71 Books Like Texas Crime Chronicles

Even though this is not fictional, it paints a gritty picture of real crime in Miami by a seasoned Miami Herald crime reporter who witnessed and, in many cases, met some of the people she actually wrote about. Firsthand accounts of the gritty side of crime are stranger than fiction.

I finished this book in a weekend because it was so compelling.

Roughead wrote leisurely, almost Dickensian accounts of UK criminal trials in the 1920s and 1930s. He brought a sharp lawyer’s eye, a flair for the unusual, and a witty, knowledgeable voice to the trials and to the people involved. Madeleine Smith, Constance Kent, and Donald Merritt are among the 12 cases in this sampling from his many collections. Roughead set the bar for literate crime writers who followed.

Journalist and award-winning crime writer Val McDermid is known for her gritty novels. In Forensics, she draws on her connections to introduce us to forensic crime fighting around the world. The best part for me: she introduced behind-the-scenes elements to cases I thought I already knew. And she is a novelist. She knows how to tell a good story.

This collection features a range of stories, a range of time and places, written by many of the best true-crime writers. Goodman, himself a master storyteller, has pulled together a wide sampling of all manner of crimes stories, all well-told. Goodman wisely included his own likely solution to one of my favorite unsolved crimes, the Liverpool case of Julia Wallace, which has fascinated novelists from Raymond Chandler to Dorothy L. Sayers and P.D. James.

This book. The love story and the scenes between the leads had me swooning.

Seriously, I loved every second of the tension between the main characters: Brooke and Calvin. Brooke’s brother is in jail for murdering his best friend, who was also Calvin’s older brother. And no one knows why he did it.

They live in a small Texas town and their families have, for obvious reasons, become enemies. Their love is forbidden, but they can’t stay away from each other, even when their families are so important to them.

At the same time, the shadow of Brooke’s brother murdering Calvin adds a complication to their budding romance. This book has love, family, and a mystery to unravel and I loved every second of it. 

Twenty-five years before Alexandra “Alex” Gaither graduated law school; her mother, Celina, had been brutally murdered. After being raised by her grandmother and graduating law school, the exceedingly attractive and equally accomplished attorney returns to the small rural Texas community in search of answers to secrets, it is soon discovered, that are best left uncovered. With permission from the Travis County District Attorney, her superior, Alex only has thirty days to walk a tightrope in the quest to find the killer; a feat that could serve to disrupt every aspect of life in the economically stressed town of Purcell. 

Alex has to push the buttons of the two suspects who have matured into well-known, influential citizens to include the sheriff and the son of the town’s wealthiest businessman. But she has very little concern about their positions, status, or reputations and is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to find… show more.

In my view, fellow Texan Tommy Thompson is the best true crime writer around.

That’s why I recommend Blood and Money, which paints a vivid picture of boom and bust Houston, Texas café society with all of its charity balls, gossip columns, infidelities, and murders.

Dr. John Hill, a social-climbing but not particularly hard-working plastic surgeon, was accused of killing his stunning wife, Joan Robinson, renowned for her show horsemanship and platinum blonde ponytail. Joan was also the daddy’s girl of oil baron Ash Robinson, who had a conniving history of breaking the law.

So when Ash’s freeloading son-in-law was set free, thanks to a hung jury and the slick work of famed attorney Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, the city’s headlines were quickly filled with another murder—that of Dr. John Hill.

As a hardcore fan of psychological thrillers, I’m familiar with all the recurring themes of this genre. But this book was a surprise.

Masterfully written, the author took to my nerves with pliers and kept me hooked with great twists and suspense-craft. I definitely recommend Paper Ghosts to well-read thriller fans who want something fresh and most of all; an unforgettable plot. 

After reading a lot of true crime, I need a break from reality. That’s when I escape into murderous thrillers by May Cobb, an author many people call the Jackie Collins of Texas.

Whereas Jackie wrote about the glamorous and cosmopolitan, May writes about the small-town scions of East Texas, who think they’re glamorous and cosmopolitan.

A Likeable Woman, which comes out July 11, 2023, revolves around Kira, who has believed since she was 12 years old that her mother was murdered. Everyone else in Longview, Texas, including her grandmother and sister, knows that Sadie Foster committed suicide.

Decades later, Kira learns that her grandmother holds an unpublished memoir written by Sadie that indicates Kira might have been right all along.

A Likeable Woman contains everything that drives my writing passions—murder, memoir, and East Texas—and reads at breakneck speed. 

Okay, sometimes you need sweet-as-pie…I love this series of cozy mysteries (set in a Texas town) because of the characters, and this book introduces you to the important ones. This series got me through COVID and its brain fog aftermath.

It’s a series I could rely on to have interesting mysteries, lots of food (the main character ends up as a baker/caterer), and a bit of romance, but mostly just people it’s fun to spend time with. I particularly like the mother of the love interest (the love story plays out over the series), who basically runs the town while being lovely and welcoming to newcomers. Such a nice change from the nasty mother-in-law trope!