"When she (Rika) lifted the rice to her mouth , it resisted her bite with a pleasing stickiness. The flaky insides of the cowpeas spilled out from their skins, breaking up the rich taste of rice. The stew, on the other hand, tasted only of the cubed roux, and the carrots and potatoes didn't even seem properly cooked," writes Asako Yuzuki in her 2024 International bestseller novel Butter translated by Polly Barton from Japanese.
If you mistook that for an excerpt from a food memoir or a high-end cookbook, you're not alone. Yuzuki’s prose is rich and disarming; a slow simmer that lures you into something far darker. But that's the beauty of this unputdownable novel about true crime, friendship and female appetite. Butter is one hell of a bite you can't resist. It swatches murder, obsession, media manipulation, and the complicated hunger of women for food, for freedom, and for understanding in 400+ pages.
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This is the magic of great true crime fiction: it unsettles you not only with the facts of the crime, but also with the unsettling truths about ourselves, our appetites, and the world we live in. Whether based on real events or simply inspired by them, the best true crime novels devour you whole with mysteries, twists, and curiosity.
True Crime Inspired Novels
So if you're craving stories that are as addictive as they are disturbing, here are the true crime novels you need to read next:
The Widows of Malabar Hill
By Sujata Massey
Set in 1920s Bombay, this novel introduces Perveen Mistry, India’s first female solicitor. She becomes involved in the estate of a wealthy Muslim man whose three widows are living in strict seclusion. When suspicions arise about the legitimacy of a will and a murder occurs, Perveen investigates. The story combines a compelling mystery with feminist themes and vivid historical detail, exploring women’s roles, colonialism, and cultural practices in early 20th-century India.
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The Girls
By Emma Cline
Loosely inspired by the Manson Family cult, this novel follows a teenage girl named Evie Boyd in 1960s California who becomes entangled with a group of girls led by a charismatic man. As she drifts further into their world, the narrative explores themes of loneliness, adolescence, desire, and manipulation. It’s less about the cult itself and more about the psychology of a young girl craving connection, making it a haunting coming-of-age story.
Occupied City
By David Peace
This experimental novel is the second book in Peace’s “Tokyo Trilogy,” set in post-World War II Japan. It fictionalizes the true story of the 1948 Teigin Incident, in which a man posing as a health official entered a Tokyo bank and murdered twelve people. Told through multiple fragmented voices and unreliable narrators, the novel blurs fact and fiction, truth and myth. It’s stylistically challenging and dark, evoking the paranoia and chaos of occupied Tokyo.
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Alias Grace
By Margaret Atwood
A gripping historical novel inspired by the true story of a 19th century convicted murder. Ficitonalised by the canadian author of A Handmaid's Tale, the notorious 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Canada West. Through conversations between a psychiatrist researching the case, Atwood delves into the story of Grace, her difficult life from her impoverished childhood in Ireland to explore
Confessions
By Kanae Minato
Confessions is heavily inspired by real-life juvenile crime cases in Japan, including the infamous 1997 Kobe child murder, where a 14-year-old boy killed a younger child. The book critiques Japan’s juvenile justice system and societal pressures in the aftermath of such crimes. The bestselling Japanese novel begins with a chilling confession: a middle school teacher tells her class that two of her students murdered her young daughter. But instead of going to the police, she enacts her own twisted plan for revenge.
