Anyone Else Read True Crime Books?

[Brutie]

If I'm not cross stitching at night watching tv, then I'm more than likely reading or doing a seach a word book. I just cant sit still and not do something, drives me crazy..

Does anyone else read the True Crime books? Ann Rule is my fave author, but I'll read any TC book that sounds interesting and has pictures in it. I have to have pictures, once I've been reading it awhile I like to see the people I'm reading about.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I read some. I don't read too many as they are actually depressing overall.
I use to read mystery books on a regular basis, such as Agatha Christie. After awhile they seem too much the same and predictable. I like to read history and folklore too.
So TC kinda fell into place with non-fiction. Overall I just prefer non-fiction to fiction.
And I like to try to put logic to why people do what they do. Although we try to make the illogical logical, and sometimes that is just not possible.

 

[monkeyboy]

Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Cases
By Dr. Henry Lee

 

[Brutie]

Oh I love Dr. Lee. He had a show for awhile on Court TV, but I havent seen it in a few months. I dont know if its off the air or just on break for now but its very good. For me, he is the utmost authority on forensic science, that man is amazing with what he can determine by a few drops of blood splatter.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I read the murder ones.

I like Ann Rule a lot. She manages to tell the stories while maintaining the dignity of (and respect for) the victims.

Dominick Dunne is another pro-victim writer that I really like. His books are mostly done more as novels, but everyone knew what they were about...and he finally came out and said his books were based on this case or that. And he's a great writer (except that OJ book...that was awful).

 

[Luv2Roam]

I have to admit, I watch Court TV. (Sometimes too much. ) Love Nancy Grace. Smart and entertaining.

 

[C.Ann]

Big true crime fan here.. Interesting to see what makes these people tick - and how they can be so incredibly stupid as to think they'll never get caught.. Make take years and years, but sooner or later they get nailed..

Never forget the one I read about the commercial airline pilot that killed his wife and put her body through a woodchipper.. He came very close to not getting caught - until someone remembered seeing a vehicle hauling a wood chipper out into the woods in the middle of the night.. Took the detectives forever to comb through those woods, but they finally found one teeny tiny bone fragment and was able to identify it as the missing woman's..

Amazing what they can do with forensics now - and that luminol that detects even the tiniest trace of blood? Best thing since sliced bread..

Interesting and educational reading on many, many levels..

 

[goofygirl]

I love Ann Rule, I read most of hers.


On CourtTV I like Forensic Files and Psychic Detectives. I like House of Clues, too, I wish they'd bring that back.

 

[allie&mattsmom]

I love true crime books. I'm always checking to see if new ones have come out because I think I've read most of them. I know I've read most of Ann Rules' books. She's my favorite true crime author. I also like court tv.

 

[vetrik]

I love True Crime books. I'm also a big fan of Ann Rule - I like to pick up her books at the used book store, and it's always a nice surprise when there's a new one there that I've never heard of before. I read other true crime based on subject matter, I don't have another author that I'll read all of their books like with Ann Rule.

I also like to watch the shows on tv - I've been going through a big phase with that right now. I like Forensic Files and The Investigators, and I just saw another I liked the other day - The First 48. A & E has some pretty good shows too - I like Cold Case Files and DH and I like to laugh about the narrator of City Confidential, although it does grow on you once you start watching.

 

[N.Bailey]

Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Cases
By Dr. Henry Lee

By spitting ketchup when he's on the witness stand? ROFLMAO He's a paid gun for hire and nothing more.

I like Ann Rule too.

 

[Brutie]

Oh I watch all those "real" crime shows. I've never seen any of those CSI or Law and Order programs, I think my cop watching days ended with Miami Vice...

But I'm a sucker for the real stuff. I watch Forensic Files, Body of Evidence (sometimes), Cold Case Files, The First 48 ( looking forward to a new season), City Confidential (the new narrator isnt as good since Paul Winfield passed away last year), American Justice, Investigative Reports, LA Forensics (new program on friday nights on CourtTV), North Mission Road I just discovered on Mondays on Court TV I think, Dominick Dunnes program, Notorious on the Biography channel, CBS has one on Saturday nights that I just found out about called 48 hours mystery I think, Discovery Channel has 48 hours hard evidence weekdays at 1 or 2 sometimes, and MSNBC does their MSNBC Investigations though they seem to be on this role lately doing shows on all different prisons. This is why my DVR will hold hundreds of hours and right now its down to only about 15 hours of record time left...LOL
I tape all my programs and eventually I sit down to watch stuff when I'm doing my cross stitching but I aint got around to it much lately.

