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Timeline: Notable true crime texts to 1924

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True crime

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‱History

Please note that this timeline is a selection of texts and is far from exhaustive.

Between 1620 and 1636, the Goodcole broadsides:

Henry Goodcole, the first full-time chaplain at Newgate Prison in London, began publishing broadsides with detailed and embellished confessions of Newgate’s prisoners condemned to death. Goodcole became, according to journalist and author Lizzie Pook, “one of the most eminent authors on the 17th-century English true crime beat.” [4] [101]

1621, John Reynolds’s The Triumphs of God’s Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther: Expressed in Thirty Severall Tragical Histories (digested Into Six Books) which Contain Great Variety of Mournful and Memorable Accidents, Amorous, Moral, and Divine:

The book contains salacious depictions of real-life murders and is considered one of the first true-crime books. [85] [89]

1693, Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of The Invisible World. Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed In New-England:

Cotton Mather
Cotton MatherCotton Mather and his father, Increase Mather, gave many execution sermons.

A pamphlet (which historically more closely resembled a short book) would set “a blueprint for true crime writing that has come since,” according to scholar Lauren Jones. Mather “adopted a more objective, journalistic tone purporting to state merely the facts of court proceedings.” [16]

1773–1891, The Newgate Calendar: Or, Malefactors’ Bloody Register:

A constantly updated compendium of sordid true crime accounts, The Newgate Calendar was for more than a century the most widely read book in Great Britain after the Bible and John Bunyan’s Christian allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress. [85] [86] [87]

1782, Caverne des Grands Voleurs (Cavern of the Great Thieves):

A Parisian wax exhibition founded by Dr. Philippe Curtius, an anatomist and wax modeler who mentored Madame Marie Tussaud and whose work inspired Tussaud’s own waxworks. The exhibit featured “sculptures of criminals, some whose corpses were delivered to Curtius following execution so that he could capture their likenesses,” according to Enric H. March. When Curtius died in September 1794, he willed his waxworks business to Tussaud. [90]

1818–present, Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors:

Madame Marie Tussaud
Madame Marie TussaudTussaud popularized true crime in her waxworks museum.

A waxworks museum of notorious criminals, the Chamber of Horrors began as part of Madame Marie Tussaud’s traveling show. The show has its origins in Tussaud’s death masks of French royalty and victims of the French Revolution, including King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. In 1818 she devoted a specific room to the Chamber of Horrors to ephemera from the executions of Robespierre and Marie-Antoinette, as well as an Egyptian mummy and other curiosities. The exhibit quickly shifted focus to English true crime and, according to the museum, “200 named criminals have been displayed at Madame Tussauds London since 1802.” [91]

1833, The Record of Crimes in the United States: Containing a Brief Sketch of the Prominent Traits in the Character and Conduct of Many of the Most Notorious Malefactors, Who Have Been Guilty of Capital Offences; and Who Have Been Detected and Convicted /Compiled From the Best Authorities:

The publication, similar to The Newgate Calendar, was a particular favorite of self-confessed true crime junkie Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter was inspired by the real-life suspicious death of Sarah Maria Cornell in 1832. [85] [88]

1842–43: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mystery of Marie RogĂȘt”:

Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan PoePoe serialized the story of the murder of Mary Rogers, but failed to solve the crime.

The short story was published in three installments in Snowden’s Ladies’ Companion and is considered the first mystery story based on a true crime, the murder of “beautiful cigar girl” Mary Rogers. Poe told editors, “Under the pretense of showing how [character Le Chevalier C. Auguste] Dupin unraveled the mystery of Marie’s assassination, I, in fact, enter into a very rigorous analysis of the real tragedy in New York.” Poe, in fact, suggested he could solve the crime simply by writing analytically about it. But, before the third installment of the story was written, a witness uttered a deathbed confession attributing Rogers’s death to a botched abortion, which did not coincide with Poe’s theories and caused the story’s ending to be rushed and disappointing. The incident, however, is notable because of the reverberating concerns about the public trying to solve a crime and getting it wrong. [92]

1889–1949, William Roughead:

Execution of the notorious murderer William Burke
Execution of the notorious murderer William Burke The illustration was published in Burke and Hare, edited by William Roughead.

Roughead was, according to historian Karen Baston, a Scottish “pioneer of true crime, criminologist, and campaigner for justice.” Roughead attended every significant murder trial in the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh between 1889 and 1949. He wrote about and published accounts of the trials in a series of true-crime books, including Trial of Mary Blandy, Trial of John Donald Merrett, and Trial of Oscar Slater. [93] [94] [95]

1910, Celebrated Criminal Cases of America:

Written by former San Francisco police captain Thomas S. Duke, the book, according to English professor Harold Schechter, is a “collection of criminal case histories covering a wide range of reprobates, from infamous outlaws like Jesse James and the Daltons to Victorian serial killers like Theodore Durrant (aka ‘The Demon of the Belfry’) and the Chicago “multi-murderer” Dr. H.H. Holmes.” Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon (1930), kept a copy for bedtime reading on his nightstand, as does his character, Sam Spade. The book also appears in Hammett’s The Thin Man, in which characters consult the book to learn about Alfred G. Packer, a prospector and blizzard survivor who turned to cannibalism. [85] [96] [97]

