NOVELS BASED ON REAL-LIFE CRIMES

 

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Halloween Freebie - I don't read horror books because nothing is scarier to me than the horrible things real people can do to each other, and I'm interested in ghosts, mysterious disappearances, and murder year-round.  I chose novels based on real-life crimes ; some novels feature a real-life protagonist directly involved in the crime, other books use real crimes as the basis for a fictional story...

Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood

ABOUT - Canadian murders from 1843

TRIVIA TIDBIT - The mini-series was written by Sarah Polley, who played legendary kid lit heroine Ramona Quimby

BUtterfield 8 - John O'Hara

ABOUT - The murder of party girl Starr Faithfull

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Elizabeth Taylor did not want to appear in the film. She won a Best Actress Academy Award for the role.

Double Indemnity / The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain

ABOUT - Two novels by the same author about the same case

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Both films are two classics of film noir and are two of the best examples of that genre

The Lindbergh Nanny - Mariah Fredericks

ABOUT - The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh jr., one of the most famous crimes in history  from the perspective of his nanny, Betty Gow

Trivia Tidbit - The Lindbergh kidnapping inspired the plot of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

The Murderess - Laurie Notaro

ABOUT - Winnie Ruth Judd, The "Trunk Murderess" (be advised this one is gruesome)

TRIVIA TIDBIT - Judd escaped the asylum where she was incarcerated several times, and was found after several years working as a maid for a family

The Girl from Greenwich Street ~ Lauren Willig

ABOUT ~ Elma Sands (The Manhattan Well Murder)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Pre-dual A-Hams and Aaron Burr were attorneys for the defense 

 

The Girls ~ Emma Cline

ABOUT ~ a lonely young girl makes a friend...who then commits murder with a group of fellow hippies (based on the Manson Family murders)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Victim celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring was a contestant on the game show To Tell the Truth

The Girl in the Green Dress ~ Mariah Fredericks

ABOUT ~ The murder of gambler Joseph Elwell

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Joseph Elwell was well connected socially due to his love of Bridge

The Guest In Room 120 ~ Sarah Ackerman

ABOUT ~ The murder of university founder Jane Stanford

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Jane Stanford survived a first attempt on her life a short time before her murder

 

Little Deaths ~ Emma Flint 

ABOUT ~ Alice Crimmins

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Alice Crimmins' story is the first episode of Once Upon a Crime (which is my #1 dream series reboot)

The Mystery of Marie Roget ~ Edgar Allen Poe

ABOUT ~ Mary Rogers (The Beautiful Cigar Girl)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Poe moved the story to Paris to serve as a sequel to The Murders in the Rue Morgue

See What I Have Done ~ Sarah Schmidt

ABOUT ~ Lizzie Borden (my personal true crime queen)

TRIVIA TIDBIT ~ Lizzie Borden was an ardent member of her local WCTU