Upcoming True Crime Books to Dive Into
new and forthcoming books for the winter season
If you’re like me and live in a place where the winter chill set in weeks ago, thinking of tomorrow as the official start to the winter season may seem as absurd to you as it does to me. I’ve been hibernating and resetting for awhile now, something that I appreciate about these months.
It’s also the time of year that I settle in and read more books than any time of the year and since many of them will be new or forthcoming nonfiction books that touch on crime, I thought I’d gather together this guide so we can all start reserving and pre-ordering these fascinating and important forthcoming books now.
The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
by Kate Winkler Dawson
Release Date: January 7
What the publisher says: On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide…or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River. The murder divided the country and inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter—but the reverend was not convicted, and questions linger to this day about what really led to Sarah Cornell’s death. Until now.
Why I say: Kate Winkler Dawson’s now a veteran of historical true crime books, most notably with American Sherlock and All That is Wicked under her belt, so I can’t wait to dig into her latest. The promise of applying modern forensic techniques to this 93-year-old crime is tantalizing. Plus, like many American schoolchildren, I was forced to read The Scarlet Letter never knowing that Hawthorne was inspired by this very real crime. I can’t wait to read more, and, dare I say, attempt The Scarlet Letter again (who am I kidding, I’ll probably just watch Easy A again and call it a day).
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You’ll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I should Only Tell My Therapist
by Kari Ferrell
Release Date: January 7
What the publisher says: Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth and identity as one of the few Asian Americans in her insulated community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in.
Soon, stealing from superstores turned into picking up men (and picking their pockets), and before she knew it, Kari graduated from petty theft to Utah’s most wanted list. Though Kari was able to escape the Southwest, she couldn’t outrun her new moniker: the Hipster Grifter.
New York City’s indie sleaze scene had found its newest celebrity—just as Kari found herself in a heap of trouble. Jail time, riots, bad checks, and an explosion of internet infamy and fetishization put her name in the spotlight. Beyond the gossip and Gawker posts, there’s a side to Kari the media never saw—until now.
Why I say: I may have missed Ferrell’s Hipster Grifter era as it unfolded in real time, but I love true crime stories about grift. Additionally, I think it’s important for women to tell their stories, in all their complexities, so I’m going into this eager to hear her tell it in a way only she can. Early reader reviews talk about how this book is simultaneously heartbreaking and humorous which is a tough balance to master. I may not know the Hipster Grifter, but I definetely want to know Ferrell.
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The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story
by Pagan Kennedy
Release Date: January 14
What the publisher says: In 1972, Martha “Marty” Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool—the rape kit—and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country. Yet even as Marty fought for women’s rights, she allowed a man to take credit for her work.
When journalist Pagan Kennedy went looking for this forgotten pioneer, she discovered that even Marty Goddard’s closest friends had lost track of her. As Pagan followed a trail of clues to solve the mystery of Marty, she also delved into the problematic history of forensics in America. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles one journalist’s mission to understand a crucial innovation in forensics and the woman who championed it. As Pagan Kennedy hunts for answers, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault and her own desire for justice.
Why I say: Despite covering true crime stories for awhile, particularly stories that involve violence against women, it surprised me that I had never stopped to consider where the rape kit came from or who might have invented it. Learning the history behind the rape kit fills a knowledge void I wasn’t aware I had, and I’m thankful to Kennedy for sharing her own story as well as making sure Marty Goddard’s work does not continue to be erased.
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Killer Story: The Truth Behind True Crime Television - A Memoir
by Claire St. Amant
Release Date: February 18
What the publisher says: Serial killers. Homicidal spouses. Sociopathic criminals. Claire St. Amant has met them all. She spent nearly a decade in network television chasing the biggest true crime stories in the country, including the murder of Chris Kyle, plastic surgeon turned murder-for-hire suspect Thomas Michael Dixon, the Parkland High School mass shooting, the disappearance of Christina Morris, and serial killer Samuel Little. Bringing a true crime story to network television requires quick thinking and tenacious stamina, and in her debut memoir, Claire offers true crime fans a rare in-depth look on the other side of the yellow tape.
Why I say: As someone who spends a lot of time with crime stories, it may come as a surprise that I don’t watch a lot of true crime television series. Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware of the offerings, but I always choose books over television. I am fascinated, though, about them as a genre, so getting a behind-the-scenes look at them in the form of the book seems like the perfect answer here.
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Proud Flesh: A Story of Motherhood, Intimate Violence, and Pleasure
by Catherine Simone Gray
Release Date: February 25
What the publisher says: Four months postpartum with her second child, Catherine Simone Gray is back at her doctor’s office, surveying a childbirth wound that refuses to mend. Proud flesh: tissue that overheals to become its own wound. Pregnancy and motherhood had been physically vulnerable for Gray, but this renders her most intimate parts unrecognizable—like her body is no longer her own. Has it ever been her own?
