True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.

The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to well-established facts in journalistic fashion, or can be highly speculative. Some true crime works are "instant books" produced quickly to capitalize on popular demand, while others may reflect years of thoughtful research and inquiry and may have considerable literary merit. Still others revisit historic crimes (or alleged crimes) and propose solutions, such as books examining political assassinations, well-known unsolved murders, or the deaths of celebrities.

According to Joyce Carol Oates:

The works of author Yseult Bridges about British cases; Inspector Dew's I Caught Crippen (1938); and the Notable British Trials series were all works that can be regarded as true crime. Jack Webb's 1958 The Badge (recently republished with an introduction by James Ellroy) embodies elements of the modern true crime story, but Truman Capote's "non-fiction novel" In Cold Blood (1965) is usually credited with establishing the modern novelistic style of the genre.

True may refer to:

Ann Rule (born October 22, 1935, in Lowell, Michigan) is an American true crime writer.

Rule was born on October 22, 1935, in Lowell, Michigan, to Chester R. Stackhouse and Sophie Hansen. Her mother was a school teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children, and her father was a sports coach. Many members of Rule's had careers in law enforcement. Her grandfather and uncle were sheriffs in Michigan, another uncle was a medical examiner and a cousin was a prosecutor. Rule spent her summers with her grandparents doing volunteer work in the local jail.

Rule graduated from Coatesville High School then attended the University of Washington. She majored in creative writing, along with minors in criminology, penology and psychology. She extended her education for two more years at Highline Community College by taking criminal courses.

Early in her career Rule wrote for several publications geared for women. Starting in 1969, she wrote for the magazine True Detective under the nom de plume "Andy Stack" when she began writing for the magazine.

Joe McGinniss (born 1942) is an American author of nonfiction and novels. He first came to prominence with the best-selling The Selling of the President, 1968 which described the marketing of then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon, and has authored 11 works since that time. His latest book is The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin.

McGinniss graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964 and became a general assignment reporter at the Worcester Telegram in Worcester, Massachusetts. Within a year he left to become a sportswriter for The Philadelphia Bulletin. He then moved to The Philadelphia Inquirer as a general interest columnist.

McGinniss became an overnight success when his first book, The Selling of the President 1968, landed on The New York Times bestseller list when he was 26 years old, making him the youngest living writer with that achievement. The book described the marketing of Richard Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign. McGinniss stumbled across his book’s topic while taking a train to New York. A fellow commuter had just landed the Hubert Humphrey account and was boasting that 'in six weeks we’ll have him looking better than Abraham Lincoln.' McGinniss tried to get access to Humphrey’s campaign first, but they turned him down. So he called up Nixon’s, and they said yes."