True crime is all around us, these days. From podcasts to television shows to movies and conventions, it's practically in the air we breathe. It's the true crime junkies' world—we're all just living in it.

But why do we hunger so powerfully for these stories? Why are we willing to commit hours of our lives to them, whether they appear on the page or on the screen? When it comes to literary true crime, these stories grip us unlike any other genre. For every suspense novel that shocks and awes readers, there are real life stories that make those fictions seem tame and predictable.

True crime is a loaded genre: the best authors do not sensationalize violence and human suffering, but they provide context and depth to the crimes they study. Many of them highlight the fallibility of the legal system and the ruinous forces of internalized racism and misogyny.

In these excellent books, we're reminded that true crime does not simply consist of a neatly constructed narrative with a criminal mastermind and heroic detectives and ideal victims. Life, and crimes, are so much messier than that. We've rounded up some of our favorites, which cover a wide swath of crimes highlighting a wide swath of societal origins and implications.