Kate Summerscale's 6 favorite true crime books about real murder cases
The best-selling author recommends works by Helen Garner, Gwen Adshead, and more

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.
Subscribe to 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 free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
'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 Week contest: Flight fraud
Puzzles and Quizzes
-
Is Trump sidelining Congress' war powers?
Today's Big Question The Iran attack renews a long-running debate
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts
-
Critics' choice: Carrying the flag
Feature The best barbecue in town, Bradley Cooper's cheesesteak restaurant, and more
-
Film review: Materialists
Feature Two suitors seek to win over a jaded matchmaker
-
Music reviews: Haim, Addison Rae, and Annahstasia
Feature "I Quit," "Addison," and "Tether"
-
Anne Hillerman's 6 favorite books with Native characters
Feature The author recommends works by Ramona Emerson, Craig Johnson, and more
-
Book reviews: '1861: The Lost Peace' and 'Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers'
Feature How America tried to avoid the Civil War and the link between lead pollution and serial killers
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Grilled radicchio with caper and anchovy sauce recipe
The Week Recommends Smoky twist on classic Italian flavours is perfect to grill, drizzle and devour