A twisty thriller about a true crime enthusiast who gets caught up in a group of fellow amateur sleuths as they attempt to solve major crimes only to discover one of the biggest killers might be among them. I think this is my new fav by Ashley Winstead and highly recommend it to fans of true crime podcasts/murder stories. Great on audio and def worth picking up! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I understand that true crime stories influence a lot of creative endeavors - books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, etc. I think that an argument can made that any and all of these mediums exploit victims and families on some level. However, there is also the argument that it brings exposure to cases that would have otherwise been overshadowed or forgotten about. Within this gray area, it is very obvious when someone goes too far and that is exactly what This Book Will Bury Me did.

This book is wildly inappropriate. The real life case of the four University of Idaho students that were murdered is still ongoing. The victims and their families have not gotten justice. The prosecution’s case is not open and shut. There is a lack of physical evidence, questions about the validity of searches, and other issues. The author’s choice to fictionalize any part of this tragedy while justice quite literally hangs in the balance is disgusting.

Her explanations, excuses, and rationalizations are inadequate. Readers won’t just notice “similarities”. She copied the case, including publicized evidence, and then added in made up bits for unknown details.

If this were a movie or TV show, it would say “Based on a True Story.”

I cannot believe this is considered okay to publish.

I just love Ashley Winstead’s writing style, and This Book Will Bury Me was no exception! I was hooked in right away and I loved the true crime aspect and the formatting of this book with the forum. It was fast paced and such a quick and easy read that kept me guessing and on my toes throughout. I did guess early-ish on who the killer was, but it was still fun to see how it all played out! Well done and another amazing Winstead read!

Janeway Sharp has lost her father and her identity of self in one go. Bereft in his absence, she turns to the true crime community after a case captures her attention. Does anyone miss the deceased woman the way she misses her dad? Will anyone ever truly know her? Driven by her grief, Jane becomes a key member in a team of web sleuths who assist in solving crimes, but soon finds herself at the attention of the police herself. This Book Will Bury Me is her tell all of the crime that changed her life, that shot her to stardom, and took her right down to the depths.

I love true crime and I am actually a member of Web Sleuths, so I can relate greatly to Jane discovering her place in the forum. I can also relate to her friends' thoughts that most of the people commenting are lurkers, drawn to popular cases, because I am one of those more than I am a dedicated solver. I could connect instantly to how their drive separated them from the others, how their personal pull into the cases is different than a casual member, how they needed to solve these if not for themselves, then for their past. My connection was immediate, so it's obvious that I read this in one sitting, could not put down, needed to know everything. I instantly loved that this was a tell all, with a young voice shining through and hints at just how messy things became. The heart is there, the desire is there, Jane wants to do good, but we can never control others, not their actions nor their perceptions, and that's a lesson she learns the hard way. Ashley Winstead's This Book Will Bury Me is truly fascinating, built upon relatable, true-to-real-life cases, and in a format that stands out.

This Book Will Bury Me is long, very long. If you were looking at the chapter titles and seeing the multiple acts, just know that they do accurately represent the length of the read. There is an incredible story of self discovery and family within the crime thrills, and it is truly a great backstory into our main character, but some readers will find it cumbersome. I found myself distracted occassionaly by the break from the main story to Jane's personal investigation into her father, and while I really enjoyed them, it adds to the length and the body of work to remember. It is authentic, to the thought process, especially that of a person addicted to solving a crime, no one person stays on something 24/7, but it isn't how we usually read a book, so it is an adjustment. It's compelling though and valuable too, to who Jane is, so I say be prepared for it, but enjoy it too.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. After doing more research and reading the author's note she shared online regarding this book's content, and it's true crime inspiration, I have decided not to read this book at this time. I appreciate the author's honesty about her mindspace in writing this book, especially her own grief story, but don't feel comfortable reading a fiction novel about a nonfiction open case.

If I choose to read this at a later date I will come back and update this review. Thank you!

3.5 stars rounded down

This Book Will Bury Me is a commentary on family, grief, and the fascination we have with true crime. Ashley Winstead is a fantastic author who weaves another engaging, thrilling novel following a group of people drawn into a serial killer’s spree killing young sorority girls.

