In Cold Blood

“The book’s an inspiration to me, but also a warning about how far one should go in terms of appropriating a story and imagining the feelings of others. In the book, Capote presumes to go inside the heads of his subjects, the murderers, and he invents dialogue. He doesn’t observe the same constraints as most factual writers and historians. In Cold Blood lies right on the boundary between fiction and nonfiction.” Read more...

The Best Historical Nonfiction Books

Kate Summerscale, Journalist

“It chilled my blood. No pun intended . . . In some of my books, I’ve taken to heart that if you turn right instead of left, either nothing will happen to you, or something really bad will happen to you just because of a seemingly random confluence of events. I learned that lesson vividly from In Cold Blood.” Read more...

The Best Mystery Books

David Baldacci, Novelist

“One of the reasons I like this true crime novelisation is down to the fact it was so out of character for Capote and took everyone by surprise. It is also an excellent, almost biographical, insight into the two young killers’ minds.” Read more...

Lynda La Plante recommends the best Crime Novels

Lynda La Plante, Thriller and Crime Writer

“I think in all honesty it is one of the finest books ever written. It took him six years to finish it because he had to wait for the court case and the final verdict which was the two perpetrators being executed.” Read more...

The best books on Human Dramas

R J Ellory, Novelist