THE SERIAL KILLERS GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO
Michelle Chouinard

Want to visit the West Coast and spend time with serial killers?

Capri gives tours of famous murder scenes and horror houses in various neighborhoods in San Francisco, California.

Her grandfather is the infamous William “OVERKILL BILL” Sanzio. She exploits this fact and uses it to her advantage at work.

One day a crime is committed that replicates her grandfather's murder techniques. A copycat is on the loose and Capri has no idea what to think.

When another body shows up that implicates her and her daughter in the crimes, Capri must find out who is committing the crimes. She might even be able to clear her grandfather's name of those old murders if she proves the copycat is the original.

Clearing her name might clear his name.

Reading THE SERIAL KILLER GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO was like traveling through different San Francisco neighborhoods with true crime-tinted sunglasses on.

What a cool way to learn more about the history of San Francisco and how it's divided up, what several of the neighborhoods are known for, and what famous serial killers may have lived or killed there.

I read THE SERIAL KILLER GUIDE on the day we were due to drive to San Francisco airport and it provided an immersive experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the advanced copy!

THE SERIAL KILLER GUIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO…⭐⭐⭐

This was another book that I had selected from NetGalley based purely on the title or the cover of the book (a technique that I colloquially coin as "the raccoon principle"). I would like to thank NetGalley, the author, and their publisher St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

The synopsis of this book is that the main character, Capri, is a single woman living in San Francisco who leads virtual and in-person tours to places in the city that have tie-ins to famous serial killers (with the tie-in being that her grandfather was jailed back in the 1960s for being one of these serial killers). She finds herself pulled into the investigation of a new series of murders as several socialites, including her former mother-in-law, are found dead in secluded parks in San Francisco using the same methodology as the crimes that her grandfather had been jailed for. Capri is relentless and once she set her mind to something she had to follow to the end. We follow Capri trying to clear her grandfather's name, who was a convicted serial killer, "Overkill Bill."

Honestly, I expected a bit more serial killing. But still, this was mostly an enjoyable read. This light-hearted thriller was both entertaining and easy to read. The characters were relatable, and the plot was engaging. With a premise like this, what mystery reader wouldn’t jump right in? Well, the plot is excellent, but the execution is not. This story has both has too much and too little going on at the same time. For example, there is over-explaining of technology: cloud services, memory cards, AI, and algorithms, and there’s a ton of detail when Capri does laundry or drives her car. The actual plot points are delivered with little detail. I expected a bit more serial killers and quite a lot of scandal.

I found that there were some parts of the book that I had to go back and re-read because some of her internal monologues were trying to piece things together that were a little hard to follow and a little hard to believe why she'd jump to certain conclusions.

Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars. I would recommend this book to friends who are not fans of intense and dark thrillers, as it serves as a great introduction to the genre.

As with most of my literary ramblings, these are a few my five cents worth.

Such a fun book! The setting of San Francisco felt like another character and it helped bring the book to life. Lots of twists and turns. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I was giving and advanced copy of this book for my honest review.
Do you enjoy a good mystery interwoven well with history and fiction? You will enjoy this book. The protagonist Capri is very relatable.I was definitely able to relate to her character and all that she was going through, minus having a family member as a serial killer. I enjoyed walking through her investigation of a copycat killer of her grandfather’s killings. The author Michelle really brought the story to life and left you guessing who the real killer is. Many times I thought I could guess only to find there was a lot of book left and so my guess could not be correct. I followed along with not only her journey to find answers but could really connect with her emotionally. Make sure you put this on your TBR pile for when it becomes published this fall.

I must admit that I was pulled into reading this book based on the book cover, because I do love both San Francisco and mystery books. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, and thought it was well written. It was my first book by Michelle Chouinard.

Essentially there is a main character, Capri, who needs to quickly solve a murder mystery that directly impacts her family. Capri’s ex-mother-in-law has just been killed in the same style as three women were killed in the 1960’s, allegedly by Capri’s grandfather (“Overkill Bill”). The police have identified Capri and her daughter as potential suspects.

Honing her efforts to protect her daughter and herself, Capri begins to try to uncover clues about who might be motivated to kill her mother-in-law. Capri is resourceful, smart, and brave. The perfect armchair detective. How she deduces clues is interesting and fun to follow along.

Capri runs a business giving tours about San Francisco murders. She leverages her San Francisco knowledge, her work colleagues, and family to try to not only solve her mother-in-law’s murder but also work out details from her grandfather’s alleged crime to see how it might be related. The ending was not a surprise for me but I enjoyed the revelation nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

This book has kept me intrigued and entertained from start to finish. Every plot point in the storyline left me hooked and I was very excited to read through it till the very end. I loved the characters and their personal stories as well that added to their development.

"The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco" offers a unique perspective on a woman's exploration of her grandfather's "alleged" crimes as a serial killer.

Right from the beginning, readers will feel connected to Capri. She's a cheerful native of San Francisco who has started a company that provides tours of locations associated with serial killers in the city. When faced with financial difficulties, Capri decides it's finally time to uncover everything she can about her grandfather's dark past.

This light-hearted thriller was both entertaining and easy to read. The characters were relatable, and the plot was engaging. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars. I would recommend this book to friends who are not fans of intense and dark thrillers, as it serves as a great introduction to the genre.

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book. Thank you!

It feels weird to call a book about a serial killer charming but this book was weirdly charming. I loved the main character and even laughed at a couple parts. I really loved this one!

This is such a fun family drama murder mystery story. I feel like there was more family drama then i expected, but i still thought this story was really fun. If you loved Finlay Donovan and stories like that, this one might be worth picking up. 3.5 stars rounded up!

Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Honestly, I expected a bit more serial killing. But still, this was mostly an enjoyable read. Capri was a great main character. She was funny, smart, and driven. I do think some of her internal monologues trying to piece things together got a little hard to follow as well as a little hard to believe why she'd jump to certain conclusions. All of the things discovered about Sylvia made me wish I was reading a story about her. What a fascinating, rich, secretive woman she was. I read this pretty fast but I also felt like the story dragged and that might have been because of Capri having to do her serial killer tours in between investigating. Which again, not enough about serial killers on a tour about them. Still, it was a fun murder mystery and the theories I had were wrong, which I always enjoy stories better when I can't guess the ending!

I enjoyed this book a lot! This book gave a suspenseful murder-mystery movie/tv vibes and I am here for it. If you're a fan of mysteries and who-done-it types, this is the book to read! This book got my attention because of the cover, not going to lie, but I stayed for the content! I felt like I was investigating along our main character Capri, which by the way is a unique and cool name. Capri is relentless and once she set her mind to something she had to follow to the end. We follow Capri trying to clear her grandfathers name, who was convicted serial killer, "Overkill Bill." While she's investigating someone starts killing in the same method her grandfather was accused of doing and their victim you may ask? Her ex-mother-in-law! Anyways, I could not put this book down! Definitely will recommend! Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

I enjoyed this mystery, and the quirky characters. The story started out strong and completely captivated me. It slowed down a lot towards the middle, and seemed to drag a bit, before picking up at the end. Overall, a good read.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Capri does serial killer tours of San Francisco. The business supports her and her daughter, so it’s worth fielding a few questions about her grandfather, nicknamed Overkill Bill, to the tourists. However, when a copycat killer emerges, Capri realizes she’ll be a suspect, so she vows to do everything she can to solve the murders. With a premise like this, what mystery reader wouldn’t jump right in? Well, the plot is excellent, the execution is not. This story both has too much and too little going on at the same time. For example, there is over explaining of technology: cloud services, memory cards, AI, algorithms, and there’s a ton of detail when Capri does laundry or drives her car. The actual plot points are delivered with little detail. Good mystery novels allow readers to figure things out as they’re shown carefully crafted scenes. This book though just tells the reader everything. A complicated ending scene was even followed up with only a few short sentences that spell out that actually everything is okay, the bad guy was caught and all of the other bad is good now. It was infuriating. Unfortunately, this is just not worth the long time it takes to read.

This book was a very quick read for me. And I loved it. Being semi close to San Francisco it was fun to read something based there.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a mystery novel about Capri who makes a living by giving murder tours to tourist around San Francisco. Her whole life has involved murder since her grandfather was convicted for being a serial killer. Capri always thought her grandfather was innocent but could never talk about him growing up due to her father. Present day, Capri gets tangled up in murders that are copy cats of her grandfather’s and has to try to figure out who the killer is.

Overall, this is a fun quick read if you are in the mood for a mystery. The beginning starts off strong and then is a little slow but picks up again. It has some twists and turns you don’t expect. The characters were lovable and easy to root for in the end.

Rounding up 3.5.

I expected a bit more serial killers and quite a lot scandal. I don't think that's the author's fault, I just had different expectations for where the plot would go based off the summary.

So I didn't totally hate Capri, but I think it was a tad annoying how she handled everything. Especially with her ex, her daughter, the cop, well... everything. Sometimes I feel like characters are secret detectives in a former life, and sometimes it works. But here, it didn't.

I don't know why I'm rating it high when it was just okay. I'm glad it got wrapped up at the end with her grandpa because I didn't really want to read another book explaining if he was the serial killer or not. I dunno. Decent debut, a little corny with writing, but I'll still try this author in the future.

"The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco" by Michelle Chouinard is such an exciting murder mystery that keeps readers on the edge of their seat. The main character, Capri, was a refreshing main character who was easy to root for and support throughout the story. Capri , granddaughter of a convicted serial killer (Overkill Bill), is a 49 year old divorced mother and business owner who is sucked into the investigation of a Overkill Bill copy-cat killer when it hits close to home and now must solve the mystery before she becomes the next target.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was easy to become invested and the I appreciated how Michelle painted the scenes in a way that transported you to the story. There were a couple hangups for me, 1- The solution felt a little too neat. It seemed like the author finished the story and then just chose a random person who could be the killer. I wanted to see more bread crumbing along the way so when the big reveal happens it makes sense in retrospect and isn't confusing. There were a few loose ends that really didn't feel resolved by the end of the story, I'm assuming its because there will be a sequel, but I hope in future books there will be a little more development. 2- This could be a me issue, but I felt like sometimes in the story the idea of 'show, don't tell' was missed. There were just a few parts that were overly explained by a character rather than shown to us through the writing of the story.

I would read this book again and will recommend it to my friends as well! This clean mystery was a pleasant surprise and I am looking forward to keeping an eye on this author in the future. Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was a cute story on the surface, a light hearted mystery with a lot of family drama.
I enjoyed Capri’s backstory and why she was interested in serial killers in the first place, it’s what drew me to the book.

This was a unique story that ended up falling in the middle of the road for me. I think it will appeal to those that aren’t the biggest fans of intense thrillers, but in the end it moved a bit too slow for me which caused me to not fully love it.

With a title like "The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco," I was immediately intrigued by the book. I thought it would be similar to Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Although both based in San Francisco and both involving, you guessed it, murder, the books were quite different. This story focuses on a woman trying to solve a copycat serial killer murders while avenging her grandfather's name. I liked the story, but felt like it was a bit slow at times.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I almost gave this book 3 stars if it wasn’t for how slow it was.. It was a lot of repetition and lack of a plot to me. Things were solving itself out without the extra fluff I feel. Personally, I need something more fast paced especially for a mystery thriller.