People have many reactions to a parent's death that seem a little strange to others. Jane's grief will leave her searching until she finds a hobby she can lose her sadness in. For her, it's a true crime investigative site with a core group of characters who all have their own reason to be members. So far, their investigative efforts have been carried out from a distance, but now they've found a horrendous event and the FBI has agreed to let them help in the investigation. Yes, the crime is set as a fictional account of the Idaho University murders. FICTIONAL.
The plot is reveled in an interesting manner. Jane is writing a book about the group's interactions with the police and the public as the murders are sensationalized in the media. She's telling the story, after the fact, so it's sometimes easy to see where the group made some costly errors and how close they come to being victims themselves. I really enjoyed this book. At almost 500 pages, it's longer than the usual, but it read quickly as the twists, turns and shocks came pretty quickly.

Ashley Winstead keeps getting better. I read this as fast as I could and I loved every minute of it.

I was unsure of this in the beginning as it was a lot different than I was expecting it to be and a lot different from the author's other thrillers but it was not long before I was completely immersed into the story. I really enjoyed what this story evolved into. I was expecting a thriller surrounding internet sleuths tackling a big pop culture case: think Don't Fuck With Cats x Idaho Murders but this was so much more than that. I mean, we definitely get those elements in this book but I was pleasantly surprised at how much deeper it went.

This entire book is definitely a character study of this found family of sleuths and the plot, while compelling, does feel minimal and like it takes a backseat to the exploration of these characters and their motivations. The author leaves some really fantastic easter eggs about pop culture, true crime and historical figures that were so fun to pick up on. There is also a fantastic exploration of grief in this book that was certainly unexpected but so expertly done and well crafted. I think that the story line with Jane and her father was really powerful but I do acknowledge that it could throw off readers who are just looking for a straight forward true crime thriller. However, that grief story line is really crucial to establishing reasons for why our main character makes, and continues to make, the decisions that she does throughout the book which are, admittedly, choices that may have some readers screaming at the pages as they read.

This book has a lot to say about true crime culture and the ways in which we, as a society, obsess and glamorize these big headline crime cases. I really enjoyed getting such varied perspectives on the topic as the author makes it a point to stay very neutral and paint a picture of the topic from all sides and players. I will say, things unravel with spectacular speed at the end of the story and I was flipping through the pages as fast as my fingers and my eyes would allow me. I also really appreciated how the structure of the story allowed the author at the end to walk us through all the breadcrumbs that had been left throughout the story without it feeling like a monologue or an info dump. I'm also a hoe for footnotes so do with that what you will.

I would say that this could be another one of Ashley Winstead's divisive books in the same vein as Midnight is the Darkest Hour because she certainly took some risks with this book and it may not pay off for all readers but I absolutely loved it. Ashley Winstead remains an auto-buy author for me who hasn't missed yet.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead is a true-crime based novel.

"Jane is reeling from the death of her father. She turns to a true-crime forum and becomes immersed in the idea of helping. Her legwork on a prominent case gets her invited to join a long-standing group. Murders of several college students take them all to Idaho. Things don't add up and they believe they're searching for a killer that's smarter than any they've seen before. And it feels like they're walking into a trap."

This story is told from Jane's POV as if she's writing a book about what happened with her and the group as they worked to solve the crime. Jane even shares some things the lawyers tell her not to. This book is longer than Winstead's other books, but the pacing is very good.
Jane is a morally gray character (You expect that from Winstead) She's willing to do whatever it takes to find evidence - she lies...a lot.
There's a big twist at the end. You may guess what's coming but it's just a guess. Interesting ending.
Be sure to read Winstead's response to using a real-life case.

Another good story from Winstead.

This Book Will Bury Me is an incredibly difficult book for me to review. In this fictionalized take on true crime, Jane Sharp returns home from college after losing her father and is drawn into the world of online sleuthing. When her efforts help to bring justice for a murdered woman, a group of “expert” amateur sleuths take Jane under their wing. As Jane beings to bond with this group through regular video chats, a shocking tragedy takes place at a college in Idaho when three sorority girls are murdered in their home. The group decides to travel to Idaho to investigate the murders on the ground, but will their interference in the case do more harm than good?

