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An interesting and intelligent anthology of essays covering the stories, analysis and commentary of a number of excellent true-crime writers. The authors consider many aspects, including but not limited to the traditional true-crime narrative, as they unpack societal influences and larger issues surrounding crime and its encapsulation in media, such as poverty, race, forensic limitations, gender and transgender factors, and the ethical issues many of us feel inherently in our ‘enjoyment’ of the genre itself.

Favorites of this reader include ‘The End of Evil’, a chilling and multi-layered look at Ted Bundy, from the perspective of conjectures surrounding his mental health, his mostly-unquestioned status as a ‘psychopath’, and his correlation with the very definition of evil. As the author follows the events of the day of Bundy’s Florida-based execution, it’s impossible not to be both fascinated and repulsed by both the man and his lifetime of choices, as we struggle, unsuccessfully, to understand both.

An absorbing read and a discomfiting one, this book is recommended reading for those seeking true-crime at its most thought-provoking.