You ever thought that you were weird because you liked the idea of catching a murderer or are obsessed with local murder stories. Well go ahead. Pick this book. This book is hilarious to the dot where you look in the mirror and say "What have I become?!". To be honest I had to research a little about Ted Bundy and Zodiac killer but I finished this book in two days with the research.
This book was "drawn" beautifully with a very unique design. It was like reading an episode of Keeping up with Kardashian where they are obsessed with murder stories and are basically speaking to the camera as a monologue.
It took me a little longer to understand the design of it but overall this book really made me realise how much I love true crime stories and how badly I have to see Law and Order

Received an e-copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

This was a graphic memoir, where the author goes back and traces when/ how her obsession to true crime began. I loved that there were actually real true crimes cases and I loved it.

There were some true crime books mentioned in this graphic novel and was talked a bit about. Now I want to read about those criminals and learn more.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a big true crime fan since I was a teenager. When I saw the description of this book it sounded right up my alley. I also was excited that it was a graphic novel. Unfortunately, I wasn't that impressed. First of all, I wanted this book to be mostly about true crime and not so much about the writer. No one would care why I like true crime and I can't really say I care why she does. I did enjoy the parts about crimes but I found myself just skimming the rest and it felt like there was a lot more about the author than about true crime. I did enjoy the graphic novel aspect but some of the lettering was hard to read.

My name is Jen...and I'm a murderino, In this book, I happily found my people. I am a fan of graphic novels, and although this is not the glossy, moody super hero graphic novels I am used to, I enjoyed the drawings and text. So much of what Hilary wrote resonated with me...I listen to true crime podcasts, read true crime books and thrillers. As a kid raised in the 60s, I read A LOT of Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, in junior high I was introduced to true crime through the movie Helter Skelter and the book of the same name. From that point on, true crime has been my jam. Hilary's lighthearted take on a serious subject, gave me insight into WHY I am drawn to the genre. Anyone who is a fan of true crime will find a kindred spirit here and will catch themselves thinking..."Hey, I read/watched/listened to that!". For those who have close friends, family, or partner who is a murderino, this quick read will help you understand that obsession a little better. Murder Book is a big thumbs up for me! #murderbook #netgalley

I received a digital copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who is also possibly a little too interested in murder, I really enjoyed this book. Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell's writing style is so entertaining as she is able to seamlessly weave her personal thoughts and stories with true crime cases. The cartoons held my interest throughout and were only occasionally confusingly formatted, however, I think this fitted well with her more off-the-cuff and dynamic explanations. Each part of the book was entertaining and enjoyable and I would have given the book 5 stars if I could relate better to consuming American true crime media, as I knew most of the cases but was largely raised on English murder mysteries.

For the past two years I have become obsessed with true crime shows. My TV is set to ID network.
Murder book is about me and all the women like me, who know every recent murder, or missing person case I the news.
The author, her sister, her mother, and every female friend sits around with wine or coffee and plays armchair detective. I see me and my girlfriends in her drawing, arguing over "is he guilty?", " think she's still alive?", and so seeing out loud why its so dang hard to just get a divorce!
Hillary Campbell hit it square on the head, with a blunt objected, as she explains why women are more fascinated with true crime them men.
I adore this graphic novel! Add it to your TBR list asap!
Thanks to @ netgalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Wasn't really a fan of the artwork, also I felt as if this was sort of glorifying murders? I am obsessed with True crime just like the nex person, but this was a bit much.

This book was okay -- it was actually interesting. To be completely honest, I wasn't amazed by the art, I kind of wished it was better. However, the theme of the book made up for it and it turned out to be an enjoyable read. Rating: 3/5 stars.

Wow! What a fun idea! I already have 3 people in mind this would make a great gift for who love true crime! This would be such a great coffee table book, gift, or conversation piece! Very creative and cool!

I finally found a book that answers some deep questions that I’ve had, like “am I wrong for being obsessed with true crime?”.
To be fair I do know that I’m not alone on this journey and apparently there is a lot of people thinking and enjoying this topic.
I loved the book, I laughed a lot while reading it, I related a lot to some thoughts, it was an overall very good time.

I laughed out loud several times during this book and it was actually a pretty funny and comical insight on the authors way of thinking and obsession when it comes to true crime. When I was reading it felt like I was being called out because I also love and adore true crime as much as this author does so I had a lot of fun. This was perfect for me really! 5 out of 5 stars!

This graphic novel is a memoir of the author's life-long love of true crime, which also tries to answer the question of why so many people are interested in the genre. She frames her discussion with recounting big true crime cases she can recall throughout her life, including well known ones like the zodiac killer and Ted Bundy. I liked these parts more than her discussions of her personal attachment to the genre, they felt more cohesive. I felt like the memoir was too stream of consciousness for me, the author jumps back and forth between cases and personal anecdotes too much and the way she's chosen to tell these stories (like telling them to the wait staff at various bars and restaurants she's sitting in) seemed like a weird attempt at humor that fell flat. That being said, I do think die-hard true crime fans will like this one, if only for how relatable the author makes her obsession seem.

