Notorious USA Books in Order

Notorious USA is less a single series than a crime library. Created and curated by Gregg Olsen, it gathers short, state‑focused true‑crime books written by Olsen and fellow reporters including Rebecca Morris, Katherine Ramsland, Kevin M. Sullivan, and others. Each volume looks at a handful of major cases from one state or region, blending new reporting with fresh context on crimes readers may only know from headlines.

The early installments focus on the Pacific Northwest. The Boy Who Fired the First Shot revisits Washington’s Frontier Middle School shooting, teacher Mary Kay Letourneau’s abuse of her student, and several other cases that show how violence can erupt in seemingly quiet communities. Companion titles like The Stranger and the World's Bravest Little Girl and The Girl and the Horrors of Howard Avenue move across Idaho and Oregon, following child kidnappings, abusive parents, and long‑unsolved murders that still haunt local residents.

From there the series fans out. Collections such as Death of a Cheerleader, Fundamental Love, and Her Lover’s Wife examine infamous crimes in Kentucky, Utah, Colorado, and beyond—school shootings, cold cases cracked by a stray Lego brick, a minister’s wife turned killer, and the still‑debated murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Shorter box sets like Bodies of Evidence, Overkill, Unnatural Causes, Darkest Waters, Dangerous Dozen, and Bloody Sequins bundle several state volumes into one, offering a tour of crimes across entire regions.

Most Notorious USA books are quick reads—closer to long magazine pieces than door‑stopping tomes. Olsen and his collaborators focus on clear timelines, courtroom twists, and the human choices that led up to each crime. They also return to cases readers may think they know and add new documents, interviews, or perspectives that have surfaced over time.

For readers, the series works both as a place to dip into one state’s darkest stories and as a way to see patterns across the country: repeat failures in systems meant to protect people, the long reach of charismatic predators, and the determination of families and detectives who refuse to let old cases die. You can pick any volume that matches your interest—Washington, Amish country, the Great Lakes, the desert Southwest—and read it on its own, or follow Olsen’s suggested box‑set paths for a deeper dive.