4⭐️ “The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco” by Michelle Chouinard

As a big M.M. Chouinard/Michelle Chouinard fan I was so excited that through NetGalley I received the opportunity to read and review this book! I, of course, still ordered my physical copy though because I need to have my book trophy! 🏆📘

💭 My Book Blurb…

Capri Sanzio, the granddaughter of San Francisco serial killer Overkill Bill, finds herself in a killer situation…literally. As a woman who found a way to monetize her ancestry by running a San Fran tour guide service with a speciality in serial killers, Capri has embraced her background of murder ever since she was a kid and learned the truth.

Now her life is taking a new turn as an Overkill Bill copycat killer strikes San Fran, her ex-mother-in-law cuts of Capri’s daughter’s college funds pushing Capri to dig up the past, and it all comes a little too close to home as Capri’s ex-MIL becomes the next copycat victim.

But don’t worry, Capri doesn’t back down from a challenge. 🕵🏻‍♀️

⛔️ SPOILERS BELOW ⛔️

I loved the sleuthing that happened in this book. It was definitely different from Michelle’s previous books, but equally as gripping and twisty. I loved the juxtaposition that was created as Capri investigated the original and the copycat killings and unraveled the truth, past and present.

More out of greed than because I found the book lacking, but I would have loved more of Capri looking into the original cases on Overkill Bill. I loved the discovery and the way it was explained that ultimately, no matter the truth, there was always going to be lose, suffering and death but at the very least some degree of justice would be gained through truth.

I was absolutely shocked when the killer was revealed. I won’t say a name 🤐 but I was reading late at night and had to keep reading because no way was I going to bed without finishing it after that! And like any good mystery thriller, once I knew who it was it all made sense and the clues were there but it was so well done I’d missed it just like Capri!

Even if The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco didn't have a super cute cover and a catchy title, I would still love it. It's a fun, addictive page-turner with a unique premise. Capri's grandfather is the notorious Overkill Bill serial killer, but she has always doubted his guilt. It's, after the death of her former mother-in-law, when she combines her love of true crime and research, that the book gets gets really good, with an ending that I didn't see coming. This is one that I will be recommending to all my thriller-loving friends!

Overall an enjoyable murder mystery. I had access to an audiobook and ebook of this. The mystery is solid and overall engaging. I was definitely entertained from beginning to end. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Serial Killers Guide to San Francisco
Author: Michelle Chouinard
Mystery

Thank you so much Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC! This was a delight! Overall I really enjoyed it. Our FMC runs a serial killer tour business that was inspired by her grandfathers murders. Super fun concept and I loved it. When her mother in law turns up unalived right after another copycat murder takes place, she finds herself right in the center of the case. I am enjoying thrillers like this where they are a little more light than dark and messed up. The characters were all really fun, and it was fast paced and kept me enthralled the whole time. The only negative I have to say is that I was very underwhelmed by the ending and it was too predictable. Still a fun thriller read if you’re looking for one. Definitely check this out the concept sounds fun to you.

4.5 ⭐ Okay - I LOVED this! It gave major Good Girls Guide to Murder meets Finlay Donovan vibes. This is such a fun read that needs to be on the top of your TBR! Posted on GR & storygraph 9/26- adding to IG 9/27

loved the concept of this book! I’m in my thriller/serial killer/spooky era and this was a great read to read about murder but in a fun way? Am I allowed to say that? Definitely recommend if you’re looking for a lighter way to read a thriller!

2.75⭐️

Huge thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to be an arc reader on this story. All opinions are my own.

I was really looking forward to reading this one and it had a good start to it. For some reason it was just really tough for me to get through. I enjoyed the concepts and some of the ideas of the story but I think I just wasn’t a fan of some of the execution. There were some pretty big choices that the FMC made that kind of annoyed me. Plus it seemed like the police just weren’t involved at all except when the FMC would go to talk to them. Other than that it was tough to feel their presence.

Overall I was able to get through it and I liked finding out who was guilty but it was just tough to get through for me.

A fun introduction to a new series. Capri is a young woman who gives serial killer tours of San Francisco. This is more than a job for capri-she is the granddaughter of convicted serial killer “overkill bill” who terrorized the city decades ago. Capri has always suspected her grandfather was innocent, but when a copycat strikes, she finds she may need to delve deeper into her grandfathers past than she ever wanted. After the copycat claims a victim close to home, she finds herself at the heart of the investigation and in a race to discover the truth before she becomes the next victim.
Fun, twisty, and light read (as strange as that sounds to say about serial killers). Capri is an intriguing protagonist and I enjoyed the intercutting chapters about the different serial killers-.as if we are listening to capri give a tour.

