Feeling like a thrill that’s more fact than fiction? Pick up one of our favorite true crime books of 2024.
When your taste for a thrilling new read turns from fiction to fact, nothing hits like an excellent true crime book. Whether high profile or low, these stories are of the jaw-dropping, mind-blowing sort that put you on the edge of your seat and keep you there from start to finish. The most thrilling thing about all about them: they actually happened. And when these narratives are put in the hands of great writers, you simply can’t put them down. With that, if you dare, take a peek at our favorite true crime books of 2024.
There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish
by Anna Akbari
ONE OF PEOPLE'S BEST BOOKS THE MONTH AND A JULY SPOTIFY AUDIOBOOK OF THE MONTH!
"I did not expect to be shocked by There Is No Ethan. Online deception has become so ubiquitous that it's boring . . . But the twists and turns in Anna Akbari's book are outrageous. I read it in one sitting, then spent days recounting her story to anyone who would listen, unable to shake off my indignation on behalf of the author and her fellow victims." –New York Times
"Just when you think you know what's going to happen, trust me, you don't." –Abby Jimenez, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them.
In 2011, three successful and highly educated women fell head over heels for the brilliant and charming Ethan Schuman. Unbeknownst to the others, each exchanged countless messages with Ethan, staying up late into the evenings to deepen their connections with this fascinating man. His detailed excuses about broken webcams and complicated international calling plans seemed believable, as did last-minute trip cancellations. After all, why would he lie? Ethan wasn't after money – he never convinced his marks to shell out thousands of dollars for some imagined crisis. Rather, he ensnared these women in a web of intense emotional intimacy. After the trio independently began to question inconsistencies in their new flame's stories, they managed to find one another and uncover a greater deception than they could've ever imagined. As Anna Akbari and the women untangled their catfish's web, they found other victims and realized that without a proper crime, there was no legal reason for "Ethan" to ever stop.
There Is No Ethan catalogues Akbari's experience as both victim and observer. By looking at the bigger picture of where these stories unfold – a world where technology mediates our relationships; where words and images are easily manipulated; and where truth, reality, and identity have become slippery terms – Akbari gives a page-turning and riveting examination of why stories like Ethan's matter for us all.
A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue
by Dean Jobb
A captivating Jazz Age true-crime caper about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), Arthur Barry, who charmed everyone from Rockefellers to members of the royal family while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the 1920s.
“A master of narrative nonfiction. In this mesmerizing tale about a Jazz Age gentlemanly thief, Jobb has found his own perfect jewel.” – David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon
“An enthrallingly propulsive, unpredictably twisty biography of one of the most fascinating criminals of the 20th Century. I was hooked from the very first heist.” –Michael Finkel, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Thief and The Stranger in the Woods
Catch Me If You Can meets The Great Gatsby meets the hit Netflix series Lupin in this captivating true-crime caper. A skilled con artist and perhaps one of the most charming, audacious burglars in history, Arthur Barry slipped in and out of the bedrooms of New York's wealthiest residents, even as his victims slept only inches away. He befriended luminaries such as the Prince of Wales and Harry Houdini and became a folk hero, touted in the press as "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" and an "Aristocrat of Crime." In a span of seven years, Barry stole diamonds, pearls, and other gems worth almost $60 million today. Among his victims were a Rockefeller, an heiress to the Woolworth department store fortune, an oil magnate, Wall Street bigwigs, a top executive of automotive giant General Motors, and a famous polo player. Dean Jobb – hailed by Esquire magazine as "a master of narrative nonfiction" – once again delivers a stylishly told high-speed ride.
A Gentleman and a Thief is also a love story. Barry confessed to dozens of burglaries to protect his wife, Anna Blake (and was the prime suspect in scores of others). Sentenced to a twenty-five year term, he staged a dramatic prison break when Anna became seriously ill so they could be together for a few more years as fugitives. With dozens of historic images, A Gentleman and a Thief is page-turning, escapist, and sparkling with insight into our fascination with jewel heists and the suave, clever criminals who pull them off.
Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
by Joseph Cox
The inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI made its own tech start-up to wiretap the world, shows how cunning both the authorities and drug traffickers have become, with privacy implications for everyone.
In 2018, a powerful app for secure communications called Anom took root among organized criminals. They believed Anom allowed them to conduct business in the shadows. Except for one thing: it was secretly run by the FBI.
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers. Money launderers. Hitmen. A sprawling global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover. But, as the FBI started to lose control of Anom, did the agency go too far?
A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.
The Serial Killer's Apprentice
by Katherine Ramsland and Tracy Ullman
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was only fourteen when he first became entangled with serial rapist and murderer Dean Corll in 1971. Fellow Houston, Texas, teenager David Brooks had already been ensnared by the charming older man, bribed with cash to help lure boys to Corll's home. When Henley unwittingly entered the trap, Corll evidently sensed he'd be of more use as a second accomplice than another victim. He baited Henley with the same deal he'd given Brooks: $200 for each boy they could bring him.
Henley didn't understand the full extent of what he had signed up for at first. But once he started, Corll convinced him that he had crossed the line of no return and had to not only procure boys but help kill them and dispose of the bodies, as well. When Henley first took a life, he lost his moral base. He felt doomed. By the time he was seventeen, he'd helped with multiple murders and believed he'd be killed, too. But on August 8, 1973, he picked up a gun and shot Corll. When he turned himself in, Henley showed police where he and Brooks had buried Corll's victims in mass graves. Twenty-eight bodies were recovered – most of them boys from Henley's neighborhood – making this the worst case of serial murder in America at the time. The case reveals gross failures in the way cops handled parents' pleas to look for their missing sons and how law enforcement possibly protected a larger conspiracy.
The Serial Killer's Apprentice tells the story of Corll and his accomplices in its fullest form to date. It also explores the concept of "mur-dar" (the predator's instinct for exploitable kids), current neuroscience about adolescent brain vulnerabilities, the role of compartmentalization, the dynamic of a murder apprenticeship, and how tales like Henley's can aid with early intervention. Despite his youth and cooperation, Henley went to trial and received six life sentences. He's now sixty-five and has a sense of perspective about how adult predators can turn formerly good kids into criminals. Unexpectedly, he's willing to talk. This book is his warning and the story of the unspeakable evil and sorrow that befell Houston in the early 1970s.
Clay and Bones: My Life as an FBI Forensic Artist
by Lisa G Bailey
Told with unflinching honesty and a touch of gallows humor, Clay and Bones is the personal memoir of the first female forensic sculptor in the FBI.
Clay and Bones is a memoir with a mission, and a fascinating exploration into the surreal and satisfying work of a forensic artist.
Lisa Bailey never considered a career working in death until she saw the FBI job posting for a forensic artist. The idea of using her artistic skill to help victims of crime was too compelling to pass up.
Soon she was documenting crime scenes, photographing charred corpses, and digitally retouching the disembodied heads of suicide bombers. But it was facial approximation – sculpting a face from the remnants of an unidentified victim's skull – that intrigued her the most. Bailey knew that if she could capture that person's likeness in clay, she just might help them be identified, and that might help law enforcement track down their killer.
Bailey worked on hundreds of cases and grew to become a subject matter expert in the field. It was the most challenging and fulfilling work she could have imagined, and she never thought of leaving. But her life changed when she became the target of sexual discrimination and harassment. She was stunned when FBI management protected the abusers and retaliated with threats, slander, and an arsenal of lawyers. Trapped in an increasingly hostile work environment, and infuriated at the hypocrisy of the FBI's tactics, Bailey decided to fight back.
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
by Wright Thompson
An instant New York Times bestseller!
"It literally changed my outlook on the world . . . incredible." – Shonda Rhimes
"The Barn is serious history and skillful journalism, but with the nuance and wallop of a finely wrought novel . . . The Barn describes not just the poison of silence and lies, but also the dignity of courage and truth." – The Washington Post
"The most brutal, layered, and absolutely beautiful book about Mississippi, and really how the world conspired with the best and worst parts of Mississippi, I will ever read . . . Reporting and reckoning can get no better, or more important, than this." –Kiese Laymon
"An incredible history of a crime that changed America." –John Grisham
"With integrity, and soul, Thompson unearths the terrible how and why, carrying us back and forth through time, deep in Mississippi – baring, sweat, soil, and heart all the way through." –Imani Perry
A shocking and revelatory account of the murder of Emmett Till that lays bare how forces from around the world converged on the Mississippi Delta in the long lead-up to the crime, and how the truth was erased for so long.
