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.

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.