When you make a purchase using links on our site, The Week may earn a commission. All reviews are written independently by our editorial team.
Kate Summerscale is the best-selling author of "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" and several other acclaimed works of British true crime. Her latest work is "The Book of Phobias and Manias," to be followed in early 2025 by "The Peepshow: The Murders at Rillington Place."
'Life After Life' by Tony Parker (1990)
Parker recorded interviews with 12 British men and women who had been convicted of murder, then transcribed and edited their words to create a series of extraordinary first-person narratives. Along with Truman Capote's (very different) In Cold Blood, this book opened my eyes to the possibilities of writing about crime. Buy it here.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'This House of Grief' by Helen Garner (2014)
A wonderful account of the trial of an Australian man charged with the 2005 murder of his three young sons. Garner documents every twist in the proceedings — and her own feelings about the case. Buy it here.
'The Journalist and the Murderer' by Janet Malcolm (1989)
A brilliant, bracing examination of the relationship between Jeffrey MacDonald, a U.S. Army captain who was eventually convicted of having killed his wife and children in 1970, and his biographer Joe McGinniss, who claimed to believe in MacDonald's innocence but denounced him in print. Buy it here.
'The Adversary' by Emmanuel Carrère (2000)
The shocking story of Jean-Claude Romand, an apparently respectable French doctor who murdered his wife, his children, and his parents in 1993. Romand's whole life, it emerged, had been a weird and elaborate hoax. Buy it here.
'The Devil You Know' by Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne (2021)
A forensic psychiatrist reflects on some of the criminal offenders she has treated at Broadmoor, the storied psychiatric hospital west of London. Adshead offers fascinating suggestions about the meaning of their violence. Buy it here.
'A Thread of Violence' by Mark O'Connell (2023)
This is another book that interrogates the act of writing about crime. O'Connell tracked down and interviewed Irish socialite Malcolm Macarthur, who killed two strangers in Dublin in 1982. To write about Macarthur, he realized, was both to exalt and to exploit him. "Whether I liked it or not," he says, "I was implicated." Buy it here.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Sudan stands on the brink of another national schismThe Explainer With tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, one of Africa’s most severe outbreaks of sectarian violence is poised to take a dramatic turn for the worse
-
‘Not every social scourge is an act of war’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
6 trailside homes for hikersFeature Featuring a roof deck with skyline views in California and a home with access to private trails in Montana
-
Lazarus: Harlan Coben’s ‘embarrassingly compelling’ thrillerThe Week Recommends Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin play father-and-son psychiatrists in this ‘precision-engineered’ crime drama
-
The Rose Field: a ‘nail-biting’ end to The Book of Dust seriesThe Week Recommends Philip Pullman’s superb new novel brings the trilogy to a ‘fitting’ conclusion
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
The Mastermind: Josh O’Connor stars in unconventional art heist movieThe Week Recommends Kelly Reichardt cements her status as the ‘queen of slow cinema’ with her latest film
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
-
Film reviews: Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Frankenstein, and Blue MoonFeature A rock star on the rise turns inward, a stressed mother begins to unravel, and more
-
Beth Macy’s 6 favorite books about living in a divided nationFeature The journalist recommends works by Nicholas Buccola, Matthew Desmond, and more
