Truman Capote thought he invented the nonfiction novel with this true-crime work. He spent years researching and depicting the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas. The book is, I think, very good in terms of the true crime genre. We might even call it "creative nonfiction" today. What he did was more than reporting: he recreated scenes from the killers' backgrounds. He novelized the truth, and while he was criticized for it in some ways, the result is clear: Capote's work stands the test of time and still horrifies and fascinates over fifty years later.