Whodunit?
Sometimes, the answer is known before you even have a chance to hear the whole story. Other times, the story of a crime is more than just a murder or a B&E. Either way, most definitely, you need a good true-crime book, like maybe one of these…
What you’ll read inside “Shadow of the Bridge” by Aine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus, $29.95) will chill you to your toenails, especially if you’re a parent. It’s the story of two teenage girls out on a hike, the man they accidentally met along a bridge in Indiana, and the crime that shocked a nation. Yes, you saw the search for the girls and the reports on the news; this book takes things further with excellent journalism. You’ll be riveted.
A true-crime book doesn’t have to be set in recent years; the crime can be decades old and still be of interest, as you’ll see in “Sisters in Death: The Black Dahlia, The Prairie Heiress, and Their Hunter” by Eli Frankel (Citadel Press, $28). Ever since Elizabeth Short was discovered nude and surgically bisected in an empty Los Angeles lot in 1947, sleuths both professional and amateur have tried to figure out who killed her. Here, Frankel offers another possibility to the solution, and it may reach farther back — more than eight decades ago, in fact. If the Black Dahlia death still confounds you, here’s your book.
No doubt, true crime aficionados are familiar with psychic and sometimes-crime-solver John Edward, so “Chasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and Justice,” written with Robert Hilland (St. Martin’s Essentials, $32) is a book they’ll know is one to read. Nearly thirty years ago, then-FBI agent Hilland called Edward with the hope that the psychic could help with a few cold cases. What happened is a tale that’s deep, wide, and one you’ll devour if you also enjoy a little memoir with your murder.
And then maybe it’s time to let a real killer tell a true-crime story. “The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us” by John J. Lennon (Celadon, $29.99) is Lennon’s account of four killers who reside in prison, including Lennon himself. Yes, he committed murder but he’s also a journalist who reports from the inside of the cell block. This is not just a quadruple-true crime tale, though; it’s also the story of our fascination with crimes and those who commit them, and it’s a tale of hopeful redemption. Beware that this book may be triggering for some readers: it can be bluntly, brutally honest.
And if these four books aren’t enough to get you through the winter, then be sure to hurry to your favorite library or bookstore and find lots more. Your librarian or bookseller can put the exact right book or books in your hands, so you can read about true crime through the ages, cold cases, or modern murders. Ask them for help, and see if you can figure out whodunit.
True Crime Books by various authors
c.2025, various publishers
$28.00-$32.00
various page counts
