...also a good true crime book is Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy story. Harold Schechter did some interesting books. I read Deranged, Deviant, Fiend and Depraved.

The Shocker · February 23, 2011, 07:23:49 PM

Quote from: demon gal on February 22, 2011, 10:17:35 PM
You want a well written True Crime book you can't go wrong with Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

...also a good true crime book is Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy story. Harold Schechter did some interesting books. I read Deranged, Deviant, Fiend and Depraved.

You just described a lot of my HS & college reading! I think I have a Schechter encyclopedia of serial killers as well as Deranged and Depraved.

Here's my holy grail of serial killer books:

About Kemper, Mullin and Frazier

I check every used bookstore I hit for it - one day it's gonna turn up somewhere...

BTW - Wicked Beyond Belief was exhaustive but interesting. More of an indictment of the British police system than anything else...

grimniggzy · March 17, 2011, 12:41:09 PM

Quote from: deaner33 on December 20, 2010, 05:29:44 PM
Quote from: lowdaddy on December 20, 2010, 05:24:23 PM
i've never been big into this genre but i do remember reading helter skelter years ago and being unable to put it down. that is a weird, weird saga and a really engrossing read.

That's a good one. Along those lines, Raven is good. It's about Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Really fascinating how he could manipulate so many people when he was an out & out loon.

sounds good, I think I may pick this one up

The Shocker · March 17, 2011, 12:46:03 PM

Quote from: grimniggzy on March 17, 2011, 12:41:09 PM
Quote from: deaner33 on December 20, 2010, 05:29:44 PM
Quote from: lowdaddy on December 20, 2010, 05:24:23 PM
i've never been big into this genre but i do remember reading helter skelter years ago and being unable to put it down. that is a weird, weird saga and a really engrossing read.

That's a good one. Along those lines, Raven is good. It's about Jim Jones and the People's Temple. Really fascinating how he could manipulate so many people when he was an out & out loon.

sounds good, I think I may pick this one up

Really well written with a lot of analysis of why things went the way they did. Can't recommend it enough.

grimniggzy · March 17, 2011, 01:07:13 PM

well shit, with 22 used from $7.30 on Amazon I think I'll have to get it.

The Shocker · March 17, 2011, 01:17:57 PM

Make sure you get the most recent version. I think it's been through multiple printings.

grimniggzy · March 17, 2011, 01:21:51 PM

Quote from: deaner33 on March 17, 2011, 01:17:57 PM
Make sure you get the most recent version. I think it's been through multiple printings.

noted, thanks

MikeyT · May 24, 2011, 10:25:49 AM

HELTER SKELTER is one. I like Bugliosi.

NIGHT OF THE RIPPER, by Robert Bloch.

OK, it's a novel; but Bloch apparently studied the crimes of Jack The Ripper thoroughly; so it can be considered historical fiction. It's horrible, frightening, and fascinating. It's been many years since I read it; but the writing was very good, as I recall.

The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison, by Pete Earley. It covers the lives of several imprisoned criminals and some of the crimes which put them there, as well as the crimes they commit while in the pen. Some very weird people. Some are disgusting, some intriguing, and some are chilling. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but the trouble some people will go to in order to murder someone is amazing.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, by Erik Larson. This is a book about (among other things) H.H. HOLMES (birthname: Herman Webster Mudgett), a serial killer who who operated around/during the time of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Holmes was apparently a sort of criminal genius who used charm, deceit, charisma, trickery, fraud, and violence to realize his perverted desires. He was particularly adept at charming young women, many of whom he later abused, tortured, and murdered in various cruel and bizarre ways.

He built a huge house/ hotel (called "the castle") not far from the Chicago World's Fair. Many (most? all?) of it's guests or tenants mysteriously disappeared.

In the 1890's (or as it originally looked, anyway)

In 1938

The Shocker · May 24, 2011, 11:20:44 AM

The Hot House sounds very interesting.

I was disappointed with The Devil In The White City. Too much about the World's Fair.

GodShifter · May 24, 2011, 12:47:24 PM

The Hot House is very good. I've read it twice.

The book (I forget the title) about the prison riot in New Mexico (I forget the year), is good too. Very violent & grim.

Okay, it's called The Hate Factory and it's 1980. The Devil's Butcher Shop is about the same riot. It's also good.

MikeyT · May 24, 2011, 01:40:18 PM

Quote from: deaner33 on May 24, 2011, 11:20:44 AM

I was disappointed with The Devil In The White City. Too much about the World's Fair.

I know what you mean. I try to remain open to most kinds of knowledge, but there's only so much I want to know about the building of "White City" and whatnot.

The Shocker · May 24, 2011, 01:45:33 PM

I think I fell for the hype surrounding the book (it was on numerous best of the year lists). The book was well written and Holmes was a fascinating subject, but yeah the "White City" I could have learned about from Wikipedia if I wanted.