4 Books to Transform True Crime, Forensics, and Criminology
All my life, I’ve been an avid reader. So much so, I am now a bookseller at Barnes & Noble. I’ve always found that my best source of receiving and retaining information comes from books, so when faced with wanting to learn more about the realms of forensic psychology and criminology, I turn to them. Today, I have put together a list of books that I’ve read/learned a lot about that can hopefully provide a bit of insight into past and current happenings within both industries.
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Killers of The Flower Moon by David Grann
Although recently popularized by the release of the movie, Killers of the Flower Moon has been well-known for a while now. The book is described as a depiction of “the birth of the FBI” and follows the Osage Indian Murders of the early 1900s. At the time, the Osage possessed a substantial amount of money as they lived on land that was filled with oil. Eventually, they began to be killed off and those that began investigating met a similar fate. It was one of the FBI’s first cases (that was handled poorly) and set them down a road to become what they are today. Full of deception, mystery, and questions still to be uncovered today, Killers of the Flower Moon will offer the reader a thrilling story of one of the biggest organizations rise to the top.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Published in 1966, In Cold Blood follows the true story of the Clutter family. In Holcomb, Kansas, nothing ever happens to its lovely citizens until the murder of the Clutters rocks the town off its feet. In tandem, we follow the two killers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, as they hatch and execute their plan of action. Truman Capote spent six years writing In Cold Blood and countless days of research alongside Harper Lee learning each aspect of the story. The book describes the days that led up to the killing, the killing itself, and the six weeks afterwards in which the search was conducted for Hickock and Smith. If you want to learn about investigative methods, curated crime, and one of the most renowned cases in history, In Cold Blood is a book for you.
The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum
The Poisoner’s Handbook follows the Jazz Age of New York City as the rise of poison rocked its streets. Left and right, people were dying from the effects of perilous chemicals and there was no medicine to combat the spread of disease. The book tells the tale of “the birth of forensic medicine” and how toxicologist Alexander Gettler and medical examiner Charles Norris were the start of it all. I truly believe that The Poisoner’s Handbook is one of the most influential and informative books I have read in a long time. By its finish, the reader will know each chemical that played a substantial part in the previous rise of New York’s death rate and how so many got away with murder for countless years.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
This book has raged across the top charts for months now and for good reason. Although originally published years ago, The Devil in the White City has come back to tell the true tale of Henry H. Holmes and Daniel Hudson Burnham. Holmes used the popularity of a state fair to attract women to his “torture palace” while Burnham was an architect that orchestrated the building of our country’s most well-known structures. Additionally, he also served as the fair’s director of works. The fair was the captivator of them both and the book follows them as they conducted their own plans of action. A true story that will leave readers reeling, The Devil in the White City portrays the reality of true crime to its very fullest.
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These 4 books are ones that have topped the charts for years on end and will continue to do so, as they give readers the thrill, mystery, and unnerving reality that we all seek to learn about. I hope that each of these books will provide you with the information and captivation that it did for me, and educate you on the workings of criminology and forensic psychology in the past and present.