A crime fiction tale the likes of which you’ve never seen before, This Book Will Bury Me was one novel that had me straight from hello. With an original premise, believable characters, and a dark, intense vibe, I flew through the 400+ pages in no time at all. I mean, who could pass up a book-within-a-book format that focuses on true-crime internet sleuths? Certainly not me. After all, from the ratcheting pace to the jaw-dropping twist that caught me totally unawares, there simply wasn’t much not to love within this superlative tale.

The characters themselves were the clinch-pin to why this book was solid gold. Compelling, relatable, and complete with genuine flaws, I was easily pulled into their found family dynamic, which was complete with an original voice and tone thanks to the true-crime internet setting. It was this combo that truly got my attention. With a mixed media format that made the story feel all the more real, this plot’s constantly changing direction kept me on tenterhooks with each new twist and unexpected turn. After all, I didn’t see that climax or conclusion coming despite all of the deftly hidden clues.

I do have to warn you, however, that the topic matter—as you can imagine—was rather dark and gritty at times. Between the grief-laden subplot and serial killer premise, I found myself both crying real tears and also visualizing some truly disturbing, visceral scenes. While I wouldn’t classify any of them as particularly graphic, I am also a hardened reader of all things thrills and chills so I might be able to tolerate more than the average reader. Just the same, it brushed up against true crime in the same manner as Bright Young Woman managed to do.

All in all, I’ve noticed that the ratings on this stellar novel are wide-ranging. Readers seem to love it or hate it—and I’m clearly with the former. Thanks to short, cliffhanger chapters that oozed with foreboding, I was beyond blown away as it caught fire towards the end. Made for fans of true crime who love a fictionalized feel, the immersive storytelling within this metafictional tell-all book just couldn’t go wrong. Bingeable and thought-provoking, it was an out-and-out winner that made me fall in love with Ms. Winstead’s writing all over again. Rating of 5 stars.

Thank you to Ashley Winstead, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for my complimentary physical and digital copies. All opinions are my own.

This book had me flying through the chapters. It is a super easy to read. The idea of a group of true crime lovers solving murders together is a pretty neat concept. The online forum chats are an added bonus as well. 

I loved most of the characters, especially Lightly and Mistress. They bring a good “found family” aspect to this story. You can tell they will do anything to help someone out. Jane also makes quite a few questionable choices, but it is in response to losing her dad. Her line between obsession and reality is quite blurred. 

There are a few reasons why I gave it four stars. The first one being how many details she took from the actual Idaho murders. She does mention this in her author's note, but I think it was a bit too much. I also guessed the twist midway through the book. It didn’t stop me from finishing it though. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. 

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this eARC to review. All opinions are my own. This is available on March 25, 2025. 

Read if you like:
🔪 True Crime
💗 Found Family
🛜 Forum chats

First, what this book absolutely nailed — Ashley Winstead’s portrayal of losing a parent is painfully spot on. She captures that strange, conflicting feeling of grief where you feel so special in your grief (because how could anyone else possibly understand this level of devastation?) while also recognizing that death is one of the most universal and non-unique human experiences

I’ve always loved Winstead’s writing, and this book is no exception, but I did have some issues with the plot. One of the biggest disconnects for me was the main character’s driving motivation around trying to ensure that her dad is remembered and known after his death — she’s so focused on creating a legacy for her dad, and it felt like she was overlooking that he already left a legacy of his own. It’s clear she wants to honor him, but it felt like she was stuck trying to prove his worth to the world after he was gone. It felt like the more she leaned into this misson, the more I wanted her to let his legacy be his legacy and to stop trying to force things. It felt like a missed emotional arc for her to never realize that her memories of him and the person he was could just be enough, and it's not what she was hoping to build in his name after he was gone that made him important.


I also wanted more about the mysterious "book" written by "she who shall not be named" — it’s positioned as this major catalyst for the main character and is ultimately the inspiration for her to write her own book (which we, as readers, are supposedly reading). But that thread felt like it lacked in followthrough.

