31 of Your Favorite True Crime Books About Women
This giveaway is sponsored by Mulholland Books.
In 1901, Evelyn Nesbit, a New York society darling, dined with Stanford White in his decadent 24th Street apartment. Evelyn was given champagne, lost consciousness, and woke, nearly naked, in bed next to White. An acclaimed architect and notorious womanizer, White was 47. Evelyn Nesbit was just 16.
Four years later, Evelyn married Harry Thaw, a playboy millionaire rumored to be mentally disturbed. One night in 1906, a vengeful Thaw shot and killed White before hundreds of theatre-goers at Madison Square Garden—a venue designed by Stanford White himself. The murder and ensuing trial were the scandal of the century, perhaps the nation’s first tabloid murder.
The first true crime story I remember being really into was that of Lizzie Borden. I saw a TV movie where she was played by Samantha from “Bewitched” and I just had to find a book to tell me more. You told us your picks for compelling true crime books with women at the center, and we’re sharing them below!
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn Lethal Marriage: The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Nick Pron From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children by Joyce Egginton Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty that Sparked a National Debate by Helen Prejean American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeff Toobin The Crime of the Century: Richard Speck and the Murders that Shocked a Nation by Dennis L. Breo and William J. Martin The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Secrets of the Congdon Mansion: The Unofficial Guide to Glensheen and the Congdon Murders by Joe Kimball The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jana Bommersbach The Search for the Green River Killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Helen Prejean Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson Ripper Confidential: New Research on the Whitechapel Murders by Tom Wescott The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule Missoula by Jon Krakauer The Girl in the Leaves by Robert Scott and Sarah Maynard Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott Alice and Freda Forever by Alexis Coe Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder by Ann Rule Burial Rites by Hannah Kent Mother’s Day by Dennis McDougal Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte
In 1901, Evelyn Nesbit, a New York society darling, dined with Stanford White in his decadent 24th Street apartment. Evelyn was given champagne, lost consciousness, and woke, nearly naked, in bed next to White. An acclaimed architect and notorious womanizer, White was 47. Evelyn Nesbit was just 16.
Four years later, Evelyn married Harry Thaw, a playboy millionaire rumored to be mentally disturbed. One night in 1906, a vengeful Thaw shot and killed White before hundreds of theatre-goers at Madison Square Garden—a venue designed by Stanford White himself. The murder and ensuing trial were the scandal of the century, perhaps the nation’s first tabloid murder.
The first true crime story I remember being really into was that of Lizzie Borden. I saw a TV movie where she was played by Samantha from “Bewitched” and I just had to find a book to tell me more. You told us your picks for compelling true crime books with women at the center, and we’re sharing them below!
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn Lethal Marriage: The Unspeakable Crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Nick Pron From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives and Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children by Joyce Egginton Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty that Sparked a National Debate by Helen Prejean American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeff Toobin The Crime of the Century: Richard Speck and the Murders that Shocked a Nation by Dennis L. Breo and William J. Martin The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Secrets of the Congdon Mansion: The Unofficial Guide to Glensheen and the Congdon Murders by Joe Kimball The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd by Jana Bommersbach The Search for the Green River Killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions by Helen Prejean Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi with Curt Gentry Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson Ripper Confidential: New Research on the Whitechapel Murders by Tom Wescott The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule Missoula by Jon Krakauer The Girl in the Leaves by Robert Scott and Sarah Maynard Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott Alice and Freda Forever by Alexis Coe Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century by Sarah Miller Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder by Ann Rule Burial Rites by Hannah Kent Mother’s Day by Dennis McDougal Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte
