This book is more than just a gripping thriller—it’s a masterful blend of mystery, meta-narrative fun, and an unflinchingly honest exploration of grief.

Ashley Winstead’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall adds a layer of intrigue and playfulness that kept me hooked from start to finish. Even though I guessed the whodunnit earlier than I would have liked, the journey was so engaging that it hardly mattered. The characters are compelling, and the tension builds in all the right places, making this a solid thriller for fans of the genre.

But what truly sets this book apart is its deeply authentic portrayal of grief. Jane’s struggle to untangle the complexities of her father’s life and legacy resonated in a way that felt profoundly real. The way Winstead captures the messy, nonlinear process of mourning—especially when it comes to reconciling love and disappointment for a parent—elevates this story beyond a typical mystery.

This sharp, immersive, and unexpectedly moving read delivers both a satisfying thriller and a powerful emotional core.

It’s a gripping thriller that’s as much about solving a murder as it is about unraveling the complexities of grief—Winstead delivers a suspenseful, poignant knockout.

THIS BOOK WILL BURY ME by Ashley Winstead is a fictional accounting reminiscent of the recent true crime college murders. The mixing of the murders with amateur internet sleuths is pretty genius. The group of sleuth are engaging, and each intriguing in different ways.

Love Jane, our lost soul, looking to fill the hole her father's death left in her life. The murders are the catalyst she needs to claw her way out of depression. I also love Lightly, our moral compass.

I did think parts of the book were predictable, but that made them no less enjoyable. An entertaining,
thrilling read. Highly Recommend.

Taking the Idaho 4 murders and turning it into a fictionalized look into the true crime community is a choice. And I don’t know if it’s a choice I support.

In short: Jane Sharp is struggling to come to terms with the death of her father. With no answers, she turns to the macabre and finds herself embroiled with the true crime/“amateur sleuths” community. At least there she’s able to provide answers to other families who are mourning— and she’s able to distract herself from her own grief. So when Jane and her group of slightly-above-amateur sleuths stumble across the case of a lifetime, it becomes their personal burden to solve it…. at any cost.

I’ve been sitting on this book for about a week now trying to decide how I feel about it. In that regard, I deeply enjoy books that linger with me and make me think about what I’ve read about. And Ashley Winstead has become an auto-buy author for me for this very reason.

But I also can’t help but feel like I’m sitting on this book for the wrong reasons. THIS BOOK WILL BURY ME draws so heavily from the real life Idaho 4 murders and the sensation that followed that I’m once again wondering where the ethical line should be drawn in transforming real experiences into personal entertainment.

On one hand, I don’t think Ashley Winstead wrote this with cruel/misguided intentions and, unlike other authors/producers, she immediately pays homage to those lives lost in the foreword of the book. She also doesn’t shy away from the fact she draws heavy inspiration from the Idaho 4, and discourages readers who could be affected by reading that content away from the book. I think this is a lot better and more forthcoming approach than flat out ignoring where inspiration was drawn from or leaving readers to figure it out on their own.

However, I think you’d have to live under a rock to not see EXACTLY where the author drew inspiration from. It was almost excessively on the nose. For example, the main characters are investigating the murders of 3 college students who were found dead in their rooms by their still-alive roommate, who was also in the home during the murders. They were stabbed to death in a home not far from their college, where the killer entered through a sliding glass door. ANDDDD one of the suspects includes a creepy, sexist TA.

On top of it all, one could argue that the story was a bit drawn out. Per usual for Ashley Winstead, TBWBM was compulsively readable (at one point, I read nonstop for almost 5 hours straight), but 480 pages is A LOT for any book (and especially more for a crime/thriller novel).

It does help that TBWBM is divided into different parts, but it also came at the detriment that certain parts were much stronger than others.

The first part of the book, which lasts for almost one-third of the novel, actually has nothing to do with the main murder mentioned in the synopsis. I actually LOVED this portion of the book. It touched so poignantly on grief and the feeling of found family in the most unlikely of places. The reader gets to see how the main character, Jane, finds herself within the true crime community and the lengths she’ll go to find answers when she can’t seem to discover the answers <i>she</i> needs in her own life.

At that, Grief is a MAJOR theme in this book and Ashley Winstead does not shy away from it. This is a very heavy book to read, and I hope readers that decide to take a chance on this go in prepared. I actually received this ARC months ago and had to stop reading it until I was in a better mental space.

