A new book group just for True Crime fans!

Are you hooked on Forensic Files?

Do you love true crime podcasts such as My Favorite Murder and True Crime Garage? 

Does your sister think it's weird that you only watch documentaries about murder? 

Then True Crime Library is the group for you. 

True Crime Library is a new book group at the Palmer Branch! 

We meet at the Palmer Branch on the third Thursday every other month at 6:00pm. For each meeting we select a case and participants can read any book on the case. At the meeting, we'll discuss different perspectives of the case based on our readings.

Upcoming meetings are as follows:
May 16 - Children of Serial Killers
June 20 - Amanda Knox
July 18  - JonBenet Ramsey
August 15 - "Life After Death" (Body Farms, Medical Examiners, etc.)
September 19 - Scott Peterson

Want to get email updates about True Crime Library? Sign up for our email newsletter! You'll get periodic emails with meeting reminders and group updates!

Questions about True Crime Library? Contact Katie Cardell at katiec@eastonpl.org or at 610-258-7492.

Reblogged: Books to Read After Watching MAKING A MURDERER on Netflix!

If you're like me and intrigued by true crime, and the Netflix documentary, Making a Murderer, then you may be looking for more books about similar topics.  Check out these titles recommended by Book Riot's Liberty Hardy!

Michael Morton's GETTING LIFE: An Innocent Man's 25-Year From Prison to Peace: A Memoir
Morton was wrongly imprisoned for nearly twenty-five years for the murder of his wife, until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. This book was written based on journals he kept during his years in jail, and court transcripts of his trial.

Deborah Halber's THE SKELETON CREW: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases
In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths. It's DIY CSI. The web sleuths pore over facial reconstructions (a sort of Facebook for the dead) and other online clues as they vie to solve cold cases and tally up personal scorecards of dead bodies. The Skeleton Crew delves into the macabre underside of the Internet, the fleeting nature of identity, and how even the most ordinary citizen with a laptop and a knack for puzzles can reinvent herself as a web sleuth.

Bryan Stevenson's JUST MERCY: A Story of Justice and Redemption

As a young lawyer, Stevenson founded an organization dedicated to defending those in need. One of his first cases was a man on death row for a murder he swore he didn’t commit. Just Mercy is a riveting look at that case, and the pursuit of justice.

Robert Harris's AN OFFICER AND A SPY

An award-winning novel based on the true case of Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer sentenced to life imprisonment for treason, despite protests of his innocence. A later investigation into his case revealed that he had been framed, and shed light on the subsequent military cover-up attempting to suppress the truth.

Adam Benforado's UNFAIR: The New Science of Criminal Injustice

Law professor Benforado argues that the U.S. legal system is broken, and how, due to human psychology, even the most straightforward cases can still result in wrongful convictions and false imprisonments, and how this harms society’s weakest members.

David DeKok's MURDER IN THE STACKS: Penn State, Betsy Aardarma, and the Killer Who Got Away

The book weaves together the events, culture, and attitudes of the late 1960s, memorializing the stabbing death of Betsy Aardsma in the stacks of Pattee Library at Penn State University's main campus in State College and her time and place in history.

Find the original post at Book Riot.

Nonfiction for Thriller Lovers

If you like to read mysteries and crime fiction, this list is for you.  These three titles are real-life thrillers and mysteries.  And they aren't for the feint of heart.

Bryan Burrough's PUBLIC ENEMIES: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI

Crime can keep a nonfiction book moving just like fiction, but you need to make sure there’s actual action and not just talk. True crime books can be painfully slow (as real crime often is) but this is one book that has bad guys to spare, crime sprees galore, and the kind of big names that you’ll recognize immediately. Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and many others make not only appearances but play starring roles. There’s much more to their stories than you’d expect: a wealth of crimes and chases and thrills. Criminals back in the day could get away with an awful lot just by leaving town, but this book follows the guys who finally started to chase them down from state to state. A really boring movie was made of this a few years ago- skip it.

Dave Cullen's COLUMBINE

Only a few years after its publication, Cullen’s book is already considered one of the seminal nonfiction works of the modern day. It deserves the accolades. One thing going for it is the vast differences between what was reported during that first year in the aftermath of the horrific shooting and what Cullen uncovers when he goes back to put the pieces together years later. We learn more about the killers than we ever did before. We also learn a lot more about the victims and just how many of their stories were mis-reported. Columbine was a big news story for the mass media, and if you’re at all worried about the evils of the 24-hour news takeover, this book is a must-read. It is constantly riveting no matter how much you think you know.

Michael Blanding's THE MAP THIEF

White-collar crime can be some of the most fascinating, and the subject of Blanding’s book is no exception. E. Forbes Smiley was a big player in the antique map dealer business- a small business, but one that deals with huge amounts of money for priceless items. And yet he stole dozens, possibly hundreds, of maps and got away with it for years. In our day of DNA and technology, it’s shocking to see the lack of a paper trail and just how easy it was to prey on map collections. If you like picking up trivia, it’s the kind of book that is full of tidbits you’ll be dying to read out loud to the person next to you. You may find yourself with a map addiction by the time it’s over.

Vincent Bugliosi's HELTER SKELTER: The True Story of the Manson Murders
   Only available from Allentown for reserve.

As a law student who started to find endless episodes of Law & Order boring and inaccurate, I decided to see what a real procedural looked like and couldn’t ignore all the positive reviews for this book. Helter Skelter is like nothing else, an intricate look at the Manson family, a methodical look at how the investigation unfolded, and a brilliantly done piece of courtroom drama as the killers go on trial. Bugliosi was the prosecutor in the case and he does an amazing job of telling this story and making the legal issues accessible for readers. It’s twice the length of any police novel, but also twice as good.

List courtesy of Book Riot.

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All books may be reserved for $0.50.  Titles are available in the Nonfiction collection at the Main Branch of the Easton Area Public Library.