This was my first Ashley Winstead novel, and I understand that it’s very different from her previous books, but I really enjoyed her writing style. Fans of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, True Crime Addict and other true crime memoirs will likely recognize the intimate style that Winstead employs for Jane’s first-person narration. This is a book that’s as much about Jane’s personal grief journey in the wake of her father’s death as it is about the crimes she investigates. It’s raw and poignant. In her author’s note, Winstead shares that she recently lost her own father, and it’s clear this was an intensely personal book for her to write. Although it’s long, I was completely engrossed in Jane’s world the entire time, and I really liked how Winstead engaged with the way crimes are sensationalized in both the media and in the online true crime community. And although other readers have indicated that they saw the twists coming, they took me completely by surprise, and the way everything played out was satisfying.

But the issue I had, which took this five-star read down to three stars for me, is this: It made me feel incredibly icky how close the crime at the center of this novel follows the real-life University of Idaho murders in 2022. There are way too many similarities to that case – a case which is not yet even resolved – and that in itself feels sensationalistic to me. Winstead could have changed a number of things – the state, the specifics, the victim demographics, a hundred other things – but she didn’t. This feels too close and too soon, and I couldn’t help but think about the victims’ families and how they’d feel if they read this. While Winstead was respectful of the fictional victims in this book, fictionalizing their deaths feels disrespectful to the real victims. This is a well-executed true crime thriller, but it’s too clearly inspired by real events for me to fully recommend it. Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for the early reading opportunity.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!
First and foremost, I'm surprisingly NOT a true crime junkie, given I have an advanced forensics degree. But this book was very gripping from the get go, maybe because its ripped-from-the-headlines, or maybe just from the way Janeway narrates her story. This is told as if its the narration of an autobiography, as we learn how Jane comes to term with her grief by diving headfirst into a triple-homicide with a group of online 'sleuthers'.
I loved that the epistolary style of her narration made it clear that there was always more to the story: it led to a huge amount of foreboding as we moved from solving 1 outstanding crime to looking at a serial killer. I really enjoyed the other characters: Liberty, Mistress, Citizen, and Goku, who learned about from so many different lenses throughout the story. You almost get this feeling like you are meeting them with grief-stricken Jane and with learned retrospective Jane, and that duality is really intriguing.
As a forensic scientist, I thought the case was great. Sure, it's based loosely on a real story and I think based on reviews that bothered people, but I honestly really enjoyed the attention to detail on case-solving, forensics, and profiling. I won't lie, I figured out the 'twist' pretty early, but I thought it was really well handled and still really satisfying, even if I had it nailed.
This is a really enjoyable twisty thriller!

This book buried me all right - and not in a good way.
It wasn't terrible but it just wasn't good. It was slow burn but the kind of slow that was excruciating and painful.
And then to find out it paralleled a real case so closely just didn't sit well with me.
Something felt off and now it makes sense.
2.5 stars (and that's generous)

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead is a medium paced thriller that shows just how dangerous things can get when you obsess over them. Janeway (Jane) is reeling from the unexpected death of her father, when she learns of a local woman whos chopped up body pieces turn up in a lake not far from her house. From this point forward, her life is never the same. Jane dives into the all consuming world of true crime and quickly finds herself teaming up with an online group of other true crime fans to take matters into their own hands and solve one of the biggest true crime stories of the decade.

This book overs a very interesting look into the true crime groupies you can find anywhere online, including Reddit, and how obsessed some of these people can get over finding the truth. I will be honest, I did not like the main character, but I feel that is supposed to be how the story plays out. Her and her ragtag team of detectives constantly over step boundaries in order to pursue their own agenda and self assured-ness in order to feel some type of way about solving a case. I know some people were knocking this book for Winstead's use of the Idaho Murders and how similar her book is to the real life case. I actually enjoyed her portrayal of the case, and how people on the internet went nuts over it, and completely obsessed over it. I think she mixed in some elements from other famous cases into it as well, so it wasn't an exact rip from the headlines.

All in all, I thought this book really put into perception how viral cases can get now a days, due to the number of true fan fanatics, and outlets for sharing information, It shows what can happen when someone looking for an escape gets obsessed with an outlet to the point they cannot control themselves anymore and the dangers of true crime fanatics.