Has anyone else read the book "until the 12th of never" about Betty Broderick? For some reason that story has always fascinated me. The woman had all her bills paid for her, was getting $16,000.00 a month in alimony and still felt it necessary to cause trouble. I have read the book and normally I get rid of them once I read it, but I wasnt able to part with that one.

 

[AuntieM03]

I have read alot of Ann Rule. I like when she writes the whole book on one subject, not the collection of stories.

 

[C.Ann]

Has anyone else read the book "until the 12th of never" about Betty Broderick? For some reason that story has always fascinated me. The woman had all her bills paid for her, was getting $16,000.00 a month in alimony and still felt it necessary to cause trouble. I have read the book and normally I get rid of them once I read it, but I wasnt able to part with that one.

--------------------------------

They are several books about the Broderick case - all very interesting..

I have two books that I can't part with - both cases happened locally.. One was a teenage boy who murdered his father, stepmother and little nephew..

The other was "From Cradle To Grave" about a woman who kept murdering her babies and had everyone convinced it was SIDS.. Eventually she was convicted on murder charges and I believe she may still be in prison.. Even her husband believed her and still to this day, I don't think he believes that she murdered all those babies..

 

[magiccouple2004]

that is all i read is tc books dh thinks i'm nuts and probaly know every way to get away with murder. my fave though is about an amish guy in pa who killed his family

 

[goofygirl]

One of my favorite true crime books/tv movies is the one about Sante Kimes. Her and her son were grifters who stole, conned, burned, killed everywhere they went. She still insists she was "framed", yeah, right.

 

[Cindyluwho]

I always liked Ann Rule's books until she wrote one about a friend of mine, Scott Scurlock. She seemed to overdramatize him to the point of him being almost ridiculous. Yes, he was one of the most handsome men I've ever met but no, he was NOT a womanizer. In fact, every woman (well, straight woman) at Evergreen drooled over Scott and he was always a gentleman and only had one or two girlfriends during college. And yes, he lived in a treehouse and had a picture of Robin Hood in his house. But honestly, he did not think of himself as the romantic figure she would have you believe.

 

[wdw4us2]

I've read a lot of Ann Rule, too. My favorite is "The Stranger Beside Me" about Ted Bundy. Some of hers are great, others just so-so. I also like some of Peter Maas' books, especially "In A Child's Name".

I try not to read more than three tc books in a row - it sometimes gets depressing. When that happens, I read fiction or history books.

 

[OK!]

I love true crime stories, either written or on TV (Forensic Fridays on Court TV are the best!) I think I really started getting into it when I did a research paper freshman year in college on serial killers, primarily focusing on Ted Bundy--one of my sources was The Stranger Beside Me, by Ann Rule. No matter how many times I read that book, it still scares the bejesus out of me. But anyway, I used to watch so much Court TV that my then-live-in boyfriend (who was obsessed with aviation) said he ought to save us time flipping through channels by deleting all of them except Court TV, Discovery Wings, and Lifetime (I can't help it; I still love the Golden Girls. )

Speaking of Body of Evidence, has anyone else noticed that they always somehow manage to include at least one shot of Dayle Hinman flaunting her French manicure (or jogging on the beach, or both)? I don't know why, but it annoys the hell out of me. Well, that and the fact that she seems to be queen of the obvious statement, e.g. "All of the victims lived within two blocks of each other, so we suspected that the killer may have lived in the area and was familiar with it." Golly, I never woulda guessed that! Sheesh.

 

[skyfairy]

I love true crime books and Ann Rule is one of my favorites. She actually wrote a book about the town I live in and my god-mother was is in it. I can not recall the name of it at the moment but it was about the cop that was killing women on Interstate 95. My god-mother was stopped by him but luckily she was with another woman and they were let go because the chief showed up. I also like Patricia Cornwell. She is not true crime but very close to it with out all the boring court details.