Anywaaaaays, all that being said, the last thing I want to point out was that I TOTALLY CLOCKED THE TWILIGHT REFERENCE. Girl, Ashley, you just can't resist can youuuu?

This book was just okay but I was really put off by the similarities between this story and the Idaho murders.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC!

Honestly I'm having the toughest time rating this book. I keep going back and forth on a higher and lower rating. Why? Because this really should have been a 5 star book but there are some major issues that prevent it. That honestly almost hurts the rating more than if a book was mediocre because it could have been a real stand out.

Let's start with the good. This is really unique being written as a "tell all" after a true crime case goes terribly wrong. The MC Jane is such a lovable character, I had a hard time seeing how it could go wrong and the whole world would hate her. The rest of her true crime family I loved too. Such fun characters and such a unique way of telling a story. I especially loved the Florida story at the beginning, honestly was more interesting almost than Delphine.

Some of the imperfections I can't point out without spoilers. However the biggest one is the twist. It's glaringly in your face with hints from the very beginning. It honestly made the end a let down after so much build up.

The biggest issue is this is based on a real case, one that the perpetrator hasn't even been convicted. Honestly this was a bad move in my opinion and what keeps making me almost pull the rating lower, though I enjoyed the book a lot. The whole book is about the true crime community and what can go right or wrong with them helping in cases. It's a risky move to make a book mirror things in a case that isn't closed. I feel like if you couldn't make up a case on your own, go way back in a case that's long closed.

Also just on a personal note, I get grief is a major point of the book and why you do what you do. But personally I hate it as a trope in books. It's just triggering and I didn't love that.

I know that's a lot of bad for a 4 star rating. Like I said that's why I'm struggling rating this so much. I absolutely adored the book I wanted it to be 5 stars. However these issues were so glaring it just ended up making it frustrating. So do I recommend reading it? Probably but go in knowing you probably will guess the twist and there are some problematic elements.

This book was a journey for me, I really considered DNFing in the first quarter of the book as despite the author’s note it just felt too on the nose with the Idaho college murders, then things got twisty. The arch of finding out who her father was along with the blow by blow of amateur sleuths hooked me. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy for an honest review.

This Book Will Bury Me
Out 3.25.25

This book honestly sucked me in from the beginning. I loved the twist of amateur sleuths trying to solve crimes. Ashely Winstead does a really great job of writing complex characters that are well written. After losing her father, I think Jane was lost herself and needed to find something to occupy her mind and finding a group of people that liked to solve crimes in their spare time was not what she expected, but she fell into the world pretty easily. I thought this was crafted really well even with the authors note that this was heavily inspired by true crimes that have been committed. There were satisfying twist and turns and mystery. Some I guessed but also some I didn’t see coming.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and this one is a great one for true crime lovers that want to escape to a world of crime solving!

This book had some good parts and some not so great parts so I’m giving it a 3 star rating. I loved the short chapters and the suspenseful aspect that those short chapters gave, it was so easy to just say, I’ll read just one more chapter. It was kinda cool that it was written loosely around a true story but in a sense it made it more difficult to read knowing this all happened. I felt like the book was super long, like 100 extra pages than necessary so for that it kind of dragged on. Also at first I was super confused as to who did it so it made the book exciting but then about halfway through the book was phrased in a way that gave away who it was so that made the ending drag on. The found family aspect and internet sleuthing aspect was a fun wise. Overall it was still a good book and I appreciated the ARC!

Thank you NetGalley! As always, Ashley Winstead doesn’t fail to disappoint me as a reader. I was immediately sucked into this book. I loved how different it was from others I’ve read while also having relevance current events regarding arm chair detectives. I did not expect the twist in the book. I loved this one!

"This Book Will Bury Me" is a thriller Jane who becomes caught in the world of internet sleuths to help solve crimes. I enjoyed the story but at times it felt way too similar to a real crime that occurred. If you don't mind that part, then I definitely recommend this book.

