In Cold Blood

Twentieth-Century Classics, a new series from Penguin Classics: the era's greatest books, printed with cloth covers featuring iconic twentieth-century photography

Twentieth-Century Classics, a new hardback series from Penguin Classics: the era’s greatest books with cover artwork from its most celebrated photographers, bound in signature eau-de-nil cloth.

Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Truman Capote's comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely and frighteningly human.

The book that made Capote's name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative.

Cover photography by Richard Avedon