This book is going to be controversial. Like 2023's Bright Young Women (which I loved), it uses as its foundation a real crime story. Kind of. The difference is, the story this book is based on is still working its way through the courts, not nearly half a century in the past. And This Book Will Bury Me goes far beyond the inspiration case, using it as a starting point, not the entire plot.

Honestly, it's a little bit unsettling to me to use the University of Idaho murder that took place only a few years ago as inspiration. The families of the victims are still waiting for justice for their loved ones and it's all just so very fresh. And yet… the book is good. Damned good.

This Book Will Bury Me gives commentary on the ethics of true crime and armchair internet detectives without being preachy. And it's full of twists and turns that, to be fair, are sometimes a little obvious, but that I still found captivating.

Four stars for this engaging, thriller of a read that I had a hard time putting down once it got going.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I can understand why some found this book exploitative of the recent Idaho murder case of three college students, however, I found it an enjoyable work of fiction focusing more on internet sleuths than a true crime story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Tantor Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book by Ashley Winstead, with the audiobook wonderfully narrated by Leslie Howard. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Janeway Sharp heads home to grieve with her mother. She becomes obsessed with true crime and soon becomes part of an online armchair detective group, finding purpose and friendship. When three college girls are killed in Idaho, Jane and her friends are determined to solve the crime.

Ashley Winstead has once again created a book that you’ll have a hard time putting down, especially if you are obsessed with true crime (and who isn’t?). This book, told in a story-in-a-story format, will pull you into the hunt for a serial killer. It will have you thinking about the online true crime obsessives – good or evil or somewhere in between? It’s also a story of grief and trying to come to terms with losing someone we love.

I simply could not get through the first 100 pages of this book unfortunately. I was so excited about it...

One thing about Ashley Winstead—she never writes the same book twice. Every time I pick up one of her books, I have no idea what I’m in for, and I absolutely love that. This Book Will Bury Me is no exception—a fictional true-crime-inspired thriller, that will take you on a psychological deep dive. It’s dark, unsettling, and utterly addictive.

I loved the way this book played with format—Jane’s story is interwoven with chapter notes and commentary, giving it an almost documentary feel. I originally read the ARC on my Kindle but plan to grab a physical copy because it’s the kind of book where you want to absorb every little detail. I would also be interested in listening to the audiobook to see how the characters were meant to sound.

Told as a book within a book, the story follows Jane Sharp, a college student reeling from her father’s unexpected death. She finds solace in amateur sleuthing, but when a gruesome murder case grips the internet, she and her crime-obsessed friends get pulled into something far more sinister. The story unfolds in hindsight, with Jane narrating a year after the case exploded. From the start, we know she has a lot to unpack—Winstead teases a big reveal, and I felt the payoff was worth it.

I get why this book is controversial—it pulls inspiration from real-life crimes, which will always spark debate. But the best books often do. Winstead doesn’t just tell a story; she examines our cultural obsession with true crime and what it does to us.

On a personal note, Jane’s grief over losing her father really hit home for me. Having lost my dad as a young adult and my mom more recently, her emotions felt raw and real in a way that added another layer of connection. It wasn’t lost on me that this was also a partial love letter to a lost father.

This is my fifth Ashley Winstead book, and she’s officially five for five. Bold, unexpected, and impossible to put down—if you love thrillers that challenge the genre and keep you guessing, This Book Will Bury Me is a must-read.

Thank you Sourcebooks, Net Galley and Ashley Winstead for this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

It’s a yes for me! 🖤

DeAnn @deannsreadingriot

1⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy of This Book Will Bury Me.

After losing her father a woman becomes an internet detective and joins a group that likes to solve murders.

I feel like this book is in very bad taste considering it basically ripped off the Idaho murders. It honestly just gave me the ick while reading it especially since the case has not even gone to trial yet. Also the book was so hard to follow with all of the usernames and real names.

I’ve been hit or miss with Ashley Winstead books, but This Book Will Bury Me is a home run. It’s twisty, idark, and unpredictable, must-haves for me in a thriller. There’s a character in TBWBM that I think everyone can identify with, which is why I predict it will be in beach bags everywhere this spring and summer. Even if true crime isn’t your thing, this peek behind the dark side of sleuthing is so entertaining!

