The growing popularity of true crime content on digital platforms raises questions about how the psychological appeal of such content interacts with user behavior and platform personalization mechanisms. This article presents an integrative narrative review using four core studies to synthesize two central evidence streams: the psychology of engagement with true crime content and evidence on recommender algorithms and platform characteristics associated with increased exposure or addictive/problematic use among young people. Five studies from Vietnam are used as contextual evidence in the Discussion to clarify the relevance of, and research gaps within, the Vietnamese context; they are not treated as direct evidence on true crime or recommender algorithms. The findings indicate that engagement with true crime is associated with general morbid curiosity and several specific motives. Studies of recommender systems further suggest that personalized content environments may, under specific conditions, amplify exposure to particular types of content, while platform characteristics may be associated with addictive/problematic use. However, none of the studies in the reviewed corpus directly tests the full sequence linking true crime, user interaction, recommendation, repeated exposure, and difficult-to-control viewing. Accordingly, the article proposes a user–content–algorithm framework as a conceptual hypothesis requiring empirical testing.