True crime books which have been adapted for the small and big screen

We often discover many real-life mysteries through TV series and movies, but many of those works are based on excellently-researched and well-written books. Here are a couple of true crime books which have gone on to be adapted for the small and big screen.

Black Klansman

The 2018 movie adaptation of Ron Stallworth’s books won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, which should make the book itself a must-read. Black Klansman tells the real-life story of Colorado detective Ron Stallworth who starts out investigating the activities of the Ku Klux Klan by posing as an interested potential and ends up going undercover in the notorious white supremacist group.

In the book, Stallworth details how he and a fellow detective gathered information about the Klan by attending meetings and speaking to members on the phone and subsequently sabotaged many of their activities.

At times, it paints a bleak picture of a divided America, but also details the extraordinary efforts of Stallworth and his colleagues to confront the hate.

Dirty John (and Other True Stories of Outlaws and Outsiders) by Christopher Goffard

The book is a collection of writings by LA Times journalist Christopher Goffard, who began writing about the underbelly of LA life a decade or so ago. One of the stories he uncovered was that of the conman who terrorizes a family in California and which formed the basis of the 2017 podcast Dirty John. From that sprang the Netflix series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana, which is a fictionalized account of the Dirty John. In this book, readers can discover the origin of that story, as well as many other, told in Goffard’s unique and compelling writing style.

For more nonfiction mysteries to uncover check out the books at www.medialaze.com.