Create a free Bookclubs account to organize your book club, get reading recommendations, view hundreds of discussion guides, and more!
In Cold Blood
The most famous true-crime novel of all time and one of the first non-fiction novels ever written; In Cold Blood is the bestseller that haunted its author long after he finished writing it.
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.
Book club questions for In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
In Cold Blood Book Club Questions PDF
Click here for a printable PDF of the In Cold Blood discussion questions
"The best documentary account of an American crime ever written. . . . The book chills the blood and exercises the intelligence . . . harrowing." —The New York Review of Books
"A remarkable, tensely exciting, superbly written 'true account.' " —The New York Times
"A masterpiece . . . a spellbinding work." —Life
This discussion guide and recommended reading was shared and sponsored in partnership with Penguin Random House.