Overall I enjoyed this work, but I do think it was a bit long and very predictable. I’m usually not great at figuring out mysteries but I guessed the ending quite early in this book. I still enjoyed the characterizations and the little found family that was developed between these online sleuths. Winstead draws you into her worlds and makes you care. I’ll still be picking up her future works!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and Sourcebooks Landmark for access to this work. All opinions are my own.

I quickly became a fan of Ashley Winstead’s twisty storytelling in the book “In My Dreams I Hold A Knife” so I jumped at the chance to read her new novel “This Book Will Bury Me”. This page turner had me up all night trying to see how it ends and it didn’t disappoint. In “This Book Will Bury Me”, Jane Sharp chronicles a year after an investigation of murdered college students and massacres in the same town of Delphine. This is important because after Jane’s dad dies, she becomes immersed in the true crime community as a way to grieve. Known as “Searcher”, she and a small group start solving crimes. However, her chosen family with the online sleuths gain notoriety when they make a few mistakes. Will they redeem themselves when they are assigned to help the police with the Delphine investigations?


I liked how Ashley Winstead gives Jane an opportunity to continue searching and not just in investigations. Jane finds out more about her father while she finds her own motives for being a part of an online community that deals with gruesome facts and details. I would recommend to anyone who really wants a book that’ll take you on a ride that’ll keep you guessing on what happens next.

I was expecting a very true-crime critical story from this, until I realized it’s basically just a fictionalized retelling of a very recent case. As someone very critical of profiting off of other’s real life tragedies, I wouldn’t have requested in the first place if I’d realized.
I’m giving it a few stars because I did like the confessional style of writing, I just couldn’t get past the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.

This book ending up being a DNF for me, and I love Ashley Winstead.

What I cannot swallow is the absolute use of a real life, still being tried, murder of college students to fictionalize for a story.

I really liked the group of characters in this book and enjoyed the true crime sleuthing aspects of the story. I found it to be an easy listen and the narrator did a great job.

Jane Sharp suddenly loses her Father and finds herself feeling quite lost. She's a college student with not many friends. Looking for a distraction from her grief, she finds herself getting involved in an online true crime Reddit type group. She really starts going down the rabbit hole and once there is the shocking deaths of three college girls in Idaho, she starts to let it consume her life. She becomes very close with the other members of the group and together they start to piece together details of the crimes and eventually start working with the FBI to solve the case. Things then start to not quite add up and from here there are several twists and turns. It was a bit slow at times and maybe a little too long, but overall a good, fast paced thriller. I did find the similarities to the most recent Idaho murders a bit cringy, especially since that is ongoing. But I do love her writing and did enjoy it overall and will continue to read whatever she writes.

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebookslandmark for this #gifted copy. Publishes on March 25, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was different that I expected. I liked it, but I feel like there was something off about how similiar the case is the the Idaho murders. It was a bit off putting since it is such a horrifying and dark case that is still active and going to trial. I know the author's note at the beginning states there is inspiration from as a true crime case (likely the Moscow one) but I feel like it is still so recent that I would hate if the families saw or heard of the similarities.

However, I loved the internet sleuthing aspect. I'm a bit of a crime junkie and it was so fascinating to see how these "normal people" can solve crimes and do some good. The main character finds herself on a crime hunting site for amateur sleuths (gave me Don't Fu*k With Cats off Netflix vibes) where becomes addicted to it. She finds herself as a part of the community and I loved how close they got and became a "found family" in a sense.

But overall, I did like the book but I couldn't shake the part that made me uncomfortable as I read it.

Oh my goodness this book had me screaming and on the edge of my seat. Another fantastic Ashley Winstead thriller.
Jane wants to set the record straight about her crime sleuthing after one of the biggest police investigations blows up in their faces.
Jane has just lost her dad and through her grief she inadvertantly gets mixed up in internet sleuthing. It is all she can focus on, if she can find out what happened to these people then she can maybe come to terms with what happened to her father.
Jane meets a group of four others that take her in and treat her like one of their own. They are popular on the network and well known in the community. When a second set of women are targeted, the group decides they need to go to Idaho and investigate themselves, in person.
The first part of the book I was not sure of. It was really close to the show on the Idaho four that I had just watched and I could see a lot of the same elements. Then the book just kept taking turn after turn. There were a lot of subtle hints in here of what was to come but I only picked up on a few, and then was screaming when I realized what I had missed all along.
The first time Jane was called Veronica from Heathers, I knew this book was for me. If you like True Crime, internet sleuths, twists and turns and Heathers... you will LOVE this book. I honestly couldn't stop thinking about it after it was over.
Thank you to Sourcebooks, Netgalley and Ashley Winstead for an early copy.