Such a great book!!
True crime lovers will devour this!
The suspense built up perfectly to a shocking twist!!

Winstead has become one of my favorite authors when she writes thrillers, so I knew I had to read this one. I love her story telling and her twists and this did not disappoint. When you are fully headed in one direction, she pulls the rug out from under you. I love it!



This book has an underlying theme of loss and grief. I lost my dad seven years ago, and while it was not sudden like in Jane’s story, I can appreciate the grief she felt and her longing for distraction. However, while I know there needed to be a reason for her to get into the true crime forums, this part didn’t completely work for me. It just seemed forced and out of place with the rest of the story.



That said, I did love the true crime element along with the friendships formed. Found family is one of my favorite themes, and I really appreciated how this one was executed. It was also interesting how they went about solving the crimes – though maybe not 100% believable. My advice is just to go with it and enjoy the ride.



The most unsettling part about this one (thanks or my bookstgram friends that helped me put a word to it) is the similarity to the 2022 University of Idaho murders. I continue to have mixed feelings about it, but I would still recommend it with caution. True Crime lovers please read it and let me know what you think!



This one is out this week, March 25, and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. If you haven’t read Winstead before, be sure to check her out!



Thank you to @netgalley and @bookmarked for the eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review. T

Okay, Ashley Winstead has done it again! I’m a huge fan of her work, and while this one wasn’t quite my favorite of hers, it *did not* disappoint!

This audiobook has all the good stuff: true crime, serial killers, suspense, and a gripping thriller that pulls you in from the start. After Jane suddenly loses her father, she takes up a new hobby to cope with her grief, and it leads her to an unlikely group of friends… and WAY more trouble than she ever expected. The character development? Top-notch, as always. Jane was such a complex and relatable character, and I loved the quirky, unique group of people she gets tangled up with—each one adding something special to the story.

It took me a little bit to really get pulled into the story, but once I did...... I was ALL IN. The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, and there were definitely some emotional moments that tugged at my heartstrings.

Overall, I’d give this 4 stars! If you’re into crime thrillers with a solid emotional punch and fantastic narration, this one is definitely worth checking out! 🔍📖

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the ARC of This Book Will Bury Me in exchange for an honest review.

Hats off to Ashley Winstead because this book is FIRE! I was immediately hooked and could not put it down (I learned how to do everything one handed just so I didn’t have to put it down). The true crime twist in this novel is top notch and the reader is kept continually guessing on next steps. I really enjoyed the sneak peek behind the curtain of what goes into being an internet armchair detective and the interesting perspective they bring to the game.

This Book Will Bury Me is written in an autobiographical nature from the viewpoint of an internet investigator named Jane, one year after the conclusion of a murder investigation. Jane writes this novel in hopes of clearing her name as well as her co-investigators after the case goes upside down and good guys become the villains.

Ashley’s character development is top notch and every moment of this book captured my undivided attention. The only part of the book that I felt that was maybe odd or forced was the tie in between Jane solving these murders and her personal discovery to connect with her recently deceased father in the process. Especially at the end of the book, she credits her father for the solving of the case…?? That struck me as odd and could really have been left out as it just came off as weird. That storyline wasn’t entirely necessary but the author explains she was dealing with the actual death of her own father while writing this book, so I could understand the parallel that came about while writing.

All in all, this book is incredibly interesting and keeps you guessing at every turn. Solid 4.5/5 read for my lovers of true crime internet sleuthing! Ushering in a new era of crime detectives and I’m here for it!

While the writing style was phenomenal, the characters were well developed, and the story was a page turner, the similarities and down right identical plot points ripped directly from headlines surrounding the Moscow Murders were way WAY too much for me. I’m sure that was partially the point. The book definitely speaks to the predatory nature of internet sleuths, even those with the best intentions. I’m sure deriving the plot from a very real, very recent case was attempting to use the Moscow Murders case to point that out. But because of that, I can’t give this book more than 3 stars. Also, the twist left a lot to be desired. I’m interested to see how the book is received when it drops on March 25, 2025! I’m sure the internet will have strong opinions on all sides.

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the digital ARC