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True crime books

October 2024

  • illustration of crime scene

    ‘The facts of the case were so disturbing’: Kate Summerscale on our obsession with true crime

    When the author began investigating the case of a London serial killer in the 1940s and 50s, she found chilling echoes with current events – and was forced to confront her own fascination

September 2024

  • Rillington Place<br>18th April 1953: The morbidly curious and the distressed residents of Rillington Place, in London's Notting Hill, mix rather uneasily. 10 Rillington Place was the home of multiple murderer John Christie and the scene of his infamous crimes. The residents resent such unwelcome morbid interest and have petitioned to have the street name changed. Original Publication: Picture Post - 6489 - The Street Of Death - pub.1953 (Photo by Ronald Startup/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

    Observer book of the week
    The Peepshow by Kate Summerscale review – new perspectives on the Rillington Place murders

    The true crime author takes a novel approach to the retelling of the Christie murders, from the viewpoints of a star reporter, a crime novelist and a young sociologist. But the central mystery remains

July 2024

  • Mina Smallman at her home in Ramsgate.

    Book of the day
    A Better Tomorrow: Life Lessons in Hope and Strength by Mina Smallman review

  • Evan Wright at the premiere of Generation Kill in California in 2008

    Generation Kill author Evan Wright dies aged 59

June 2024

  • A closeup of Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy with their heads side by close

    Observer TV reviews
    The week in TV: House of the Dragon; Euro 2024; The Stormtrooper Scandal; Under the Bridge – review

  • Sunset over the highway<br>Long-haul truck on the Interstate I-80 highway at sunset in Laramie, WYO, USA.

    ‘They’re a mystery’: inside the deadly world of serial killer truckers

March 2024

  • Helen Garner<br>Helen Garner author portrait

    Books interview
    Helen Garner: ‘People would give me death stares in the street’

    The novelist and nonfiction writer on her love of courtroom drama, the trials of cancel culture and why she wouldn’t have been a good psychoanalyst

October 2023

  • True Crime author Dan Box in Surry Hills, NSW, Australia

    ‘I just wasn’t being honest’: a true crime author confronts the NT justice system and himself

    When journalist Dan Box began looking into a murder case, his goal was to win a Walkley. But a friendship and a tragedy put him at the centre of the story

August 2023

  • A Hezbollah supporter carries a portrait of Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in 2016.

    Chasing Shadows by Miles Johnson review – criminal world

    A thriller-like tale of global drugs and terrorism that may be too complex for its own good

July 2023

  • Malcolm Macarthur being led from court in 1983.

    Book of the day
    A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell review – evil in a bow tie

  • Martin Brunt

    My specialty is true crime, but even I’m puzzled: why are we so addicted to the dark side of humanity?

    Martin Brunt
  • flyer warning of a serial killer murdering gay men

    ‘Righteous anger was a part of it’: the shocking story of New York’s gay bar killer

  • Nancy Jo Sales

    Why do women love true crime so much? I have a theory

    Nancy Jo Sales

June 2023

  • Eliza Clark

    Book of the day
    Penance by Eliza Clark review – art or porn?

    Set in a northern seaside town, this show-stopping second novel is a bravura deconstruction of our voyeuristic love for true crime
  • Mollie Goodfellow

    Why I quit
    I found comfort in grisly true crime stories. Giving them up brought me peace

    Mollie Goodfellow
    It’s hard to admit, but I was using others’ tragedies as a way of protecting myself. Then an ad snapped me out of it, says writer Mollie Goodfellow
  • A double exposure of a spooky half transparent hooded figure. Over layered over a foggy path in the countryside. On a moody foggy winters day.

    Top 10s
    Top 10 books about missing persons

    These interrupted stories, in fiction and real life, are powerfully moving and key into a universal anxiety

May 2023

  • Joe Beattie, the detective who led the search for Bible John.

    True crime can be an unedifying business, so why am I drawn to writing about it?

    Francisco Garcia
    When I started reporting on an infamous serial killer, I had to navigate my way through the genre’s ethical minefields, says author Francisco Garcia

January 2023

  • Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee in the 2006 film Capote..

    Writing wrongs: how true crime authors can fall victim to tragedy

    Ever since Truman Capote, writers have struggled to both honour the victims and protect themselves. Novelist Janice Hallett investigates

November 2022

  • A man walks through falling snow, as seen through a frosted window in New Haven, Connecticut.

    The Other Side of Prospect review: murder and injustice in New Haven

  • Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein

    Hunting Ghislaine by John Sweeney review – compelling study of the notorious socialite

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