Obsessed with True Crime discussion
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Novels based on true crimes
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The Weight of WaterBased on the "Smuttynose Island Murders . Very fascinating case ,and another in which there is a remote possibility that someone else committed the crimes .
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
Also by Dominick Dunne .
The nonfiction book is called
This Crazy Thing Called Love: The Golden World and Fatal Marriage of Ann and Billy Woodward
Also by Dominick Dunne .
The nonfiction book is called
This Crazy Thing Called Love: The Golden World and Fatal Marriage of Ann and Billy Woodward
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum was based on the Sylvia Likens case. Brutal and depressing read though, one of the bleakest I have encountered.
The Wife of Martin Guerre, by Janet Lewis
Hunting Pleasure by Sam King http://samking.blog.co.uk/ Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacey and Ted Bundy elements. 10 years of forensics including FBI. Criminal profiling and psychology in-depth. Post-rape details to avoid voyeurism. Are the words "the plot" on the cover for a reason?
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The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
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The Wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis
My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates. Fascinating novel loosely based on the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case. Told from the point of view of the older brother. Oates is a fabulous writer.
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My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike by Joyce Carol Oates
Jack the Ripper, also available under the title RED JACK, is a collection of fictional treatments of the Ripper crimes.Bad Penny Blues is based on the Jack the Stripper case, as is Frenzy.
EDIT: And also The Charred Forest Murders.
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is based on the Beat Killer. The true story is in the back of the novel, which was written by two friends of the killer and the victim.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar is based on this true story: Closing Time: The True Story of the "Goodbar" Murder.The Great Gatsby is based on this true story: Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby.
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The stories in Bluebeard Tales from Around the World are all based -- more or less accurately -- on this guy: The Real Bluebeard: The Life of Gilles de Rais.Dracula is based on two people: see Vlad Tepes - The true story of Dracula and Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania.
Oh, and Psycho is based on Edward Gein: America's Most Bizarre Murderer.Wisteria Cottage is based on The Cannibal.
The Fixer is based on Blood Libel: The Life and Memory of Mendel Beilis: Includes: Beilis's Memoir, the Story of My Sufferings; And Pulitzer Plagiarism: What Bernard Malamud's the Fixer Owes to the Memoir of Mendel Beilis.
And of course Wolf Whistle is based on Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America.
31 Bond Street is based on the main crime case discussed in Forgotten News: The Crime of the Century and Other Lost Stories.
The Black Dahlia is based on Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder.
Looking for PSYCHO, PSYCHO 2 & PSYCHO HOUSE for nook. Have found PSYCHO, but have been unable to find the other two in e book form.If anyone knows where I can find the other two books, please let me know.
Beth wrote: "Looking for PSYCHO, PSYCHO 2 & PSYCHO HOUSE for nook. Have found PSYCHO, but have been unable to find the other two in e book form.If anyone knows where I can find the other two books, please let..."
Heck, I'd just hit the nearest used bookstore and get them for a buck apiece!
Quiet Dell is based on the lonelyhearts murders of Harry Powers, as was the better-known The Night of the Hunter.
Some Unknown Person is based on the murder of Starr Faithfull. so is The Memory Book of Starr Faithfull. For true details see The Passing of Starr Faithfull. Oh, and so is BUtterfield 8.
The Amityville Horror is based on a combination of High Hopes: The Amityville Murders and The Amityville Horror Conspiracy.Outside Valentine is based on Waste Land: The Savage Odyssey Of Charles Starkweather And Caril Ann Fugate.
River is based on The Search for the Green River Killer.
The Dark Fountain is based on Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster.
The Maids is based on The Papin Sisters.
Twins: Dead Ringers is based on one of the stories in -- IIRC -- Evil Twins: Chilling True Stories of Twins, Killing and Insanity. If it's not there you can definitely find it in The Professor and the Prostitute: And Other True Tales of Murder and Madness. Oh, and the same story is the basis for Private Practices: A Novel.
Dahmer's Not Dead is of course based on The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough.
And The Stranger Returns is of course based on The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy.
The Black Dahlia is based on Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder.Lizzie, Miss Lizzie, and Forty Whacks are based on The Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders.
The Basement is based on House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying.
Crippen is based on The Mild Murderer: The True Story of the Dr. Crippen Case. So is Dr. Crippen's Diary: An Invention.
Outcry is yet another story based on Edward Gein: America's Most Bizarre Murderer.
The Last King of Scotland is based on IDI Amin: Lion of Africa.I, Tania is based on The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and Dramatic Story of the Twenty-Two-Month Career of the Symbionese Liberation Army, One of the Most Bi.
The Postman Always Rings Twice is based on The "Double Indemnity" Murder: Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray, and New York's Crime of the Century.
To Kill an Orenthal is based on The Run of His Life : The People versus O. J. Simpson.
