A lot of my friends can’t get enough of true crime in any form: books, podcasts, Netflix series, whatever. I’m not a true crime junkie, though I enjoy the genre from time to time and I definitely binged the first season of Serial on a solo cross country drive!

If you can’t get enough of true crime podcasts and are looking to mix things up, here are six books from various genres that I’m certain you’ll devour!

6 Books to Read if You Love True Crime Podcasts

Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe

From Goodreads: A provocative and original investigation of our cultural fascination with crime, linking four archetypes—Detective, Victim, Attorney, Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession.

Chase Darkness With Me: How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders by Billy Jensen

From Goodreads: Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common―they didn’t have an ending. The killer was still out there. Gripping, complex, unforgettable, this is an examination of the evil forces that walk among us, illustrating a novel way to catch those killers, and a true-crime narrative unlike any you’ve read before.

True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

From Goodreads: When an eleven-year-old James Renner fell in love with Amy Mihaljevic, the missing girl seen on posters all over his neighborhood, it was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with true crime. That obsession led Renner to a successful career as an investigative journalist. It also gave him post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2011, Renner began researching the strange disappearance of Maura Murray, a University of Massachusetts student who went missing after wrecking her car in rural New Hampshire in 2004. This is the story of Renner’s spellbinding investigation, which has taken on a life of its own for armchair sleuths across the web.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

From Goodreads: A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

The Long Drop by Denise Mina

From Goodreads: The “trial of the century” in 1950’s Glasgow is over. Peter Manuel has been found guilty of a string of murders and is waiting to die by hanging. But every good crime story has a beginning. Manuel’s starts with the murder of William Watt’s family. Looking no further that Watt himself, the police are convinced he’s guilty. Desperate to clear his name, Watt turns to Manuel, a career criminal who claims to have information that will finger the real killer. As Watt seeks justice with the cagey Manuel’s help, everyone the pair meets has blood on their hands as they sell their version of the truth. 

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

From Goodreads: Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family’s reputation and with good reason. When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

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