The 25 Greatest True-Crime Stories Ever Told

Here at Slate we’ve long been fascinated by true crime. THE 25 GREATEST TRUE-CRIME STORIES EVER TOLD Hello, Murderinos! Here at Slate we’ve long been fascinated by true crime. Yes, we enjoy the trashiest trash, but we’ve also long taken the genre seriously as a subject of critical and cultural inquiry. I remember way back when the very first episode of Serial dropped, and how quickly we convened and launched a podcast to discuss it—among the first entries in an eventual cottage industry of media decoding and interrogating that landmark work. Over the years, we’ve written and podcasted thoughtfully about the evolution of true crime. For anyone who loves the genre but wants to read and listen to people thinking critically about it, many of these pieces are essential, like Laura Miller’s story about a Zodiac-killer armchair investigator; Willa Paskin’s scathing critique of Carole Baskin’s “bad edit” in Tiger King; Cheyna Roth and Rebecca Lavoie podcasting about enjoying true crime as a woman on The Waves; Miller on what happens to true crime when literary aspirants and MFA grads get hold of it. We’ve also written thoughtfully about individual true-crime works and writers. Laura Miller assessed the queen of true crime, Ann Rule, and told the story of how the genre reached new heights of popularity in the 1980s. Alice Gregory read all of Janet Malcolm’s work and wrote beautifully about her “severity, her terrifying neutrality.” And Tom Drury reviewed David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon and marveled at “Grann’s ability to draw characters from the pages of history and give them the aura of living, breathing humans.” This month at Slate, we’re putting our true-crime acumen to the test with an ambitious feature, “The True Crime Canon”—the 25 greatest true-crime stories ever told. Written by Hillary Frey, Laura Miller, and Cheyna Roth, the list surveys the history of true crime and serves both as a guide to the best of the bunch and as an argument about the essential seriousness and importance of a genre oft maligned as exploitative, frivolous, or unethical. Does your favorite murder story make the list? (And what else does “true crime” mean besides murder stories, Murderinos?) I’d be remiss if I didn’t also point out that Slate itself has published a great deal of terrific true-crime work, such as Ruth Graham’s ticktock of the Ruby Ridge standoff; Slow Burn’s recounting of the Biggie/Tupac conflict; Decoder Ring’s retelling, and deconstruction, of a grifter’s story; and Josh Levin’s tale of the “welfare queen,” later expanded into a remarkable book. Unsurprisingly, Slate has long excelled in reporting from and explaining the courts: Emily Bazelon’s podcast series Charged, a two-year look inside a Brooklyn gun court; Jeremy Stahl’s coverage of a Texas arson trial and the use of advanced forensics; Levin’s on-the-spot dispatches from R. Kelly’s 2008 trial. If I was to make an argument for one Slate piece that should join our True-Crime Canon as the 26th entry, though, it would be Seth Stevenson’s 2019 feature “Guilty,” about his own youthful experience as a juror in a murder case—and his restless need to return to the figures from that trial, including the men he helped put in prison. Thanks for reading and listening, Dan Kois MORE ON TRUE CRIME FROM SLATE Hillary Frey, Laura Miller, and Cheyna Roth THE 25 BEST TRUE-CRIME STORIES OF ALL TIME ICYMI GYPSY ROSE BLANCHARD’S INFLUENCER ERA Il CHANCERY LANE i = FRONT VIEW OF SAFES. Cheyna Roth MY FAVORITE VICTORIAN CRIMINAL WAS A BANK ROBBER WITH A SECRET WEAPON The Waves AMERICANS LOVE A DEAD GIRL STORY Laura Miller THE RETIREE WHO HELPED CATCH THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER   This message was sent to because you are signed up to this newsletter. If you no longer wish to receive emails, safely .   Slate   © 2024 The Slate Group 15 Metrotech Center, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201 If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely .