18 books like Blood Relation

What to read after Blood Relation — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Mafia son Sandra Harmon · 2009 · ★ 4.0 · 301p · ≈ 10h · Moderate In this dark, jagged true crime thriller, wily mob head Gregory Scarpa Sr. (alias the "Grim Reaper") secretly steals and kills under FBI protection for decades. When faced with arrest for his own crimes, he betrays his adoring son, Gregory Jr., whom he'd groomed to take his place. Taking the fall for his father out of familial respect and love, the young Scarpa endures decades of maximum security… Shares: Gangsters, Case studies, True Crime, Crime

Nutcracker Shana Alexander · 1985 · ★ 4.1 · 453p · ≈ 15h · Moderate Nutcracker begins at the ballet but tells the story of a seemingly wholesome all-American family, whose tranquil life's surface erupted in shocking acts of avarice, theft and murder. The victim was Franklin Bradshaw, Mormon self-made millionaire, workaholic. The killer was Bradshaw's grandson, prep school student. The architect of the crime was said to be Frances Schreuder, Bradshaw's daughter,… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade Walter Kirn · 2014 · ★ 3.5 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Moderate In the summer of 1998, Walter Kirn - then a young novelist struggling with fatherhood and a dissolving marriage - set out on a peculiar, fateful errand: to personally deliver a crippled hunting dog from an animal shelter in Montana to the New York apartment of one Clark Rockefeller, a secretive young banker and art collector. Thus began a fifteen-year relationship that drew Kirn deep into the… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime

Smaldone Dick Kreck · 2009 · ★ 2.0 I never thought it would end.—Clyde SmaldoneStarted by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished well into the late twentieth century. Connected to such notorious crime figures as Al Capone and Carlos Marcello, as well as to presidents and other politicians, charismatic Clyde Smaldone was the crime… Shares: Gangsters, Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

No way of knowing Pamela Donovan · 2003 · 246p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Examining "old media" treatment of crime legends: news reports, fictional film and television depictions, and "new media" interactive discussions: versions and discussions circulating in Internet newsgroups and via electronic mail lists, this text examines a social context vastly changed from the height of rumour research in the mid-20th century. Shares: Case studies, True Crime, Crime

A rip in Heaven Jeanine Cummins · 2004 · ★ 4.2 · 302p · ≈ 10h · Moderate It was a headline story in the New York Times and USA Today. It was covered by Court TV and profiled on the Ricki Lake Show. Now, here is the intimate memoir of a shocking crime and its aftermath...one family's immediate and unforgettable story of what victims can suffer long after they should be safe. Shares: Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

A Talent to Deceive William Norris · 2006 · 327p · ≈ 10h · Moderate The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's infant son, and the subsequent trial and execution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, have been a source of fascination for more than 70 years. Now, for the first time, William Norris delves into sources of information ignored by previous investigators and comes up with the identity of the true culprit. Lindbergh is exposed as having obstructed the… Shares: True Crime, Crime, Biography & Memoir

Life Means Life Nick Appleyard · 2009 From sex-crazed fiends to cold-eyed professional assassins, only those convicted of the most terrible murders are told they will die behind bars.This book tells the stories of those most depraved killers whose crimes outraged society and demanded the harshest penalty available to a British court. Among a UK prison population of close to 100,000, fewer than 40 men and women have been told they… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Echoes in the darkness Joseph Wambaugh · 1987 · ★ 3.6 · 415p · ≈ 13h · Moderate On June 25, 1989, the naked corpse of schoolteacher Susan Reinert was found wedged into her hatchback car in a hotel parking lot near Philadelphia's "Main Line." Her two children had vanished. The Main Line Murder Case burst upon the headlines--and wasn't resolved for seven years. Now, master crime writer Joseph Wambaugh reconstructs the case from its roots, recounting the details, drama,… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Close Martina Cole · 2006 · ★ 4.1 · 512p · ≈ 17h · Moderate Don't miss NO REGRET, the brand new novel from Martina Cole. Coming October 2025. She'll do whatever it takes to keep them together... Hard-hitting and uncompromising, CLOSE by the 'undisputed queen of crime writing' (Guardian) and Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Martina Cole tells the story of a woman determined to protect her family from an increasingly dangerous world... Patrick Brodie knows… Shares: Gangsters, Crime

