If you’re a hardcore true crime fan, I know it’ll be an uphill battle convincing you to give a fiction book a go. Can a made-up story really match the intensity and grit of a real life criminal investigation? Short answer: yes. That’s why I’ve put together this list of fiction books to read if you love true crime.
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai
I Have Some Questions For You is one of those books that defies easy classification. Yes, it’s a literary mystery as it’s billed in the blurbs, but it’s also a coming-of-age novel. And it’s a dark academia novel, of sorts. And it’s a feminist text. And it’s a kind of subversion of the returning hero narrative. And it’s perfect for fans of true crime. Read my full review of I Have Some Questions For You here.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace is a great fiction book for fans of true crime because it’s actually based on a real life historical crime. Atwood fictionalises the story of the real life and crimes of Grace Marks. She and another servant in the same household, James McDermott, were tried and convicted of the 1843 murders of the householder Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper (slash secret lover) Nancy Montgomery. McDermott was sentenced to death and hanged, while Marks’s death sentence was commuted. Was she actually guilty, or was she wrongfully imprisoned? Read my full review of Alias Grace here.
The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard
When you’re reading a true crime book about a cold case, have you ever found yourself wondering whether the culprit is reading that very same book about their own misdeeds? Then you need to read The Nothing Man. Jim is working as a security guard in a supermarket. When the story begins, he’s just learned that a book has come out about his (as yet unsolved) crimes – he spots a woman purchasing a copy from a display at his work. It’s a memoir by the sole survivor of his last attack. Read my full review of The Nothing Man here.
Sadie by Courtney Summers
Sadie is cleverer than it might first appear. Summers also lampoons the true crime trend of middle-class butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-their-mouths white blonde victims. Mattie and Sadie are from the wrong side of the tracks, their fathers are long gone, and their mother decided she preferred drugs to home-cooked dinners. Sadie and Mattie have had to forge their own way – and now a podcaster is determined to find out how one of them ended up dead, and the other missing. Read my full review of Sadie here.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Dark Places follows Libby Day, a woman who – as a child – was the sole survivor of a family massacre in a small town in Kansas, and she completely bucks the “perfect victim” stereotype. In the hopes that they’ll pay her for her insider knowledge, Libby falls in with a group of amateur sleuths. They have all kinds of theories about what really happened on the night of the massacre, and they’re willing to fork over cash for Libby to relive her worst memories and track down key witnesses to the worst night of her life. Read my full review of Dark Places here.
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski
Changeling is framed as a podcast. Scott King hosts ‘Six Stories’, where he re-examines historical crimes through the perspectives of six key witnesses. He receives a letter from a listener asking him to look at the case of seven-year-old Alfie Marsden, who vanished from the backseat of his father’s car in the Wentshire Forest, never to be seen again. That was back in 1988, and Alfie has been presumed dead since 1995. Scott is resistant to the idea, at first (what good could it possibly do?), but finds himself drawn into the mystery. Read my full review of Changeling here.
Death Of A Bookseller by Alice Slater
Death Of A Bookseller is a fiction book that might make committed true crime fans a bit uncomfortable – which makes it all the more important to read. Roach works in a bookstore, and true crime is “her” section which she manages while listening obsessively to murder podcasts. When the pretty new blonde girl starts, Roach is ready to write her off as a “normie” – until she finds out that her mother was the victim of a serial killer, and soon her obsession finds a new target. Read my full review of Death of A Bookseller here.
True Story by Kate Reed Petty
True Story traces the fallout of a high-school rumour as it reverberates throughout the lives of the subject, the perpetrators, and the onlookers. It sounds simple enough, but it’s actually a wonderfully complex interrogation of who gets to tell stories and who gets to decide if they are true. Like the very best true crime memoirs, it highlights the unreliability of memory, how it’s weaponised against victims and exculpatory for perpetrators, and contrasts it with the simple power of narrative. Read my full review of True Story here.
The Concierge by Abby Corson
Hector Harrow has worked at Cavengreen Hotel for his entire adult life. He’s the hotel concierge, which means he sees everything and says nothing… until now. He’s finally ready to spill the beans about what happened the night of the murder. That’s where The Concierge begins. It turns out Hector Harrow didn’t just discover the body at Cavengreen Hotel, he was accused of the murder, and he’s telling the story in the hopes of clearing his name. Read my full review of The Concierge here.
Pheasants Nest by Louise Milligan
If you love true crime, you probably have a favourite crime reporter (or three) – have you ever wondered how they would tell their own story of becoming a victim of crime? Pheasants Nest is a surprising thriller about a journalist who is kidnapped, and finds herself living out the worst-case-scenarios she reports on the news. Australian journalist Louise Milligan doesn’t stray far from the maxim of “write what you know”, and the results are extraordinary. Read my full review of Pheasants Nest here.
Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera
Not many true crime devotees wind up investigating a crime they themselves might have committed – that’s what makes Listen For The Lie so intriguing. Years ago, Lucy was found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend’s blood. She can’t remember a thing about what happened that night leading up to Savvy’s death, but now Ben Owens – a good looking true crime podcaster – is determined to get to the bottom of it… which means Lucy will have to as well. She needs to find the truth, even if the truth is that she’s a murderer.
True Crime Story by Joseph Knox
True Crime Story is a metafictional twisty thriller that reads exactly like a cold case file. This epistolary novel unfolds through interview transcripts and email trails, leading readers closer and closer to the truth of what happened the night that student Zoe Nolan vanished without a trace. This is the perfect fiction book for true crime fans because you will find yourself asking again and again: did this really happen?
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