New Anthology Collects the Year's Most Notable True Crime Writing

By Alex Morgan. Sep 20, 2026

Cover of The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2026, edited by Jim Clemente and Michael Pintauro. Credit: Crime Ink / Simon & Schuster

A New Annual Collection Looks Beyond One Kind of Crime

The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2026 is scheduled for publication Oct. 13, bringing together longform reported crime writing from regional, national and international publications. Former FBI special agent Jim Clemente selects the pieces with series editor Michael Pintauro.

The book is the second edition of an annual anthology built around a simple idea: true crime is broader than any one famous murder case. The stories selected for the 2026 volume move across unresolved deaths, organized crime, fraud and the growing culture of amateur sleuthing.

That range is part of the collection’s appeal because it treats true crime as a form of reported nonfiction rather than a single subject category.

The Contents Move From Old Mysteries to Modern Cons

Publisher materials describe one story about the decades-old deaths of an English baroness and her assistant in the Italian mountains, a case that has generated competing theories about kidnapping and organized crime.

Another piece profiles a Texas figure connected to the ecstasy trade. A separate story follows a New York con artist whose schemes touched diamonds, police corruption and cryptocurrency promotion involving well-known public figures.

The collection also includes reporting on amateur investigators who devote themselves to cold cases, a subject that reflects how true crime has expanded beyond professional police work and traditional journalism.

An Anthology Changes the Reading Experience

A single-case book asks readers to spend hundreds of pages with one investigation. An anthology works differently. Each story has its own reporting, voice and level of resolution, allowing readers to move between cases and types of crime.

That structure also highlights the craft of crime writing itself. The interest is not only in what happened, but in how different reporters reconstruct events, verify facts and decide what deserves attention.

Clemente brings a former FBI perspective to the selection process, while Pintauro serves as series editor. The resulting volume is intended to showcase longform work rather than create a single unified argument about crime.

The Book Arrives as True Crime Keeps Expanding

The hardcover edition is listed at 320 pages, with additional formats also planned. Crime Ink publishes the collection, with distribution through Simon & Schuster.

For readers who already move between documentaries, podcasts, court reporting and books, the anthology offers a concentrated view of what longform crime journalism looked like over the past year.

It also provides a useful reminder that true crime does not have to mean repeating the same notorious cases. The genre can include financial deception, historical mysteries, organized crime and the people who become obsessed with solving what authorities could not.

References: Simon & Schuster - The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2026