I had an Advance Reader of this from NetGalley. I understand that memoir books are very personal and as such it's very hard to judge them as anything other than a very individual perspective, but this book tries to do too much. There is the memoir part of it, but there are also 2 other equal parts of the narrative. The first is a recounting of some true crime stories - unfortunately, most of these are rethreads of crimes we all know (even if you aren't into true crime you know who and what Ted Bundy is), the author touches on the fact that True Crime tends to glamourize the perp, and that the perps that tend to be glamourized are white and male, yet... well that's what she does too. Commenting on something while doing that same thing, is meta, sure, but not progressive. The second thing she's doing is trying to figure out WHY she (or women in general) are attracted to True Crime - unfortunately, here we fall into a lot of generalisms and repetitiveness. Blaming her mother, or generalizing on what women are or are not as a collective. Women are not (as much of anything that can have nuance) a monolith, and feeding into "positive" stereotypes of women as the empathetic gender or such seems counterproductive. I wish she had laser-focused on the memoir part of this. She could have talked about the crimes she talked about but much more about how SHE digested them and less about a beat by beat of the crimes (especially since we all know what the Zodiac Killer did!) The last problem I had with this book is that it was difficult to read. I am a pretty savvy comic and graphic works reader, and even I was stumped as to the reading flow of this graphic novel.. The panels were staggered in one way but when I read it according to the structure, I would quickly realize I had it wrong... This happened more than once. I think the author would do well to study graphic panel conventions so that the reading of her future works could flow better. The writing, however, was nice and the story was funny (although I wondered why there were so many scenes with the main character on the toilet!), It just took on way too much and as such lost the thing that it was meant to do which was tell a story of someone who for reasons of their own fell in love with a good murder story.

3.5 rounded up to a 4. The author is a very talented illustrator and storyteller and her illustrations were so fun.

I will say reading plenty of graphic novels I wish there had been more balance with the text and illustrations. I kept missing my place or where to read because of large amounts spanning all over the images.

If you do not have any idea on True Crime and the history behind the phenomena, this is the book for you. She breaks down the history of true crime and their enthusiasts and the reasons that they resonate so much with people.

I do wish that it had gone a little more streamlined. Like the history behind True Crime and then discussing the cases. Instead of going back and forth.

as someone who has been into true crime for a while now i was really interested to hear this take. i was especially interested in her dissection of why people like true crime and what makes it so appealing. i have never read a memoir in a graphic novel style so was very excited.

i found the experiences and personal anecdotes about liking true crime to be very relatable. it allowed me to kind of laugh at yet also question myself which i did enjoy. it was generally fun and lighthearted which feels contradictory but here we are. when she was talking about her and her families personal anecdotes it did begin to get a little bit repetitive after a while. i don't think it was necessary to deep dive into her and her families experiences too much. i would have preferred if it just provided context without spending too much time in it as i was looking more for hilary's perspective rather than the history. other than this, there were some lags in the story that kind of slowed the pace and weren't very necessary that i did find myself skimming.

i didn't expect there to be exploration into actual cases like ted bundy and the zodiac killer so that was a pleasant surprise. since it was in a graphic form i found it easy to understand and gather case details quickly. i appreciate how she remained respectful to victim by including their names, faces and what they liked. a thoughtful yet crucial touch.

additionally, the look into why women like true crime was very interesting and one of the parts i was most excited about. i found the look into systemic racism and the romanticisation of the 70s such good topics to include. she really brought a perspective with depth and nuance which i appreciated.

at some points the way murder was discussed did feel a little bit conflicting. for example, 'i want to get murdered'. it was a bit weird for lack of a better word. also, something that did bug me at the end was when the joke 'a dingo ate my baby' was used. adopting this as a joke has always rubbed me the wrong way as an australian. since, it was such a devastating and shocking case of something that actually happened which has been taken out of context to be used as a punchline.

i would rate this a 3.5 but will be rounding up on NetGalley since i think that it would definitely appeal to a wide audience who would get a lot of out of it.

Really enjoyed this ode to true crime. I normally don't enjoy graphic novels, but this one was my speed.

soo .. i love comics and i love murder and true crime and all that jazz. At bits I loved it but overall it was not my favorite read.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is quite a fun book to read revolves around the obsession of true crimes. There are plenty visually interesting graphic and information provided here was a joy to read. Although, it can be quite cluttered and messy so making it a bit hard to read but overall, its an interesting read. For someone who loves true crimes, i can relate so much to the author's obsession and its always fun to see the true crimes in here explored in more details.

5 *stars*

I wish my mom was obsessed with thriller and murder mysteries as I am. That would made our connection stronger. Hilary you are really lucky to have your mother. That bond with your mom is so good especially when you have something in common: CRIME OBSESSION for an example!

My thoughts:
It was really funny and easy to read. (I must say it was quite hard to read it from a phone) After reading this graphic novel I think I will pick up some of the mentioned books and read those myself. I have heard something about those cases, but at that time I was too scared and I clearly haven't found my passion for murder/mystery books. ha ha :D The plane part was so good. I was laughing when she went to bathroom and reminded to not sit on the toilet when peeing. I do the same in public bathrooms. :D

I haven't thought about why I like murder/ thriller mysteries. It was interesting to read your thoughts about it.
Thank you for the graphic novel!
You both are happy to have each other!

#MurderBook #NetGalley

General Impressions

This was another book requested because of the shambles my Goodreads Reading Challenge has become and because true crime entertainment is so ingrained in our culture that I was curious about what I might learn about the phenomenon.

This was by no means an unforgettable book but I did find it interesting if nothing more because I liked the rambling style the narrator employed and to learn about famous serial killers and crimes from her. I would learn about every crime from her.

The negative part of me was that this was very difficult to read: the entire book was drawn in a cartoonish style that can be very hard on your eyes and is not the most digital-friendly.

Conclusions

This is as good as it is because the passion and knowledge the author has for this subject seep from every page. Not only is she talking about something that matters to her but that matters to a lot of people we know so she takes the reader on a journey as to why.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this DRC.

Rating: 3/5