Published
Nov 18, 2025Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1529238198Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Nov 18, 2025Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1529238150Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Nov 18, 2025Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1529238211Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
True Crime
True crime is a huge cultural industry: media organisations use crime stories to push sales and clicks. Yet behind this phenomenon lies the real-life victims and a disconnect between the representation of violent crime and its reality.
This book is a go-to guide for students and researchers in understanding the development of this phenomenon and its social and cultural impacts. Through case studies including Lucy Letby, the Yorkshire Ripper and Fred and Rosemary West, the book considers true crime’s ethical implications and its wider influence on crime and punishment.
Ian Cummins is Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Society at the University of Salford.
Martin King is an independent scholar and author.
Louise Wattis is Assistant Professor at Northumbria University.
1. Introduction
Section 1: Exploring True Crime
2. A Short History of True Crime
3. True Crime and Ethics
4. True Crime and Punishment
Section 2: Case Studies
5. Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song
6. British Serial Killers on Screen
7. Darkness Doubled: The Bundy Myth
8. Fear of Masks: the crimes of Peter Sutcliffe
9. True Crime/ True Detective
10. True Crime and News Representations of a Femicide in Bulgaria: Narratives of Conspiracy and State Corruption - Katerina Gachevska
11. Lucy Letby: The Vanilla Killer A case study
12. Conclusion
