In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In a crime that shocked 1950s America, four members of a church-going, respectable farming family in rural Kansas are murdered in their beds. Who killed them? And why? Widely considered to have established the true crime genre, In Cold Blood digs below the sensational headlines and explores what happened that fateful night, the nationwide manhunt that followed, and the trial that condemned two men to death.

Intense, gripping and suspenseful, In Cold Blood is a masterclass in how to write true crime novels. Capote never falls into sensationalism. Instead, the slow pace and understated style of his writing build up the tension and allow him to fully reveal the characters of the victims, the community they live in, the investigators and, finally, the men who slaughtered an entire family. In his matter-of-fact way, Capote makes the killers uncomfortably human and captures a snapshot of American society that is more than cozy 1950s domesticity.

Read On: Breakfast at Tiffany's is Capote's most famous novel, so I will see if I enjoy his fiction as much. Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi is another well regarded true crime novel about the Manson murders in the 1970s.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

"Look at you. You black, you poor, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, he say, you nothing at all."

The Color Purple is the story of Celie, told in her own words as a series of letters to God and her sister, Nettie. Poor, black and female, Celie is at the bottom of the social order in rural Georgia in the 1930s. Going from an abusive father to an abusive husband, Celie eventually finds love, strength and acceptance through her friendship with brash jazz singer, Shug Avery.

This book broke my heart and made me cry, and yet was strangely uplifting. Walker never shies away from revealing the sexual abuse, racism and violence that was part of life for many poor black women in America at that time. The misery seems unrelenting but Celie is such an intriguing and quietly admirable character that you stick with it, cheering her on and desperately hoping that things get better. But no white knight saves her. This is a woman's story, told by a woman about women. There are male characters - fathers, sons, husbands and so on - but it is the women who allow Celie to realise her true worth and rescue herself. 

Read On: The Help by Katherine Stockett is based on the experiences of black women, set instead in 1950s Mississippi. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a memoir of the writer's early life in Arkansas, and touches on many of the same issues.

A is For Alibi by Sue Grafton

Eight years ago, glamorous Nikki Fife was jailed for the murder of her husband. She has always maintained her innocence, and hires P.I. Kinsey Millhone to find out what really happened. Adultery, dysfunctional family relationships, blackmail and two more murders come to light before Kinsey stumbles onto the truth that had been buried for almost a decade.

Bright and breezy with a likeable lead character, A is For Alibi was an easy and entertaining read. It had enough twists and turns to keep me interested until the end but not enough to keep me reading until the wee hours. In short, a solid crime thriller, but not a great one.

Read On: B is For Burglar is the next in the series. I don't feel any immediate desire to read the next but it would probably make a good holiday read. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich is another crime thriller with a strong and likeable female lead.