This could've been a great book. I was REALLY really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, the author took a story from an OPEN CASE at the University of Idaho. Given that the trial isn't over and the families don't have closure, this left a bad taste in my mouth.

The story itself was a bit clunky, but I might have been able to look past some of the issues if it hasn't been so disrespectful to the families.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy of This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead.

I enjoyed this thriller about a young woman who gets involved with crime solving after her father dies and finds an outlet with a group of armchair detectives from an online chat. It's told in a book format a year after the Delphine Massacres and it's Jane's story about what really happened as she got more involved in crime solving and what happened in investigating that case.

I liked seeing Jane get more involved in the group and how she found friends and what seemed like a purpose as she was dealing with her grief. The group was fascinating to me and how involved they got in trying to solve crimes -- I'm not really a true crime follower, so that aspect of the book was so interesting to me. I was hooked in trying to piece together the book parts and why Jane was so hated.

The Delphine Massacres have some similarities to the Idaho Campus murder (and I'm the first to admit, I didn't really follow that super closely) and in the author's note at the beginning Ashley shares why she writes a murder similarly and how she was grieving the death of her father and seeing how the Idaho Campus murders was unfolding in the media and the true crime world gave her inspiration for the book.

I found the book fascinating and really enjoyed it!

This Book Will Bury Me comes out on Tuesday - March 25th.

4.5 stars rounded up

I finished a book! And got out of my reading slump!

College student Jane has just come home after the sudden death of her father, and in her grief she no longer knows what to do with her life. When a local girl is found dead, she joins a group of Internet sleuths that distract her and give her a sense of purpose. When three college girls are murdered in Idaho, the group decides this is their case to solve and find themselves twisted into the case of the century.

I have heard mixed reviews on this book based on how much the reader has followed the Idaho college murders in real life. I know almost nothing about the case, to the point where I could serve on a jury fairly. I felt like the story revolves more around the true crime and internet sleuthing aspects more than the details of the actual crime, and the author does have a note on her Instagram about why she wrote the book the way she did.

I read this on my Kindle and had no idea it was 480 pages. Usually I can tell when a book is that long, but this story had me so wrapped up, especially near the end, that I could have kept reading. I would highly recommend this one for any true crime fans looking for a twisty mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This Book Will Bury Me is one of my highly anticipated books of 2025 and I was totally sucked in from the beginning. It reads like a true crime tell all book that’s just waiting to become a Netflix docu series.

College student, Jane, just lost her father to a heart attack and is struggling to find purpose and meaning in her life and stumbles upon a sleuthing forum about a recently deceased Florida woman. Quickly, Jane becomes absorbed in the forum thread and takes a risk volunteering to find evidence which ultimately leads to case being solved. Jane is folded into the exclusive group within the forum and when disaster strikes at an Idaho university the groups focus on trying to find the answers only to discover more questions which leads to utter chaos.

The way this book was written from Jane’s perspective was on point. You totally get it; you can understand how quickly Jane focuses and puts all her eggs into this basket because it gives her a drive and a purpose which is something she’s been questioning since losing her father. I figured out the twist pretty early on but it can be totally overlooked if you aren’t looking for it because you are completely sucked into the story like I was.

Now, comes the hard part of ranking Ashley Winstead’s thrillers…… The Last Housewife is an easy number one for me. I struggling with this one being two or three with In My Dreams I Hold a Knife because I love a dark academia book but I’m loving the true crime/podcast angle lately. Decisions decisions. Rounding out my list following closely behind is Midnight is the Darkest Hour.


Thank you @bookmarked and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This unfortunately was a DNF for me. I’m all for using real-life situations as inspiration for the stories I read, but it felt a bit insensitive to me to basically re-tell the story of a still-open investigation and call it fiction. Like I said, I understand drawing inspiration but this just felt like a low blow for the people that are still going through the actual tragedy in real life. The writing was good, but not for me.

