In Cold Blood

by Truman Capote

Truman Capote’s classic ‘nonfiction novel’ – a genre-defining example of true crime – applies literary techniques to a real life story of the grisly 1959 murder of four members of the Herbert family in rural Kansas.

Recommendations from our site

“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...

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David Baldacci,

“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...

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R J Ellory, Novelist