The only thing more interesting than a murder trial is a case that never made it past the investigation. Although forensic science has come far, it wasn’t always that way. Not until the late 80s and early 90s did we begin making advances in DNA analysis. Before then, many criminals with blood on their hands were able to walk free, sometimes due to insufficient leads or evidence. When a murder is unsolved, people become obsessed. And it’s that drive for the truth that gives us these brilliantly bone-chilling novels about unsolved murders and the guilty men and women who should be behind bars.
1. Dead in the Water; Forever Awake, by Stephen Young
For over two decades, there has been what seems like a spree of unconnected deaths involving white college men drowning mysteriously throughout the American Midwest. But nearly a dozen of these instances have something else in common: A graffiti-drawn smiley face found near the supposed site where the bodies were dumped. This led some to believe a serial killer, or a group of serial killers, took the lives of these young men. Stephen Young investigates this terrifying case as he takes the reader on a journey through the true accounts of the “smiley face murders.” In the end, Young arrives to some frightful conclusions about who could possibly have killed all these men, and if they’re still dangerous today.
2. Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, by Robert Kolker
Robert Kolker is an award-winning investigative reporter, and it shows in his engaging portrait of the poor women caught in the unfortunate wake of a dangerous Long Island serial killer. Through Kolker’s extensive research, as well as the many hours he poured into interviewing anyone connected to the case, he delivers a passionate attempt to capture the real tragedy that afflicted the friends and families of the victims. Kolker also shows how the failure of the police to take the murder of escorts seriously had a huge impact on the success of the investigation. His writing shows a deep, personal connection to the case that grants the book a tone of profound loss.
3. Love Me to Death: A Journalist's Memoir of the Hunt for Her Friend's Killer, by Linda Wolfe
Linda Wolfe dives deeply into the psyche of Richard Caputo who, in 1994, turned himself in for the murder of four women. This came as a shock to police, who had been searching for the criminal for the past 20 years. Though Caputo confessed to four murders, Linda Wolfe believes he’s guilty or at least one more. The investigative journalist thinks Caputo is also responsible for the death of her best friend, Jacqueline Bernard—who was strangled in 1983. Wolfe decided to get to the bottom of the mystery by interviewing families, psychiatrists, etc., as well as Caputo himself three separate times. The result is an eloquent portrait of the darkest corners of the human mind and what it’s capable of.
4. The Monster of Florence: A True Story, by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi
The Monster of Florence is the true and harrowing story of a writer and an Italian journalist who attempt to identify a murderer. The serial killer is suspected of having killed several couples while they were having sex in their cars across the countryside of Florence, between 1963 and 1985. As the pair inch closer and closer to the man they believe responsible, it becomes clear that there is a lot more than the murderer standing between them and the answers they’re seeking. During their investigation, the police become involved and accuse both Preston and Spezi of obstruction of justice under the suspicion that they are the real Monster(s) of Florence. They even throw Spezi into jail! It is an incredible story that’ll have you in disbelief until the very end.
5. Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, by Marti Rulli and Dennis Davern
The events surrounding how the world lost beloved actress Natalie Wood are as shrouded in mystery as Loch Ness. Wood was known widely for her roles in movies such as Miracle on 34th Street and West Side Story, but on November 28, 1981 all that changed when she suspiciously drowned on a boat trip to Catalina Island. The police never discovered how she entered the water in the first place, leading to a possible homicide investigation. This book provides an in-depth analysis of her life leading up to her unfortunate and mysterious death, and attempts to unravel the clues of the actress' final moments.
6. Hunting a Psychopath: The East Area Rapist, by Richard Shelby
The original Night Stalker is a criminal serial rapist and murderer who is still at large in the central and southern areas of California. Richard Shelby meticulously takes his readers through how the investigation was conducted, as well as its deep impact on the communities affected. Many individuals, feeling the police have done all they can, have taken matters into their own hands—trying to find the psychopath who has been living freely for the last 40 years. It is a spine-chilling novel, not only because of the depth in which Shelby explores the investigation, but also the sense of hopelessness that comes from the feeling that we might never find the perpetrator.
7. Blood Cold: Fame, Sex, and Murder in Hollywood, by Dennis McDougal
Dennis McDougal successfully grants readers an entirely new perspective on the murder case of Bonny Lee Bakley in 2001. With never before disclosed information, involving both her and her husband Robert Blake, McDougal allows us to decide for ourselves whether we believe that Blake is innocent. Was the marriage so desperately lost that Blake saw no other solution but to kill Bakley? Or, is her killer still out there, avoiding police investigations altogether? You be the judge.
8. Zodiac, by Robert Graysmith
This is the first, complete account of the case that captured America—the nationwide manhunt for a killer who claimed to have murdered 37 people, while also taunting and manipulating the police department and instilling fear into the hearts of every citizen in San Francisco. Frightened that all the information would fall into obscurity as the police were left with no leads, Graysmith took it upon himself to take the scrapbook of information he’d collected over time and use it to write this book. The story itself takes a detailed look at the investigation across the various departments that were involved, and ends with several chapters of Graysmith’s theories on two possible suspects. Without a doubt this is one of the most frightening cases of all time, and Graysmith’s writing ability does the story justice.
9. White Mischief: The Murder of Lord Erroll, by James Fox
The crime in this book takes place in 1940s Kenya, a country knee-deep in WWII, when influential, and recently appointed Military Secretary, Josslyn Hay is found dead in his car at an intersection outside Nairobi. The case was never properly investigated, but Hay was known to have a liking for other men’s wives, and it is possible that the husband of his recent conquest had a vicious motive. James Fox has studied the mystery deeply, but it wasn’t until the late 70s that all the pieces came together. Join Fox on his ventures around England and Africa, seeking the truth about this murder that has been buried beneath the dirt of time.
This story was originally featured on The-Line-Up.com. The Lineup is the premier digital destination for fans of true crime, horror, the mysterious, and the paranormal.