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True Crime


missybct

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Would really like to hear from real true crime fans. I probably own the majority of American t/c books would love to hear from Brits especially books on Fred and Rose West, Moors Murders, Yorkshire Ripper, JR Christie, etc.

 

I have to say I haven't read many British true crime books... Have you read through the posts in this thread, there may be some recommendations in the earlier posts? :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

A rip in Heaven is highly emotional account of the 1991 rape and murder of Robin and Julie
Kerry and the attempted murder of their cousin, Tom Cummins who, for
some time after the crime, remained wrongfully targeted as the prime
suspect by the police.

 














 

 














 
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  • 4 weeks later...

Has anyone read In Love with a Serial Killer by Sandy Fawkes?

 

From Book Depository:

 

"When Sandy Fawkes met a tall, handsome American in a hotel bar in Atlanta, she could never have dreamed what lay in store. The man, charming and enigmatic, told her he was completing a twenty-thousand-mile journey across America. As he was going her way, Sandy accepted his invitation of a lift. They quickly became lovers. What Paul John Knowles failed to tell her was that he had left a trail of bloody murder along his route, a trail which had yet to end..."In Love With A Serial Killer" is the astonishing true story of one woman and an eighteen-time killer. It tells us how he charmed her and how she nearly became her nineteenth victim. A cold-blooded killer, Knowles raped many of his victims both male and female. He killed the day he met Sandy; he killed again after she left him. This is an intimate account of one of the most gruesome and terrible serial killers in history, told by the woman who survived his fearsome attentions."

 

 

I came across this title when browsing BD for true crime books, sounds pretty interesting!

Edited by frankie
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Hi Frankie

 I haven't read the book you mentioned , unless it was so long ago that I forgot .

I need to go back through this thread and read up on it to see what other books people may have mentioned from the beginning . I might find some other good ideas for books . Not like I have a shortage of true crime .  I've actually taken a short leave from them to read a couple other books first .  :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now I know this isn't a book but it is well worth watching

 

I don't know if any of Americans remember in the news and what not about a true crime case over there about (The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills). 

In total there are three documentaries all call *Paradise Lost*

 

Here is the like to the wiki pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost:_The_Child_Murders_at_Robin_Hood_Hills

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_2:_Revelations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost_3:_Purgatory

 

so please watch it. It makes you really think of the Justice System not only in America but all over the world.

 

*Just checked and there is a book about the case called Devil's Knot and that was also made in to a movie

Edited by Amanda20102
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Hi Amanda

 Yes, I know the case you're talking about. I read the book quite awhile ago ,and have seen the boys on a couple tv shows .

Just one example of why I don't believe in the death penalty .

Those boys just happened to have the misfortune of dressing differently and living in a backwater town ,to get them railroaded right into prison .

Thankfully someone got them help before it was too late .

Only one of dozens of cases of wrongful conviction and over-zealous police .

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  • 4 months later...

I read a lot of true crime books (especially about serial killers) because killing for recreation is the most bizarre concept I have ever encountered. I don't remember the book title, but one was about Dennis Nielsen. He was asked about how he dismembered the bodies without making a real mess of his living quarters. He very matter of factly walked the police through the process. It was something along the lines of "You just go into the kitchen and slit open four large garbage bags and tape the pieces together. Put the body in the center of the bags and dismember it. Afterwards, just fold up the bags and you have no blood to clean up." He dispassionately discussed this like you or I would unclogging a drain. (Ironically, that is how he was caught.) The human mind is capable of sublimely beautiful creations like poetry and music, and also the utter depravity that drives a person to kill for pleasure.

 

I would like to add one book to you to those of you who like true crime. It is KIller, the biography of Carl Panzram. I won't go into details if anyone wants to read it, but I will say there are people who think they are bad, and then there are people like Panzram who are Bad.

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  • 1 month later...

Tuxedo

 I think "killing for recreation " wouldn't be quite the way to describe serial killers in general.

For the most part, serial killers are extremely sick in their mind, so they aren't killing with a mentally sound brain .Anyone who kills as you are explaining are the Ultimate in Mental Illness . To anyone sane  , the concept of brutalizing a body to that point is impossible to fathom .