Where's my sister? is based on On the Farm.
A lot of stories are based on Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but one very famous one is Sweeney Todd; or, The String of Pearls.
The Killing of Emma Gross is based on The Sadist: The Atrocity Crimes of Peter Kurten, the Vampire of Dusseldorf.
Child 44 is based on The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History.
The White is based on A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison.The ballad of Typhoid Mary is based on Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary.
The Ballad of Tom Dooley is based on Tom Dooley the Story Behind the Ballad.
Echoes in the Darkness is based on Joseph Wambaugh and the Jay Smith Case.
Paul's Case is based on Bernardo & Homolka: the Ken & Barbie Killers.
Demons In London is based on Jack the Ripper: The Casebook.
Not a Stranger is based on The Atlanta Child Murders: The Night Stalker.
Torsos is based on The Maniac in the Bushes: More True Tales of Cleveland Crime and Disaster.
Beauty Possessed is based on The Murder of Stanford White.Masters of Illusions: A Novel of the Connecticut Circus Fire is based on A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire & The Mystery of Little Miss 1565.
So is Worlds Afire.
Family Matters, Family Reunion, Tonight! The Charlie Manson Band and Chuckin' Chuck: The Astonishing Tale of Charles Manson Pitching in the Major Leagues are all based on Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.
Grind Their Bones is based on Deranged.The Scarlet Mansion is based on The Strange Case of Dr. H.H. Holmes.
"Please Tell Me Where's Her Head": Pearl Bryan in song & story is based on The Perils of Pearl Bryan: Betrayal and Murder in the Midwest in 1896.
The Plague of Doves is based on Murdering Indians: A Documentary History of the 1897 Killings That Inspired Louise Erdrich's the Plague of Doves.
The Dark Pageant is about The Real Bluebeard: The Life of Gilles de Rais.
Beloved is based on Modern Medea: A Family Story of Slavery and Child-Murder from the Old South.
Dracula is based on 2 true stories: Vlad Tepes - The true story of Dracula and Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania.
Someone Waiting is based on The Murder of Julia Wallace.Compulsion is based on The Amazing Crime And Trial Of Leopold And Loeb.
As those of you from Shelfari must realize by now, this is my way of transferring all the titles from the "True Crime: Fictionalized Versions" from there to here.
For anyone interested in this topic in general, may I recommend Blood and Ink: An International Guide to Fact-Based Crime Literature. It's a massive reference guide listing every novel, short story, play, collection, and you-name-it that is fictional but based on a true crime. I learned by using the search box at Shelfari that there is a whole subgenre devoted to pitting Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper, for instance. There is an author who uses multiple pen names, one of which is devoted entirely to novels based on true crimes. Borowitz's book, linked in this post, tells you which crime each novel is based on. Great stuff.
Interesting. I might go for Holmes vs. Jack if it was well done.
K.A. wrote: "Interesting. I might go for Holmes vs. Jack if it was well done."There are so many to choose from, I shudder to think how many you'd have to plow through to find the good ones.
CrimeSleuthJunkie says Blind Rage: A True Story of Sin, Sex, and Murder in a Small Arkansas Town is a novel, but based on TC.
The Slaughter: An American Atrocity turns out to be a TC introduction to a novel about the true case. (???)
Carolina Skeletons is based on the George Stinney case.
Just discovered one new to me: Camelia by Dianna Dann. Based on the true case described in A Little Girl Is Missing by Samuel Roen.
I'm too lazy to read the whole discussion. Did I mention that The Girl Next Door is based on House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying?
Can anyone suggest a book about Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate? Will take any and all suggestions in either ebook or regular book form. Thanks in advance.
Beth wrote: "Can anyone suggest a book about Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate? Will take any and all suggestions in either ebook or regular book form. Thanks in advance."
(Looks at title of thread) A novel, specifically? I'm not sure there is one.
A novella A Good Marriage by Stephen King is based on the BTK case. It apparently really upset Rader's daughter when it came out. The book is #4 in a series called Full Dark, No Stars.
Come to think of it, Stephen King also based his characters Poke Waxman and Lloyd Henreid, and to a lesser extent Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross, on Chuck Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.
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Obsessed with True Crime
Books mentioned in this topic
A Good Marriage (other topics)The Wench is Dead (other topics)
The Murder of Christina Collins (other topics)
The Charred Forest Murders (other topics)
The Girl Next Door (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Stephen King (other topics)Dianna Dann (other topics)
Samuel Roen (other topics)
Joyce Carol Oates (other topics)
Janet Lewis (other topics)
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A Season in Purgatory A Season in Purgatory
This is by Dominick Dunne and is about the Martha Moxley case. He brings up some very good points in the book. It's a great read , and he also puts some doubt into your mind as to whether the right person has been punished for the crime. I don't think so , in my opinion ! I'd be interested in hearing what others think .