Nothing new to the genre here-just a solid outing with a tried and true format.

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a unique perspective on a book title. Not gonna lie this was a pick because of the cover and I am glad I did. Wrapped this up going into spooky season and a more light hearted murder mystery was exactly what I needed

Well, that was fun!

I wonder why more books aren’t set in this location. New York gets all the glory, but my heart is firmly planted in San Franscisco.

I enjoyed the family drama of it all, particularly the history with OverKill Bill, and the tension between her and her father.

I loved that the MFC was middle aged, that she had a fully-fleshed out life, and I enjoyed being privvy to all the mildly neurotic ramblings of Capri’s brain.

Really, my only disappointment was that there wasn’t more about the true crime podcast.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for this clever ARC.

The Serial Killer guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard and here are my thoughts.


Capri makes her living giving serial killer tours around her city, being the granddaughter of Overkill Bill, she has a vested interest… Especially as she is sure he was innocent. When a copycat starts killing the way Overkill used to and his latest victim is her ex mother in law…. The police are looking directly at her and her daughter…

Light, easy, entertaining read for a mystery book. I love quirky and unique reads and this one had a ton of both!

I also now need to know if serial killer tours are a real thing.. Anyone???

I felt the writing was a tad simple in spots but as a debut novel…. ZINGGG It was a well executed book. I like Capri, she was the salt of the earth, a solid kind of person with an eccentric personality. Love people like that!

I liked the mystery and how clever it was weaved into the family drama!! MIL drama is the WORST!!! The MIL ending up dead… What a nightmare haha!

The ending was great and I actually really enjoyed this one.

4 stars! Excellent debut, looking forward to seeing more from this author.

Thank you @netgalley and @minotaurbooks for my gifted copy.

The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard, 336 pages. Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2024. $28.
Language: R (59 swears, 1 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL, ADULTS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
Being the granddaughter of a serial killer has always colored Capri’s life—especially since she believes he was innocent. Researching her grandfather’s case led to other serial killers and murder cases, which eventually inspired Capri (49yo) to start a tour company that focused on murder spots around San Francisco. But she wasn’t the only one to be inspired. A copycat killer has started murdering more women, placing a glaring spotlight on Capri and her family once more.
Capri digs into both the open serial killer case and her grandfather’s closed case, tangling everything together and keeping readers on edge for two big reveals. Riding the line between helping protect herself and her daughter without impeding the police investigation makes for some amusing antics, and Chouinard kept me engaged the entire time. Plus, there are enough truths mixed in with the story that I’m on my way to being convinced I need to visit San Francisco—but only during daylight hours.
The majority of characters are implied White, though Chinese, Indian, and Latino characters are mentioned as well as a couple of LGBT characters. The mature content rating is for alcohol use; illegal activity; mentions of drugs, prostitutes, sexual harassment, rape, and sex; groping; nudity; and innuendo. The violence rating is for blood and gore, assault, mentions of corpses and suicide, gun use, and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

This was decently enjoyable. I'm a huge lover of murder mysteries and this honestly captured the feel of those pretty well in my opinion. I liked the main character Capri and I LOVE her name, very unique. If you're a murder mystery lover like me I think this might be the book for you! It definitely provokes thought and has you trying to figure out who it is and usually I can figure out the whodunit pretty quickly but this one surprised me!! That's a great murder mystery in my book.

I was super excited for this book.. The cover is cute and the description sounded great. However, I found it to be a tiny bit more cutesy than I think I was in the mood for. It read a bit like a procedural tv show, having a serial killer tour guide help with a case in which she is also a suspect.

The story was slower than I hoped but there were some twists that I enjoyed throughout the book. I also had a few hunches that were not correct but I think that is due to me watching too many procedurals with my mom growing up.. I also found the MCs daughter to be very annoying for an.. adult woman.

📱 The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco 📱⁣
⁣⁣
⁣I’ve been leaning hard into the cozier reads this month and enjoyed The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco. It’s a cleaver mystery about a woman who leads tours of San Francisco. Capri has always been interested in true crime because she’s the grand daughter of a convicted serial killer- who she believes is innocent. When a copycat killer strikes the city, Capri wonders if it’s time to finally investigate her grandfather’s case. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣This book is an easy, entertaining read. Capri is like-able and I enjoyed learning some of the darker history of San Francisco in this novel. It was quirky and fun— although at times it did seem discuss too many boring business details. Overall I’d probably give it 3.5 star rating… rounded up to four! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
⁣⁣
⁣I recommend this one to fans of the Finlay Donovan or Molly the Maid series! ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for my ARC in return for a review. This book is out now.