Honestly… this is way too similar to an open case right now and I felt completely unsettled. This was almost a copy/paste of the tragedy that took place at the University of Idaho in 2022. I know Winstead put a warning at the beginning, but I feel like profiting off of a case that’s still so fresh like this is unethical. This isn’t going to trial until August of this year, and I feel like this isn’t shining a light on the issues of true crime… it’s just furthering the issue. This was insensitive to the families and I hope they don’t read this.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC.

Ashley Winstead does it again. The queen of thrillers is back. This book did not disappoint, you need to pick it up!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

This one gave me some mixed feelings. After Janes father died, she needed something to occupy her time. She finds her way on true crime feeds and becomes obsessed. She befriends a group of other amateur sleuths and start investigating active investigations in the US. After a murder of 3 college girls sweeps the nation, they want to be the ones to solve It. Then the killer turns into a serial killer. Details don’t add up and they keep finding more questions than answers.

When you read the description of the book, if you think It sounds familiar, that’s because It is. She copies the exact details of the Idaho murders that are still in trial and not concluded yet. Which 1. Just rubs me the wrong way and 2. Made It pretty boring in the middle since you know what’s going to happen. If she was going to copy the case, i wish she made It more satirical potentially and explored the dangers of internet sleuths or explored some other politically important topic. But Im not quite sure the purpose of this novel and that’s what bothers me.

This Book Will Bury Me - Ashley Winstead

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“No body, no crime, as the great Taylor Swift would say.”

Jane is grieving the loss of her father when she falls feet first into the online world of true crime message boards and amateur sleuthing. After being accepted into the inner circle of a crime obsessed group, she works with her newfound family to solve the mysterious murders happening on a college campus in Idaho.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this! I absolutely loved the way this rag tag group of true crime junkies came together and how they worked together to try to solve the murders. However, aspects of the story seemed extremely far fetched. For example, for everyone to drop their entire lives to go to the town of the murders and then somehow become FBI informants?! I had an inkling about who the killer was and I was pleasantly surprised I was correct. A solid true crime murder mystery!

as a devoted mystery reader with the gift of context and dramatic irony on her side, i found this whodunnit fairly easy to figure out. it wasn’t so blatantly obvious that i was annoyed at the characters for taking their time puzzling it out – i thought it struck a nice balance and enjoyed watching the pieces fall into place, even if it did take a while.

i love a found family so i really liked most of the characters (at this point, can any group of people in a fictional work function without at least one hacker extraordinaire??). the larger problem was that the book felt unnecessarily long. i enjoyed reading it while i was actually reading it, but once i put the book down it was kind of hard for me to feel motivated enough to pick it back up.

i’m not well versed in the world of true crime (i like my felonies fictional, thank you), but i’ve heard that one of the major events in this book is a ripped-from-the-headlines version of one that actually happened. i usually think it’s pretty gross and lazy to use real crimes, but i didn’t clock it while i was reading since i wasn't familiar. what i did get was that amateurs and cops both have plenty of problems (often each other). the amateur sleuths were quick to judgment and hurt innocents. the police were more concerned with their prejudices and perception than getting justice. i didn’t really believe the relationship between the group and law enforcement, just like i didn’t believe some of the final resolutions, but honestly i was way too busy losing it over the star trek AND buffy the vampire slayer self-insert fan fiction to care. the AO3 mention alone was enough to get four stars out of me!

thanks to tantor audio for the audio copy and sourcebooks landmark for the digital copy on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

@ashleywinsteadbooks’ newest thriller is quite the ride. It explores grief, building your own family, true crime, social media, and web sleuths. It takes facts from well know murders and creates a wholly original story. It’s a complicated story and really makes you critically think about all the many layers and twists. I loved it and will probably be thinking about this book for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of the latest from Ashley Winfield, This Book Will Bury Me.

This was my favorite Ashley Winfield yet. The book is written from the POV a 24-year old who has helped solve a serial murder, one year later. She (and her found family of redditers) hit a lot of ups and downs while solving the case, and the ride really ends up being pretty twisty. It took me a little while to figure out who the killer was. This one was definitely more of a slow burn, but I really liked it. Pub date is 3/25, check it out!