The Best True Crime Books of Spring 2019

If you’re looking for true crime that gives voice to the victims, that’s exactly what Hallie Rubenhold set out to do for the women murdered by Jack the Ripper in London, 1888. Having never been identified, Jack the Ripper has become infamous, with countless works surrounding the crimes not only preventing the victims' real stories from being told but also allowing misinformation to persist. Here, we finally get to know Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane.

On Sale April 9th

Nicole Weisensee Egan began reporting on Bill Cosby starting in 2005 when Andrea Constand filed a civil suit against him. Now she has written a book sharing her firsthand account of the thirteen years it took for justice to be served. The book tackles not only Cosby's crimes and predatory behavior, but also the societal issues surrounding and influencing one of the highest-profile cases in the #metoo era.

On Sale April 23rd

My true crime obsessions for the last few years have been nonviolent true crime books that are bananapants (The Feather Thief and The Spy Who Couldn't Spell) and true crime memoir/biographies. This one falls into the latter category and is the story of a rural preacher, Willie Maxwell, who was accused of murdering his family in the ‘70s for insurance money. He was murdered at the funeral of the last victim, and Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who had years earlier helped Truman Capote research In Cold Blood, was reporting on this case and thinking of writing her own true crime classic. This book brings us the true crime, the racial politics surrounding it, and Harper Lee’s attempt to write a book about it. True crime literary catnip.

On Sale May 7th

Linda Taylor was a con artist, kidnapper, and possibly a murderer, but was only looked at as a welfare cheat. Levin spent six years researching to get past the racism-created “welfare queen” myth to tell the story of Linda Taylor, what she did, what was done to her, and how her name was used and manipulated by politicians in order to further vilify poor black women. True crime books that don’t ignore society’s problems and biases are always my jam.

On Sale May 21st

If you’re thinking you’ve already read everything on the brutal murders Charles Manson ordered his followers to carry out in 1969, this book may be for you. O’Neill spent twenty years obsessed with finding the holes in the official story, from who Manson’s real Hollywood friends had been, to why police didn’t act sooner, and he has compiled dozens of never-before-seen documents and hundreds of new interviews in this book.

Related: True Stories of White Collar Crime