The Serial Killer Guide to San Fransisco is literally about someone who does just that. Capri runs tours of the whats and wheres of serial killers who have roamed San Fransisco. She is also the granddaughter of a convicted serial killer. Capri doesn’t believe he was guilty and has always wanted to prove it. Well after her grandfather has passed, a new set of crimes exaclty matching the crimes on which he was convicted. The rest is her running around proving that neither she nor her daughter didn’t do it. As all civilians in books, she stumbles onto clues and, eventually, the killer.

The book was fun to read but it didn’t offer anything that was new or inventive. The one crime I was really interested in solving was shoved in at the very end. I’d have much rather the story been about that.

Everyone has secrets….and some relate to murder

Capri Sanzo may not be where she had thought she would be in her life, but in her late forties she lives and works in San Francisco running her own small business, SF Killer Crime Tours, and is doing okay. Her daughter Morgan is in grad school nearby, and Capri works with her lifelong friend Heather. Capri had hoped to be a writer and had studied journalism in school, but when she married Todd Clement (from an old money family in the city) she instead tried to fit into his family’s idea of a good society wife. His mother never approved of Capri and Todd was a cheater, so their divorce was next to inevitable and when Capri needed to find a way to support their daughter (Todd’s career was a less-than-reliable income stream), she started up a tour business focused on the sites of the many crimes that have taken place in SF over the years. One such crime, in fact, was committed by Capri’s grandfather William Sanzo, who was convicted of the killings of three prostitutes back in the 60s and earned the nickname Overkill Bill. When wealthy Katherine Harper turns up dead in the present day in a manner eerily similar to the methods of the Overkill Bill, Capri’s interest in her grandfather’s case (she has always believed in his innocence) is rekindled. With her ex-mother-in-law Sylvia having recently announced her refusal to continue funding Morgan’s education, Capri needs to make some extra money in a hurry, and writing a book and doing a podcast on her grandfather’s case seems like a good way to do it. Then Sylvia’s body is discovered, killed in the same way as Katherine Harper was, and the police start looking at Capri and Morgan as suspects. Descendants of a serial killer who have a strong motive for wanting to kill one of the two victims are considered strong possibilities, and Capri realizes that she has to to use her knowledge of the Overkill Bill case, of serial killers in general, and her access to Clement family secrets to find the real killer before she or her daughter end up in custody. She knows only too well that innocent people get convicted of crimes they didn’t commit, and has no intention of letting history repeat itself….but can she figure out who the killer is without becoming his or her next victim?
With a city as storied as San Francisco as the backdrop and a clever hook for amateur sleuthing, this is an engaging, often amusing whodunnit with a more serious topic underpinning it. When someone commits a crime, especially something as heinous as murder, there are many who are victimized by it. In this case, the members of the Sanzo family have an indelible mark upon them…..with William convicted of the brutal killings, there are always those who assume that his children and grandchildren have the capacity within them to do the same. Capri’s father, a young boy at the time of his father’s conviction, has shut down that part of his life and in many ways in so doing he has also kept himself emotionally distant from those he loves. It was a factor in Sylvia’s disapproval of Capri and Todd’s marriage, and it now may open up Capri and Morgan to criminal charges as well. Capri sets out, against her father’s wishes, to prove her grandfather’s innocence even as she pokes into the lives of Sylvia and Katharine to find possible links between them and reasons for their killings. It doesn't help that she is fighting an attraction to the homicide investigator in charade, Dan Petito, which causes her to let down her guard at the worst possible moments. Capri is smart and is exercising journalistic muscles that have been dormant for quite a while, and having an employee at her small business who has a talent for hacking and cracking proves helpful. An enjoyable read with a quirky premise and an engaging protagonist, The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco is well worth the read. Character development isn’t terribly deep, although the strained relationships in both the Clement and Sanzo family are portrayed well. The requisite red herrings are introduced to widen the field of suspects, so the identity of the killer isn’t obvious from page one. I rate it at 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4. Readers of authors like Jessa Maxwell, Hank Phillippi Ryan and Christina Estes will find this story appealing, as should anyone who wants some background details on some of San Francisco’s less glamorous past. My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me early access to this colorful tale.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, by Michelle Chouinard, from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

I honestly thought, as I was reading, that this was this author’s first book. Because, y’all? She used way, way too many words.

Seriously.

I know it does me essentially no good to cry out into the pitiless night, “My kingdom for a copy editor!” – especially when it’s 3 o’clock of a Tuesday afternoon.

But yet here we are…..