Wright Thompson's family farm in Mississippi is 23 miles from the site of one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history, yet he had to leave the state for college before he learned the first thing about it. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are widely unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.
In August 1955, two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were charged with the torture and murder of the 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. After their inevitable acquittal in a mockery of justice, they gave a false confession to a journalist, which was misleading about where the long night of hell took place and who was involved. In fact, Wright Thompson reveals, at least eight people can be placed at the scene, which was inside the barn of one of the killers, on a plot of land within the six-square-mile grid whose official name is Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, fabled in the Delta of myth as the birthplace of the blues on nearby Dockery Plantation.
Even in the context of the racist caste regime of the time, the four-hour torture and murder of a Black boy barely in his teens for whistling at a young white woman was acutely depraved; Till's mother Mamie Till-Mobley's decision to keep the casket open seared the crime indelibly into American consciousness. Wright Thompson has a deep understanding of this story--the world of the families of both Emmett Till and his killers, and all the forces that aligned to place them together on that spot on the map. As he shows, the full horror of the crime was its inevitability, and how much about it we still need to understand. Ultimately this is a story about property, and money, and power, and white supremacy. It implicates all of us. In The Barn, Thompson brings to life the small group of dedicated people who have been engaged in the hard, fearful business of bringing the truth to light. Putting the killing floor of the barn on the map of Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, and the Delta, and America, is a way of mapping the road this country must travel if we are to heal our oldest, deepest wound.
The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty
by Valerie Bauerlein
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "The definitive account of the Murdaugh murders. Forget the podcasts, the TV specials, and the documentaries – this is the version of the story you'll want to read. And once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down." –John Carreyrou, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Bad Blood
Power, privilege, and blood – this is the true story of Alex Murdaugh's violent downfall, from a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter who has become an authority on the case.
Alex Murdaugh was a benevolent dictator – the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers' association, a political boss, a part-time prosecutor, and a partner in his family's law firm. He was always ready with a favor, a drink, and an invitation to Moselle, his family's 1,700-acre hunting estate. The Murdaugh name ignited respect – and fear – for a hundred miles.
When he murdered his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at Moselle on a dark summer night, the fragile façade of Alex's world could no longer hold. His forefathers had covered up a midnight suicide at a remote railroad crossing, a bootlegging ring run from a courthouse, and the attempted murder of a pregnant lover. Alex, too, almost walked away from his unspeakable crimes with his reputation intact, but his downfall was secured by a twist of fate, some stray mistakes, and a fateful decision by an old friend who'd finally seen enough.
Why would a man who had everything kill his wife and grown son? To unwind the roots of Alex's ruin, award-winning journalist Valerie Bauerlein reported not just from the courthouse every day but also along the backroads and through the tidal marshes of South Carolina's Lowcountry. When the jurors made their pilgrimage to the crime scene, trying to envision Maggie and Paul's last moments, she walked right behind them, sensing the ghosts that haunt the Murdaughs' now-shattered legacy.
Through masterful research and cinematic writing, The Devil at His Elbow is a transporting journey through Alex's life, the night of the murders, and the investigation that culminated in a trial that held tens of millions spellbound. With her stunning insights and fearless instinct for the truth, Bauerlein uncovers layers of the Murdaugh murder case that have not been told.
The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice
by Alex Hortis
Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony – before even Lizzie Borden – there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation's debut media circus.
On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home – and then covered up the crime with hellfire.
When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin's sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new "penny press" explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she's a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials – in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh – for the "Christmas murders."
After Polly's legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated not only her guilt, but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper's last novel was inspired by her trials.
The Witch of New York is the first narrative history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America's formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from Old New York – and uses the Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice of today.