1924, Studies in Murder:

Written by Edmund Lester Pearson, one of America’s most revered trial and crime reporters, the book contains what is considered a definitive account of the Lizzie Borden axe-murder case of 1892, in addition to covering the 1870 murder of New York financier Benjamin Nathan, the double murder of Captain Charles I. Nash and his wife Laura in 1896, and the 1904 murder of Mabel Page. Pearson’s methods closely resemble those of modern-day true-crime writers: careful research and interviews with people connected to the cases. Pearson would publish five more true-crime books before his death in 1937. [98] [99]

Discussion questions

  1. Is the creation of true crime ethical? Why or why not?
  2. Is the consumption of true crime ethical? Why or why not?
  3. Do you create or consume true crime? If no, why not? If yes, have you considered the effects of the genre on your health and well-being?
  4. What questions do you have after reading the debate above? Where might you find answers?
  5. What was the most interesting thing you learned from this debate?
  6. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? How and why? If your thoughts have not changed, explain how and why you better understand the other side of the debate.
  7. Push for the position and policies you support by writing local officials, U.S. senators and representatives, or other people in a position to make the change you champion.

Sources

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  41. The Baltimore Sun, “19-Year-Old Gets Life Sentence for Killing Former Girlfriend” (June 7, 2000), baltimoresun.com
  42. Simon J. Levien, Christina Morales, and Amanda Holpuch, “Adnan Syed Will Not Return to Prison, Judge Rules” (March 6, 2025), nytimes.com
  43. YouGov, “True Crime: How Does the Genre Affect Americans?” (July 21, 2024), yougov.com
  44. Edison Research and Audiochuck, “True Crime Consumer Report” (August 2024), edisonresearch.com
  45. District Attorney of the County of San Luis Obispo, California, “Paul Flores (44) Has Been Convicted by Jury of the 1996 First-Degree Murder of 19-Year-Old Kristin Smart” (October 18, 2022), slocounty.ca.gov
  46. The Teacher’s Pet, open.spotify.com (accessed March 31, 2026)
  47. Zoe Williams, “What’s the Appeal of the True-Crime Podcast The Teacher’s Pet—Escapism or Empowerment?” (October 24, 2018), theguardian.com
  48. Associated Press, “Georgia Man Imprisoned for Hiding Death of Tara Grinstead Pleads Guilty in Unrelated Rape Case” (December 19, 2023), apnews.com
  49. Rachel Sharp, “They Fell in Love Working a 1978 Cold Case. Then Their Podcast Helped Seek Justice in the Delphi Murders” (June 29, 2023), the-independent.com
  50. Jill Sederstrom, “Her Naked Body Was Found in an Abandoned House—Then Police Uncovered a Shocking Suspect” (January 21, 2026), oxygen.com
  51. Gloria Oladipo, “Two U.S. Men Freed After 25 Years as True Crime Podcast Casts Doubt on Conviction” (December 12, 2022), theguardian.com
  52. Taylor Delandro, “How True Crime Shows Help Solve Cold Cases” (May 29, 2023), newsnationnow.com
  53. Tom Murray and Inga Parkel, “11 Times True Crime Documentaries Helped Solve the Cases They Were Based On” (May 18, 2023), the-independent.com
  54. All Things Considered, “Missing White Woman Syndrome & the Media Bias Towards Missing People of Color” (June 10, 2023), npr.org
  55. Emily St. Martin, “A Married Couple Listening to a True-Crime Podcast Led to a Man’s Exoneration in the Murder of a Priest” (October 17, 2023), latimes.com
  56. Danielle C. Slakoff and Kelli S. Boling, “‘Media Pressure is What Makes Law Enforcement Move’: Insights from Co-Victims About the Positive Impacts of True Crime Media Attention,” Mass Communication and Society (August 22, 2025), tandfonline.com
  57. Susan Simpson, “The Unlikely Role of True Crime Podcasts in Criminal Justice Reform” (July 20, 2022), qz.com
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  63. Black Girl Gone: A True Crime Podcast, blackgirlgonepodcast.com (accessed April 1, 2026)
  64. The Fall Line, thefalllinepodcast.com (accessed April 1, 2026)
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  83. Annie Nichol, “My Sister Was Murdered 30 Years Ago. True Crime Repackages Our Pain as Entertainment.” (January 8, 2024), nytimes.com
  84. Lilly Dancyger, “Don’t Use My Family for Your True Crime Stories” (May 15, 2019), crimereads.com
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  89. John Reynolds, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther (1702), books.google.com (accessed April 1, 2026)
  90. Enric H. March, “How Madame Tussaud Built Her House of Wax” (October 19, 2018), nationalgeographic.com
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