The Greatest True Crime Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14960 Helter Skelter Vincent Bugliosi 1974 American English
14982 Alive Piers Paul Read 1974 British English
14984 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English
14984 People Who Eat Darkness Richard Lloyd Parry 2010 British English
14984 Isaac's Storm Erik Larson 1999 American English
14984 The Night Of The Gun David Carr 2008 American English
14984 Ringmaster Abraham Riesman 2023 American English
14984 We Were Once A Family Roxanna Asgarian 2023 Unknown English
15638 Honor Thy Father Gay Talese 1971 American English
15809 Into That Darkness Gitta Sereny 1974 British English
17130 The Pentagon Papers New York Times 1971 American English
17130 The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace Jeff Hobbs 2014 American English
17130 The Woman With A Worm In Her Head Pamela Nagami 2001 American English
17130 Blood On The River Marjoleine Kars 2020 British English
17130 The Reckoning Charles Nicholl 1992 British English
17130 Explaining Hitler Ron Rosenbaum 1998 American English
17130 American Ground William Langewiesche 2002 American English
17130 Lost Girls Robert Kolker 2013 American English
17130 One Day Gene Weingarten 2019 American English
17130 V13 Emmanuel Carrère 2024 French French
17130 Eight Men Out Eliot Asinof 1963 American English
17130 Jeremy Thorpe Michael Bloch 2006 British English
17130 Charlie Hustle Keith O'Brien 2024 Unknown English
17130 Countdown Sarah Scoles 2024 Unknown English
17130 A Day In September Stephen Budiansky 2024 Unknown English
17130 Rat City Jon Adams, Edmund Ramsden 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Secret History Of Bigfoot John O'Connor 2024 Unknown Unknown
17130 No Way Out Tim Shipman 2024 British English
17130 Three Month Fever Gary Indiana 1999 American English
17130 Crimes Of The Cross Anne Manne 2024 Unknown English
17130 Deep Water James D. Bradley 2024 Unknown English
17130 Nuked Andrew Fowler 2024 Unknown English
17130 Undue Burden Shefali Luthra 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Racket Conor Niland, Gavin Cooney 2024 Unknown English
17130 The Hidden Victims Cormac Ó Gráda 2024 Unknown English
17130 Supremacy Parmy Olson 2024 Unknown English
17130 A Season On The Brink John Feinstein 1986 American English
17130 The Game They Played Stanley Cohen 1977 Unknown English
17130 Among The Thugs Bill Buford 1990 American English
17130 The Lords Of The Rings Vyv Simson, Andrew Jennings 1992 Unknown English
17130 Coast Of Slaves, Ships Of Slaves And Islands Of Slaves Thorkild Hansen 1967 Danish Danish
17130 American Sniper Chris Kyle 2012 American English
17130 Blitzed Norman Ohler 2015 German German
17130 The Bang Bang Club Greg Marinovich 2000 South African English
17130 Mindhunter John E. Douglas 1995 American English
17130 Wanting Tom Burgis 2021 Unknown English
17130 The Golden Spruce John Vaillant 2005 Canadian English
17130 We Believe The Children Richard Beck 2015 Unknown English
17130 American Gun Cameron McWhirter 2023 Unknown English
17130 Eichmann Before Jerusalem Bettina Stangneth 2011 German German
17130 The Red Parts Maggie Nelson 2007 American English
17130 A Small Corner Of Hell Anna Politkovskaya 2003 Russian Russian
17130 Addicted Tony Adams 1998 British English
17130 The Fourth Man Robert Baer 2022 American English
17130 Inside The Cia Ronald Kessler 1992 American English
17130 Fear Is Just A Word Azam Ahmed 2023 Unknown English
17130 Some People Need Killing Patricia Evangelista 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Fund Rob Copeland 2023 Unknown English
17130 Anansi’s Gold Yepoka Yeebo 2023 Unknown English
17130 A Madman’s Will Gregory May 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Lost Sons Of Omaha Joe Sexton 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Art Thief Michael Finkel 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Sullivanians Alexander Stille 2023 Unknown English
17130 Waco Jeff Guinn 2023 American English
17130 Waco Rising Kevin Cook 2023 Unknown English
17130 Still Life With Bones Alexa Hagerty 2023 Unknown English
17130 There Will Be Fire Rory Carroll 2023 Unknown English
17130 Ghosts Of The Orphanage Christine Kenneally 2023 Unknown English
17130 We Were Once A Family Roxanna Asgarian 2023 Unknown English
17130 Correction Ben Austen 2023 Unknown Unknown
17130 Number Go Up Zeke Faux 2023 Unknown English
17130 Starkweather Harry N. MacLean 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Lumumba Plot Stuart Reid 2023 Unknown English
17130 The Mastermind Evan Ratliff 2019 American English
17130 Aberration In The Heartland Of The Real Wendy S. Painting 2015 Unknown English
17130 Zero Zero Zero Roberto Saviano 2013 Italian Italian
17130 The Poisoner's Handbook Hutchkinson, Maxwell 1988 Unknown English