Just going to say to start off I never watched the Netflix show Don't F*ck with Cats, I heard about what happened and even though it is brief I just couldn't. So with that in mind it does mention in the book what he did to those poor wee kittens and it does mention harm to animals so just an fyi (it is something I struggle with reading so just a headsup. I have read a few books that talk about sleuths but if you haven't heard about them don't worry the book is a fantastic introduction to them and so much.

Ordinary people who have their own lives and often own jobs (some retired) get into sleuthing or armchair detectiving in different ways and reasons. If you like reaching about true crime you will really enjoy this book.

It talks about some very well known serial killers and some cases you may not be overly familiar with. It tells us about their community, forums available, what they do, how they came about (one of Ted Bundy near miss would be victims is involved in one) and some of the Jane and John Doe's they have identified, how they managed to do it. They discuss how they help the police and how some police do not want or avoid their assistance and how some are really grateful and or happy to work with them.

Michelle McNamara was an author (and famous husband actor Patton Oswald) who worked on so much research on The Golden State Killer and was working on her book "I'll Be Gone In The Dark" - I hadn't heard of it really and after reading this book I bought it. It has so much in it and I don't want to go into so as not to spoil anything. Absolutely for fans or true crime and if you are into or interested in sleuthing too its a double reason. 4.5/5 for me this time, first time reading this author, I would read her again.

This book is an interesting take on solving crimes by amateurs. If you are a true crime fanatic and watch/read a bunch in this area, I think you won’t find too much of a new information here. But if you are far from this topic but curious to see different angles - this might be right up your alley. I would recommend giving it a try if you are curious about true crime.

This was a very interesting look into citizen sleuthing. It is nice to know that many people put so much time and effort into solving murders of people they didn't know.

I’m not sure what I was expecting but the Real Life Murder Club was not it. This book was reminiscent of a rerun of all the 20/20 and People Investigates that I have watched. After a couple of chapters, this book turned into a hard pass for me.

Not a bad little read, with some exciting crimes, looked at from a layperson's perspective.

Factual and informative, with 12 crimes spaced out at a rate of one per chapter, perfect for a 'pick up and put down' read.

It was sometimes a little bit repetitive, with timelines muddled occasionally.

I recommend it to any crime fan.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Ad Lib for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of true crime, Nicola Stow has delved into the world of web sleuthing, detailing how ordinary citizens have helped provide clues and aided the police in solving various cases.

Most of the cases talked about will be familiar to most people, such as the JonBenet Ramsey murder, the Golden State Killer and John Wayne Gacy. However, what won’t be as familiar is how regular people have helped with these cases and spent hours upon hours pouring over the evidence to stumble across a clue. Nicola Stow does a really good job of introducing us to some of these people and sharing their personal stories. I found it fascinating that several of them had their own personal reasons for wanting to do this and usually it involved a tragedy in their past.

Unlike the procedurals we see on the tv, this work is not glamorous and can take years of painstaking work to find anything remotely helpful. Websites have been set up with members who have specialist knowledge of genealogy, psychology and art amongst many others but they do their cyber sleuthing in their own time.

The cases are detailed very clearly and the information provided is incredibly interesting. This book gives us an insight not only into the cases but into the lives of the people who do it and it does it very well. It may be treading old ground but I still found this book fascinating and I’m sure other true crime fans will too.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed learning about how citizens/amateur sleuths can help solve cold cases.

I the found this book to be interesting, insightful, it was was well-researched and written in an easy to read format. There a couple of things you need to know if you are going to read this book all the crimes mentioned are US/Canada however the author uses British terminology in writing. No big deal me to however this could be important to other readers.

I recommended to all true crime readers.

soooo I really liked a lot about this book....true crime....regular citizen's trying and sometimes succeeding to solve murder mysteries. Some of the stories I was familiar with while other's where completely new, however, all the stories were interesting and left me with new information. Great depth in telling who these "citizen detectives" were and why they are drawn to true crime.

What I didn't like was the fact that most if not all of these crimes are US/Canada crimes, yet the author uses UK terminology all the time. Victim's weights are shown in stones vs pounds. Criminals in court where in "the dock". In the chapter about the GSK and Michelle McNamara she said Michelle was also busy being a Mum, plus odors and murderish items were found in the"boot" of a car. I couldn't figure out if this book was written for a UK audience or an American audience but either way the choice to have UK nomenclature and US settings showed a lack of editing and seems a bit lazy for an American audience.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting, insightful book, well-researched and written in an informative style. Recommended to all true crime buffs.

This book is a MUST READ for all true crime aficionados! I enjoyed learning about how citizens or amateur sleuths solved cold cases. All I can say is they possess GRIT - perseverance, passion and patience - in trying to solve cold cases or searching missing persons in their own time and not getting paid for their effort. All they want is to solve these cases and help the families of the victims. I loved how the author also shared some of the not so good effects of amateur sleuthing which had compromised real investigations. Overall, this was a fantastic book and is definitely one of my favourite true crime books of this year!

Pub. Date: Out now

***Thank you Ad Lib Publishers and NetGalley for this gifted reading copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

This is a book written about real life murders and how normal every day people have helped to catch some of the worst criminals. It’s a quick read that looks at different people.

If you’re a true crime fan, check out The Real-Life Murder Clubs. Each chapter interviews a different web sleuth - a person that has not been formally trained but is working to identify a murder victim or find a missing person. They spend countless hours looking through photos trying to find a match and bring peace to families.