Also the plot was convoluted-y and there seemed to be too many characters to keep up with, which is I swear the first time I ever remember complaining about such as that.

I also didn’t enjoy the character of San Francisco as much as I normally do when it plays a large role in a book. Which is a real shame, because I love it both in fiction and in real life.

Unlike Los Angeles. I LOATHE LOS ANGELES.

Oh, wait. Wrong time to get on that particular carton of Tide.

So, yeah, this book wasn’t for me, and I don’t think I’ll be reading any more by this author. All that said, kudos to her for writing books and bringing joy to many through them!

DESCRIPTION
In Michelle Chouinard’s clever mystery The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, the granddaughter of a serial killer shows readers another side of the beloved city.

Welcome to San Francisco, a city with killer charm.

The chill of a San Francisco summer can be deadly. No one knows this better than Capri Sanzio, who makes her living giving serial killer tours of the city. Capri has been interested in the topic since she was a kid, when she discovered she’s the granddaughter of serial killer William ‘Overkill Bill’ Sanzio. She’s always believed in his innocence, though she's never taken the leap to fully dive into the case.

But now an Overkill Bill copycat has struck in San Francisco. And Capri’s former mother-in-law, Sylvia, just cut off Capri’s daughter’s tuition payments. Needing cash, Capri wonders if this is the time to exonerate her grandfather. The case is back in the news and the police will be looking to understand the past to catch a present-day killer. Capri could finally uncover the truth about Overkill Bill—documenting the process with a podcast and a book—and hopefully earn some money.

Before Capri can get very far, the cops discover the copycat’s latest victim: Sylvia. Capri soon finds herself at the heart of the police’s investigation for an entirely different

Title: The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco
Author: Michelle Chouinard
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: September 24, 2024

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies from Minotaur Books (St. Martin's Press) and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Creative • Fun • Predictable

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The chill of a San Francisco summer can be deadly. No one knows this better than Capri Sanzio, who makes her living giving serial killer tours of the city. Capri has been interested in the topic since she was a kid, when she discovered she’s the granddaughter of serial killer William ‘Overkill Bill’ Sanzio. She’s always believed in his innocence, though she's never taken the leap to fully dive into the case.

But now an Overkill Bill copycat has struck in San Francisco. And Capri’s former mother-in-law, Sylvia, just cut off Capri’s daughter’s tuition payments. Needing cash, Capri wonders if this is the time to exonerate her grandfather. The case is back in the news and the police will be looking to understand the past to catch a present-day killer. Capri could finally uncover the truth about Overkill Bill—documenting the process with a podcast and a book—and hopefully earn some money.

Before Capri can get very far, the cops discover the copycat’s latest victim: Sylvia. Capri soon finds herself at the heart of the police’s investigation for an entirely different reason. She and her daughter are prime suspects.

💭 T H O U G H T S

The fun title and lighthearted cover were what originally drew me to The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco. After reading the synopsis, I was drawn to the idea of city tours, a main character with a mysterious past, and the amateur sleuthing. It felt like the perfect place to jumpstart my fall reading.

Told in the present timeline with glimpses into the past, this novel has a creative and clever plot. It unfolds at a slower pace that I was anticipating and the mystery is a little too simple, yet the lack of character development was what kept this from being an entirely engaging experience.

I really enjoyed the main character, her tour guide company, and the San Francisco setting. It is the tours that provide a background guide to San Francisco and offer the historical context to the plot. This element really bring the city to life as San Francisco becomes a character in itself.

The audiobook narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker is very well executed. Each character has a distinct tone, allowing to easily distinguish between them. The pacing suits the plot and the interviews make it feel like a true crime series.

Overall, The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco is a fun read with complex family dynamics that made me want to travel to the city. There are certainly flaws in the execution, yet it's a palette cleanser worth picking up this fall, especially when looking for something lighter.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• learning about a city's history
• amateur sleuthing
• true crime

⚠️ CW: murder, gun violence, violence, death, death of parent, grief, blood, infidelity, classism, injury/injury detail, alcohol, suicide

This was a very strong debut novel! If you're a resident or fan of San Francisco, it's a must read. The writing was a bit simplistic at times, but l liked that we were never caught up in details too long.

Capri's lived with the baggage of her grandfather being convicted as a serial killer for her entire life, but she's made a living out of it by giving true crime tours around the city.
When her very wealthy ex-mother in law and grandmother to her daughter winds up dead, by the same methods as Capri's convicted grandfather, all eyes are on her.

She uses her true crime knowledge and journalist skills to uncover the truth of the murder today and of her grandfather's case.