[3.75]

Jane Sharp isn't your typical college student obsessed with true crime. After the untimely death of her father, Jane immerses herself in a website dedicated to armchair true crime sleuths and soon devotes every waking moment to helping solve these cases. At the same time, Jane also forms unlikely friendships with 4 other sleuths - something she didn't know she needed or wanted. When the news of the Delphine, Idaho murders breaks, Jane and her new cohort of crime solvers are determined to beat social media to the finish line. Naturally, this means going to Delphine to immerse themselves in the lives of the recently deceased. However, every time they think they're closer to the answer, things don't end up adding up. The killer - or killers - are smarter than the group has been giving them credit for. Now the group may be in danger. A year after the case comes to a close (or does it), Jane is ready to tell her side of the story and reveal what really took place during their own investigation.

This book is VERY CLEARLY based on the Idaho Four killings - a case that hasn't even gone to trial yet. If you know a lot about the case, this may not be a good read for you. However, just knowing that there are very obvious details that were included lowered my overall ranking and impression of the book. If it wasn't so obvious, this easily would have been a 4.5 read. It was engaging, kept you guessing (especially at the end), and read like a real true crime event (because it basically is). It's far too soon to be using these events as inspiration for a book. I'm really conflicted about this one... But I did enjoy it so...

Do not read at night…. But so good! I really enjoyed the authorial intrusion. I read the book in two sittings not just because it was entertaining but because I felt like Jane was talking directly to me. The reveal is slightly predictable but that doesn’t take away from the jaw dropping moments throughout. I highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for an eARC ♥️♥️♥️

What drives someone to become obsessed with the darkest corners of human nature? For Jane Sharp, it's a personal quest for truth that leads her down a rabbit hole of true crime, mystery, and suspense.
When three college girls are brutally murdered in Delphine, Idaho, Jane and her team of amateur sleuths embark on a perilous journey to unravel the tangled threads of the crime. As they dig deeper, the stakes grow higher, and the group finds themselves ensnared in a web of deceit, corruption, and betrayal.
The police are cryptic, the media is ravenous, and the killer remains a ghostly presence, always one step ahead of the game. The town of Delphine is a powder keg of secrets and lies, where everyone seems to be hiding something. As Jane and her team navigate this treacherous landscape, they begin to realize that nothing is as it seems.
Jane's confession is a shocking revelation that shatters everything you thought you knew about the case. It's a twist that will leave you gasping, a punch to the gut that will leave you reeling.
As you delve into the world of true crime, you'll be forced to confront the shadows that lurk within every human heart. The lines between reality and obsession blur like a bloodstain on a snowy night.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book! I am a huge Ashley Winstead fan and I was so excited to start this book. As usual, there were some heavy themes in this book and I underestimated my ability to be triggered by the overlying theme. I highly recommend reviewing the trigger warnings on this one. This is the very real, visceral and painful portrayal of grief and loss. The way she wove that theme into this story was well done and was the strongest part of the book, and I would recommend this book based on her portrayal of grief alone. I loved how she showed how grief can pull people into some pretty weird groups and interests and to set that as the backdrop for entry into the online crime sleuthing world was brilliant. The thing that lost a whole star for me was the twist that I saw coming from about a third of the way through the book, this may be a personal problem though. I definitely still think this is a great thriller, and would recommend this book both for the fast-paced, tension filled, plot line and the very accurate, compassionate and heartfelt portrayal of grief and losing a loved one.

I enjoy her books for the most part. If fiction based, true-crime events, or grief of losing a parent are triggers for you then this may not be a great fit. I knew the subject matter going in and thanks to the authors note I was prepared and ended up enjoying this latest by Ashley Winstead. This book reads more like a true crime thriller (which it is) than a psychological thriller that you may expect from this author. This book is still twisty at times that you won't expect, but the story does dive into a "story within a story" narrative, which is very different than the author's previous thrillers. The pacing is a bit slower, which took me a bit longer to finish, but I do believe that the reason for the pacing was to fully immerse into Jane's world. The narrative about Jane's father was deeply personal, raw, and compelling. You will root for Jane in ways that you won't expect.