One man discusses his process of recreating photos of people from looking at skeletal remains. He has been able to identify several missing people from his work. They also discuss Michelle and Paul’s work with the Golden State Killer case. One chapter interviews the daughter of a detective and how watching him solve a murder in their sleepy town helped shape her interest in true crime. Another chapter interviews a mother who created a fake MySpace profile to catch her daughter’s killer.

The book is super graphic and full of all the triggers. It talks in depth about the documentary Don’t Fuck With Cats, which I hadn’t watched because the animal cruelty sounded pretty upsetting. And now I’ve read about it and that was also upsetting 😂🤷🏻‍♀️ So just heads up - the murder book is obviously full of murder.

Thank you to @netgalley and @adlibpublishers for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This book was published last week!

#netgalley #bookreview #booksharks #thereallifemurderclubs #bookstagram #bookfolding #truecrime #dontfuckwithcats

I had high hopes for this book - folk who, in their spare time, look at old crime scene files and make an attempt to help solve crimes however they can, with some able to offer excellent services such as reconstruction of a face from a skull.

However, this book seems to lean towards fangirling over these ‘sleuths’, some of the ways in which these people are described is cringey. Plain and simple. There’s at least 10% of this book which basically regurgitates Michelle McNamara’s “I’ll be gone in the dark” and a large chunk dedicated to how the infamous cat killer was tracked down - some might argue that’s not the work of a “murder club”.

The book couldn’t make up its mind as to whether focus should be placed on the drama surrounding the sleuthing or how awesome these guys were for helping to solve. High fives all round. Like I said - cringe

I love anything true crime and this was no exception. There's a part of me that wishes I could be an amateur sleuth and solve cold cases and current crimes and it was fun to live that fantasy through this book.

I'm one of those weird people who loves listening to true crime, so this book sounded like it would be right up my alley. Everyday citizens solving crimes and making previously unseen links in cases? Count me in! I was not disappointed.

This book looks at how everyday people were involved in solving some more well-known crimes, such as the Golden State Killer and the killer from the Netflix documentary Don't Fuck with Cats, to some lesser-known crimes, such as Tent Girl. The author does a great job of presenting the facts of the case as well as how these "murder clubs" were involved, in such a way that it feels like you really understand the ins and outs of the crime. And considering each chapter is usually a completely new case, this is really impressive!

I have to say, I loved the nod to Richard Osman's "Thursday Murder Club" series, a series I have recently read and absolutely love, so it was cool to see the small reference to it made right at the beginning of the novel.

I also loved how 2 chapters were dedicated to the Golden State Killer and Michelle McNamara's involvement in bringing him to justice. While this case is a lot more well know these days, it's still amazing how much McNamara contributed to bringing the killer "into the light". I have read her book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" and found it very moving and informative, so it was cool to see it mentioned here, as well as some behind the scenes to how it came to be published after McNamara sadly passed away.

Overall, if you like learning about true crime and have the same morbid passion that I do, I think you will really enjoy this novel! Of course, trigger warnings for the likes of sexual assault/rape, blood, dismemberment, gore, body horror, suffocation, physical assault, and obviously murder.

I was really excited for this book, but I couldn't really get into it? I was hoping for something to keep me more hooked. It was everything that the description said it was, but it was somewhat boring. As someone who has read the Thursday Murder Club, I feel like the title fell flat with the story. The Thursday Murder Club was about older people who solved murders, where this was true crime and didn't have that "cozy comedy aspect." I understand why the title is the way that it is, but I feel like it could've been named something different. This was also hard to read as there were many edits that needed to be done. Maybe with the right narrator, it would be a good audiobook?

Thank you to the author, Ad Lib Publishers and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

True crime has become a genre across all types of media, from the traditional books to TV series and podcasts. The blurb references Richard Osman's books, which I really enjoyed, but I found this book took a completely different direction. It highlights around a dozen different true crime cases (some well-known, others not), giving the reader a look at the citizen detectives who put in astounding amounts of time and effort to bring criminals to justice.

I was a bit disappointed that the book focused much more on the cases and murderers (often in a - to my mind - unnecessarily gruesome manner), rather than the people working all hours to find answers. The writing was a bit disjointed and there were odd jumps at times, which broke the flow of any narrative.

This book is for any crime junkee fans.
I loved it.
It explains the love for true crime by the public and how they help solve crimes.

As a true crime junkie, I was excited for the opportunity to review this title. Many police departments discredit the input of "citizen sleuths" in solving crimes, yet everyday people can offer insights, experiences, and details that would otherwise be overlooked. However, that's not to say that public interest can't turn to misinformation and vigilante justice very quickly. This book looks at several crimes that were solved by cyber sleuths as well as showing examples of mob mentality that can lead to tragedy.

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m literally obsessed with True Crime so this was the perfect book for me, I’m also interested in Citizen Detectives solving crimes when the police couldn’t and that’s what this book is all about.

Don’t f**k with cats on Netflix was riveting viewing and it was nearly all solved by normal people online which was absolutely incredible, that case is covered in this book.

The Glossary at the beginning at the book was just the perfect thing as sometimes the terminology is hard to understand if you’re not familiar with it.

Each case in this book is absolutely fascinating, some I knew of before so it was nice to get a new perspective on things and the rest just blew my mind.

I’d recommend this book to fans of True Crime and mystery solving.