Book · 1965 · True
In Cold Blood
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In Cold Blood is a book I go back to quite a bit.
Patrick Radden Keefe · The Book Review · Apr 2026 Listen at 32:39 What they say about it
- Started the true crime genre“gave birth to the tradition”2
The best things said about it
The book that I love the most that I read in high school was probably In Cold Blood, which I still think is a really good I mean it started the genre.
A lot of people would point to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote as the book that sort of gave birth to the tradition, but the truth is there's a lot of stuff in that book that's not true.
Patrick Radden Keefe How I Write · Apr 2026 Unlike other similar works of non-fiction like In Cold Blood and the Executioner Song, the author here really takes on the weight of these crimes.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
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How it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
6 people who brought it up
Why people recommend it
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a foundational true-crime masterpiece that details the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Kansas and the subsequent capture of the killers. The book was discussed with mixed perspectives across various podcasts. On The Book Review, Patrick Radden Keefe named it a work he returns to frequently, though he noted in another interview on How I Write that he maintains an ambivalent relationship with it because a significant portion of the narrative lacks factual accuracy. Also on The Book Review, Casey Cep and Pamela Paul discussed the book in the context of Harper Lee assisting Capote with his research in Kansas and the subsequent pressure she faced following the massive bestseller's success. Eric Schlosser contrasted the work with other true-crime texts by highlighting how authors approach the heavy emotional weight of crimes. Bill Burr mentioned the book on the Monday Morning Podcast while discussing a film adaptation, and Maggie Mae Fish reflected on Behind the Bastards about how the book helped launch her enduring, albeit complicated, interest in the true-crime genre.
Every mention
Patrick Radden Keefe In Cold Blood is a book I go back to quite a bit. 2
Recommended
“In Cold Blood is a book I go back to quite a bit.”
Critiqued
“It's one that I have a slightly ambivalent relationship to because to take, you know, a lot of people would point to In Cold Blood by Truman Capote as the book that sort of gave birth to the tradition, but the truth is there's a lot of stuff in that book that's not true.”
Bill Burr first of all because I saw In Cold Blood a long time ago with Robert Blake and somebody else one of the mos… 2
Discussed
“first of all because I saw In Cold Blood a long time ago with Robert Blake and somebody else one of the most amazingly shot movies um well I guess Truman Capote wrote the book”
Discussed
“I started watching uh Capote with the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman that guy was [ __ ] unbelievable I was enjoying the hell out of the movie first of all because I saw In Cold Blood a long time ago with Robert Blake and somebody else one of the most amazingly shot movies um well I guess Truman Capote”
Casey Cep as you know she helped capot out in Kansas within Cold Blood and we all know the story of the squib and the… 1
Discussed
“as you know she helped capot out in Kansas within Cold Blood and we all know the story of the squib and the New York Times that sent him out there in a conversation with Mr Shawn”
Eric Schlosser but unlike other uh similar works of non-fiction like in Cold Blood and the Executioner song uh the author… 1
Discussed
“but unlike other uh similar works of non-fiction like in Cold Blood and the Executioner song uh the author here really takes on the weight of these crimes”
Maggie Mae Fish So, like I have very mixed feelings about true crime in general cuz like the book that I love the most that… 1
Discussed
“So, like I have very mixed feelings about true crime in general cuz like the book that I love the most that I read in high school was probably In Cold Blood, which I still think is a really good I mean it started the genre.”
Pamela Paul how do you go on to write your sophomore book and I wonder if that was in part Complicated by the fact that… 1
Discussed
“how do you go on to write your sophomore book and I wonder if that was in part Complicated by the fact that this was a a true crime book and that she the other book that she had been significantly involved in was In Cold Blood which was also a huge bestseller and a huge success”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (7: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“I just bought In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, right? Which kind of created the true crime genre.”
Passing
“In Cold Blood came out when, you know like, yeah, it's definitely, it hearkens to that whole like the rose-tinted glass view that I'm beginning to see Gen Xers start also throwing out there like, oh back when we drank out of the water hose and our parents played the sunset and like, yeah that wasn't great.”
Passing
“This is up there with Truman Capote in 'In Cold Blood' in terms of the level of public interest in what we call true crime.”
Passing
“and you know we're talking about the famous book by um john kerry you know which by the way shout out philip seymour hoffman and um bennett miller uh who i knew in new york what a great film uh in cold blood a great book”
Passing
“in my mind you know I think I probably read that around the same time that I read in Cold Blood you know just like that sort of teenage early 20s like fascination with you know like Terrible Things”
Passing
“and many of the people he interviewed in In Cold Blood which was the book that was a huge bestseller at the time”
Passing
“and Eric scha reviewed in the book review and he said it's better than In Cold Blood which I don't know if I go that far”