As she gets to know her body in its new form, she encounters, too, the girl she’d been at seventeen. It was summertime in Mississippi—wild, pulsing with life—when a man coerced her into an abusive relationship that would dominate her life for four years.
What I say: This might not seem like an obvious choice for a true crime book selection, but I’m here to boldly state that I’m working to expand out notion of what true crime is and what types of stories it can contain. By intertwining these two stories from her life, it appears Gray is examining moments in which women’s bodies can feel not their own. And, as someone who has experienced earlier abuse as well as the postpartum era, I’m desperate for a book like this that examines the complexities and intersections of both.
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Saving Five: A Memoir of Hope
by Amanda Nguyen
Release Date: March 4
What the publisher says: In 2013, the trajectory of Amanda Nguyen’s life was changed forever when she was raped at Harvard.
Determined to not let her assault derail her goal of joining NASA after graduation, Nguyen opted for her rape kit to be filed under “Jane Doe.” But she was shocked to learn her choice to stay anonymous gave her only six months to take action before the state destroyed her kit, rendering any future legal action impossible. Nguyen knew then that she had two options: surrender to a law that effectively denied her justice, or fight for a change—not only for herself but for survivors everywhere.
What I say: As an activist, Nguyen was instrumental in the passage of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act (2016), an important piece of legislation for sexual assault survivors in the United States. Knowing the topic of this book and knowing of the author is enough to have me hit the pre-order button, but on the level of form, Nguyen uses versions of herself at different points in her life to tell their stories of the experience in ways that goes beyond a more traditional memoir format.
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Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco
by Gary Krist
Release Date: March 11
What the publisher says: Shortly before dusk on November 3, 1870, just as the ferryboat El Capitan was pulling away from its slip into San Francisco Bay, a woman clad in black emerged from the shadows and strode across the crowded deck. Reaching under her veil, she drew a small pistol and aimed it directly at a well-dressed man sitting quietly with his wife and children. The woman fired a single bullet into his chest. “I did it and I don’t deny it,” she said when arrested shortly thereafter. “He ruined both myself and my daughter.”
Though little remembered today, the trial of Laura D. Fair for the murder of her lover, A. P. Crittenden, made headlines nationwide. As bestselling author Gary Krist reveals, the operatic facts of the case—a woman strung along for years by a two-timing man, killing him in an alleged fit of madness—challenged an American populace still searching for moral consensus after the Civil War. The trial shone an early and uncomfortable spotlight on social issues like the role of women, the sanctity of the family, and the range of acceptable expressions of gender, while jolting the still-adolescent metropolis of 1870s San Francisco, a city eager to shed its rough-and-tumble Gold Rush-era reputation.
What I say: Honestly, if it’s a historic crime, I’m already invested. I hadn’t heard of Laura D. Fair’s crime until learning of Krist’s book, so I’m thrilled to spend some time with a story that I don’t know much about. And even though I often cover stories of crimes against women, the purpose of this newsletter is also to explore stories where women are the perpetrators. I can’t wait to read Krist’s book and think more deeply about how to tell those kinds of stories in a connective way.
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The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart’s New York
by Elon Green
Release Date: March 11
What the publisher says: At twenty-five years old, Michael Stewart was a young Black aspiring artist, deejay, and model, looking to make a name for himself in the vibrant downtown art scene of the early 1980’s New York City. On September 15, 1983, he was brutally beaten by New York City Transit Authority police for allegedly tagging a 14th Street subway station wall.
Witnesses reported officers beating him with billy clubs and choking him with a nightstick. Stewart arrived at Bellevue Hospital hog-tied with no heartbeat and died after thirteen days in a coma. This was, at that point, the most widely noticed act of police brutality in the city's history. The Man Nobody Killed recounts the cultural impact of Michael Stewart’s life and death.
The Stewart case quickly catalyzed movements across multiple communities. It became a rallying cry, taken up by artists and singers including Madonna, Keith Haring, Spike Lee, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, tabloid legends such as Jimmy Breslin and Murray Kempton, and the pioneering local news reporter, Gabe Pressman. The Stewart family and the downtown arts community of 1980s New York demanded justice for Michael, leading to multiple investigations into the circumstances of his wrongful death.
What I say: Okay, okay, this isn’t a true crime book about or by women, but I couldn’t resist adding Elon Green’s book because it’s also a story that I don’t know much about. Green, best known for his book Last Call, explores here the failures of the justice system. I’ve been thinking a lot about who policing serves, or rather what policing serves in my own work. When I worked in nonprofits, we often talked about the importance of storytelling in enacting change. I hope and believe hearing stories like Michael Stewart’s can be pieces that enact the kinds of change we need.
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