 

These guys are usually born with a Wiring Problem in their brain. As a young child they are  fascinated with death , killing and mutilations. That's not the norm for people . So guys that do things like you are mentioning really don't do it for a hobby or something fun to do. They do it because their mind is ill .A lot of them even realize they have a problem ,they know they can't stop themselves, and ask for help . For example, several serial killers that send letters to the police ,are in one way wanting attention ,but in another, a lot of them are begging to be caught and begging for help. They KNOW they will kill again if they aren't stopped.

Usually the thought of life in jail or the death penalty doesn't deter them from doing it, because they cannot stop themselves .

 

I've seen some interviews of them in jail after they are caught, and almost every one admits that he will do it again if he is let out . Lots of them beg NOT to be let out . I can't remember which guy I read about years ago that would intentionally try to beat up a guard or another prisoner when his release date was coming up because he knew he'd get out and kill someone else .

 

 The scariest killer I have ever read about is the BTK Killer . He went for many decades not getting caught. Looked ordinary, held down a job, had a family who were never aware of what he did, was active in church and scouts, etc.

When he was finally caught and he agreed to tell his story in court, he talked about it as if he were telling about what items he bought at the grocery store.

These guys are extremely mentally off balance , not just looking or some entertainment .

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  • 8 months later...

My 'review' of Thomas Quick: The Making of a Serial Killer by Hannes Råstam (I think some of you might be interested in this book!)

 

 

 

From Amazon

"Sweden's most suspenseful murder mystery may not be a fictional account from Stieg Larsson or Henning Mankell. It may end up being the true story of Thomas Quick."  —Wall Street Journal
 

"I wonder what you'd think of me if you found out that I've done something really serious."

So begin the confessions of Thomas Quick—Scandinavia's most notorious serial killer. In 1992, behind the barbed wire fence of a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, Thomas Quick confessed to the murder of an 11-year-old boy who had been missing for 12 years. Over the next nine years, Quick confessed to more than 30 unsolved murders, revealing he had maimed, raped, and eaten the remains of his victims. In the years that followed, a fearless investigative journalist called Hannes Råstam became obsessed with Quick's case. He studied the investigations in forensic detail. He scrutinized every interrogation, read and re-read the verdicts, watched the police reenactments, and tracked down the medical records and personal police logs—until finally he was faced with a horrifying uncertainty. In the spring of 2008, Råstam traveled to where Thomas Quick was serving a life sentence. He had one question for Sweden's most abominable serial killer, and the answer turned out to be far more terrifying than the man himself.

 

Thoughts: Some Finnish girl I've befriended on Goodreads based on her great taste in books had marked this as a read book, and that's how I got wind of it. For some reason I thought it was a novel   :doh:  Fortunately I like reading true crime books so I wasn't all too disappointed when my reserved copy arrived and I was able to pick it up from the library and found out it was non-fiction. 

 

What a harrowing read! I honestly couldn't believe some of the stuff I read in the book. I don't want to spoil anything in case someone wants to read the book and doesn't already know of Thomas Quick. I can only was I was pretty sickened by some of the things, and yet I was engrossed in the book. Recommended reading for true crime buffs!

 

Edit: When I was reading the book I just had to google some things related to the case, and I found out that Hannes Råstam was diagnosed with cancer when he was writing the book and he died rather soon after having been diagnosed. I can't remember if he was alive when the book was published. May he rest in peace, he did some great things in his life. 

Edited by frankie
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  • 2 years later...

I really love reading true crime novels so this thread has been great! I've read some of the books listed here, but there are so many I haven't read! I can't wait for my next bulk book purchase on Amazon  ;) . To add more to the list, there is a book coming out in February that I'm pretty excited for. It's "Who Killed Bob Crane?" written by a reporter by the name of John Hook. I've always been fascinated by Bob Crane's murder simply because the killer was never nailed down and there were so many clues pointing to different suspects. The book is trying to figure out who did it with some new DNA testing and some good old traditional investigation. I don't know if any of you would be interested but on the website you can get a excerpt from the book http://www.whokilledbobcrane.com/. It seems like a good read to me. 

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  • 4 years later...

Homicide by David Simon is a great book. No detective fiction writer could imagine the stories he told. I have also read The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns. This was written from the POV of the criminal subculture. It is good, but not as entertaining. I know we are not supposed to be entertained by true crime, but Homicide was entertaining as well as incredible. The Corner was more like sociology. 

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