Recommended Reading: In Cold Blood

With the publication of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote permanently ripped through the barrier separating crime reportage from serious literature. In it, he reconstructs the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers. Capote learned of the event in a 300-word newspaper article, and was so interested that he traveled to Kansas to investigate and interview the suspects. The story has since been made into several movies and even a miniseries.