Dead by Sunset Ann Rule · 1995 · ★ 4.5 · 555p · ≈ 18h · Moderate The first 464 pages of this book are standard Ann Rule. A beautiful, brilliant attorney marries a psychopath and suffers dreadfully for her choice of mate. She bears him three beautiful, brilliant little boys while Brad runs through her money, accumulates girlfriends, and is never home when she and the boys need him/ Finally, Cheryl can't bear his abuse any longer. She files for a divorce, and… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Crime

Blind Faith Joe McGinniss · 1981 · ★ 3.7 · 448p · ≈ 14h · Moderate The Marshalls were the model family of Tom’s River, New Jersey, living the American dream of all that money could buy. Rob Marshall was the big breadwinner, king of the country club set. Maria Marshall was his stunningly beautiful wife and the perfect mom to their three great kids. Then one night Rob, his head bloodied, reported Maria had been brutally slain. Sympathy poured in—until… Shares: Case studies, True Crime

Seven Bones Peter Seymour · 2011 · 284p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Seven Bones is the story of one of the more bizarre murder investigations in Australia’s criminal history. Two wives die in suspicious circumstances: co-incidence or, as husband Thomas Keir describes it, ‘bad luck’?Arriving on the scene, Detective Peter Seymour realised he was dealing with the world’s unluckiest husband or a serial wife killer. Keir’s ‘grieving husband’ act was suddenly in… Shares: True Crime, Crime

Things a Killer Would Know Paula Doneman · 2006 · 278p · ≈ 9h · Moderate A no-holds-barred account of the deadly rampage of rapist and serial killer, Leonard Fraser.In April, 1999, schoolgirl Keyra Steinhardt was bashed, raped and murdered in a brazen daylight attack as she walked home from school in the central Queensland town of Rockhampton. The disappearance of Keyra made international headlines as the community and law enforcement officers hunted for the… Shares: Murderers, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Crimes of Passion Howard Engel · 2001 · 239p · ≈ 7h · Moderate The very term "crimes of passion" evokes deep-seated, atavistic responses in everyone's heart. These are the crimes that are born in the emotional core of women and men who are pushed to do the unthinkable. There are never - well, hardly ever - any of the crass considerations of financial gain, no taint of reward; only release. These crimes are direct responses to betrayal, to broken hearts and… Shares: Case studies, True Crime

The private diary of Lyle Menendez Lyle Menendez · 1993 · ★ 4.6 · 263p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The personal story of Lyle Menendez is based on a four-and-a-half-year intimate correspondence with the author and covers the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez by Lyle and his brother Erik and the court trials that ended in hung juries. Shares: Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The profession of violence John Pearson · 1972 · ★ 3.5 · 336p · ≈ 11h · Moderate John Pearson details the lives of Reggie and Ronnie Kray, the infamous brothers who, for decades, ruled the criminal underground in London's East End. This biography of the identical twins is, at times, humorous and revealing, but always maintains a clear-eyed view of the seriousness of the brothers' crimes. An absorbing read. Shares: Gangsters, True Crime, Crime, Biography & Memoir

The killer department Robert Cullen · 1993 · ★ 4.0 · 258p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The spellbinding true tale of the discovery, chase, capture, and execution of Andrei Chikatilo, a serial killing madman who sexually assaulted, mutilated, and killed at least 53 women and children near Rostov-on-Don, Russia, between 1978 and 1986. The story is told by Colonel Vicktor Burakov, Soviet Militia, a brilliant, tenacious investigator who would be the very last man I'd want pursuing me… Shares: Murderers, Case studies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

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