Fans pick 100 books like The Hunting Accident

Despite being published in 1975, Hal Higdon’s book about the Leopold and Loeb case remains the definitive account, at least to me.

If you’re looking for a factual, in-depth look at the crime, investigation, and sentencing hearing, look no further. Higdon was able to interview and correspond with dozens of people who were close to the case and who personally knew the killers and victim. He weaved those recollections into the narrative along with newspaper reports and quotes from the court documents in addition to the rest of his vast research, which gives his book a wonderful richness and depth. 

There have been many, many fictional adaptations of the Leopold-Loeb story, and it seems to be tricky to get the details and the people portrayed accurately, while still telling a tight and intriguing story. This play achieves that the best that I’ve seen.

Told in a non-linear fashion, it explores a nuanced relationship between Leopold and Loeb and what led them to the murder, as well as the arguments of the lawyers and the vitriol of the press. Exploring themes of prejudice, love, and mob hysteria, the audience gets to see many angles of the case and feel the vast effect it had on the city, without losing the more nuanced explorations of the characters and their struggles.  

This pick is not without some caveats. This book, Nathan Leopold’s autobiography, was written while he was trying to get paroled from prison and it has to be taken in that context.

There are lies and omissions, but there are also harrowing sections describing the brutality that prisoners faced in the 1920s and genuine emotion when he discusses his complicated feelings for Richard Loeb. There’s no better place to go for information about his life in prison, or to get a feel for his personality, as long as you can read between the lines and remain skeptical when things seem a little too good to be true.

If you’re someone who would like to dive more deeply into the sources from the case, this book is a great place to start.

The book’s author, Maureen McKernan, wrote half a dozen articles for The Chicago Tribune about the case in 1924, and then worked with defense lawyers Clarence Darrow and Walter Bachrach to compile this primer of the important facts and sources. In addition to a solid summary of the case, this book contains large portions of the actual confessions, psychiatric reports, testimony, speeches, and the Judge’s final decision from the hearing itself.

As the book was published in 1924, there are omissions of some subjects, notably homosexuality, but this is still an excellent introduction to deeper research.

The perfect murder is not possible, right? Well…this book may have changed my mind! I don’t generally like brooding, self-absorbed characters, but Simon–ah, Simon, odd and way past cute-quirky. But somehow, Ellis makes him a compelling character. And the twists in what at first glance is a typical murder mystery with a spurned lover, a big trust fund, and lots of lies make a sharp 180-degree turn in the final pages.

As puzzles go, this book has it all. Dark history, long-held grudges, cross, double-cross…is triple-cross a thing? If not, it should be after this ending. And beware the Grim Reaper next Halloween!

This story is a work of family saga art, honestly. In discovering the ins, outs, ups, and downs of Marilyn and David’s loving relationship, we come to know their four adult daughters who are each experiencing life-changing events of their own.

It is both a beautiful and heartbreaking depiction of family dynamics, coming of age, parenthood, and finding one’s way. It’s reconciliation with the past and finding the courage to face the future. It’s a love story, in the traditional sense, but also one between parents and children and among the sisters themselves…all intricately woven into one truly intriguing family story.

No skipping pages for me in this one: I didn’t want to miss a thing!

This novel created a stir when it first came out in 2010; it seemed everyone was talking about it. After I read it, I had to agree it was worth the buzz. In 1909, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman in rural Wisconsin, places a notice in a Chicago paper advertising for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. She plans to win his devotion, poison him, and leave a wealthy widow. But Truitt has his own secrets and plans, and soon they’re both in over their heads. I love novels like this that take me on an unexpected journey.

I love the way the author brings protagonist Shana Merchant's past into her present situation.

I always enjoy books that layer in family history and events from a character’s background to show how they were formed by their experiences. I also love a solid police procedural that shows off a talented detective doing what she does best.

The rural environment made the story even tenser for me as Detective Merchant finds herself back in her small hometown. I am a big fan of this series.

A young man accused of murder stands before the jury in court. Fed up with his barrister’s advice to ‘only tell the jury what they can believe’ he makes his own closing speech. He tells ‘the whole truth’ in his own words. 

In setting out the details of his chaotic life, he aims to provide an innocent explanation for the eight pieces of circumstantial evidence against him. It’s only if the jury can understand what it’s like to be him (echoes here of Atticus Finch’s famous line, "You never really understand a person until you… climb into his skin and walk around in it.") that he will receive a fair trial.

A highly original angle for the modern, courtroom drama, executed to perfection. Clearly (as is only right) there’s a subtly-woven, social commentary agenda too.

I love that this book takes a hard look at the perils, reality, and consequences of embracing truth.

It doesn’t sugar-coat the different attitudes and reactions of family members when Annie, with 3 adult children and 27 years of marriage, falls in love with Vivica. The aftermath of the seismic family upheaval reveals dark secrets about legacy, abuse, racial discrimination, revenge, class, and forgiveness.

For me reading this book was cutting edge because it was published not long after same-sex marriage was first made legal in the U.S., in Connecticut.

A bonus is that despite the family’s legacy of trauma the story ends on a note of love and hope.