Grief is also the main motivator in which Jane finds herself so taken with these cases. Grief and coping manifests itself in strange / taboo ways, but I was also shocked to see the degree to which Ashley Winstead flayed open the true crime community. This is clearly hours upon hours of research, displaying the nittiest and grittiest of details to the sunshine and rainbows of the story. She doesn’t excuse the true crime community’s actions, but she also doesn’t necessarily denounce them either. It does seem to lay the door open for a conversation about both the positive and negative that comes with online detectives.

Overall, this is such a multifaceted book with as much to (potentially) shame as there is to praise. Instead of offering a recommendation, I would ask readers to ask themselves: are you okay reading this?

After her father’s death, Jane becomes completely obsessed with true crime. She meets a group of internet sleuths who she quickly becomes close to. These relationships intensify as they investigate the murders of three Idaho girls. A year after these events occur, Jane tells her side of the story.

This was such an interesting read. I was hooked so quickly and couldn’t wait to see where the story would go. Loved the Reddit threads and true crime forums. Highly recommend for anyone interested in true crime.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for the ARC.

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

Thank You NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a complimentary copy of this novel! Five amateur sleuths find each other in an online true crime forum and come together to catch a killer or two. There’s Mistress, Lightly (a retired cop), Goku, Citizen and Searcher. Searcher, who is the most recent addition to the group, is Jane Sharp. She recently lost her father and needs an outlet to occupy her mind and time. A string of Collegiate murders has taken place in and around Delphine, Idaho. Three girls are found stabbed to death in their sorority house in Delphine. Not long after that, another group of girls are found murdered who were on the track team. The crime group meets up and travels to Delphine and they’re given FBI Consultant credentials to help with the case. But things are not adding up. The police aren’t doing such a good job. The first murder scene was contaminated. And there’s just not much evidence. There are more questions than answers.
This novel is written like it is being told by Jane Sharp one year after these events happened. What she reveals will leave you blown away as to who the killer was. I really enjoyed this one! It kept me guessing and I was not expecting the ending at all! If you love true crime podcasts and documentaries, this is the book for you! Look for it AVAILABLE March 25, 2025!

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for my free ARC of This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead — available Mar 25!

» READ IF YOU «
🕵️‍♀️ are fascinated by true crime and the world of amateur sleuths
💻 enjoy narratives exploring the dark side of internet communities
🔍 appreciate twisty thrillers with unreliable narrators

» SYNOPSIS «
Trying to cope with the sudden death of her father, college dropout Jane stumbles upon the message-board-world of true crime, quickly finding herself forging connections with the upper echelon of these amateur sleuths. After the brutal murder of three college girls in Idaho, Jane and her new friends become obsessed with solving the case themselves. But man, this case is tricky—they start to suspect this particular killer is more cunning than any other they've dealt with. Have Jane and her crew put themselves in danger by inserting their noses where they don't belong?

» REVIEW «
Ashley Winstead can do no wrong in my opinion, I love her stuff and will always read her books! I haven't five starred every single one, but this one was definitely a win for me. Want to stay up late because you have to know what happens next? This one, right here.

Man, I love me a true crime thriller. This one blends the allure of being "popular" on the internet with the real-life dangers of amateur investigation. Jane's descent into obsession is relatable af but also distressing to watch. Who hasn't forged close emotional connections to an online community? And who hasn't let the internet take over their lives in some form or another? Anyway. The only thing I didn't love here was that I was able to pick out the main twist by about 30% into the story, which is always some combo of "yay I'm so smart" and "damn I wish I was surprised." But alas!

Either way, I love Ashley's writing and the way she's able to really draw you into the suspense of the story. Definitely recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Perfect for true crime lovers like myself. The twist I did see coming but overall I really enjoyed this book!

Oh she is the queen of dark suspense. I never know what direction her books will go, and I’m truly blown away with that ending. I think it safe to say this is my favorite of hers so far!

After the death of her father, Jane joins a team of amateur sleuths to help solve a case that’s captured the attention of the entire country, but will what she finds destroy her?🕵🏻‍♀️

This was a mixed bag for me, because I was relatively uninterested for the first 85% of the book, but thought it really nailed the landing. I’m not quite sure why I wasn’t pulled in, but I found it a bit cheesy at times and so many of the plot points were far-fetched with how easily everything came to the group. I called “who did it” the very first time they entered the book, so that may have had something to do with it as well.

It’s clear that the book is inspired by the Idaho college murders, and while I don’t mind fiction books spinning off from a true life event, I thought there were way too many small details written in from real life. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a full rehash of the real events, but so many details of the true crime were written in that didn’t really need to be there in my opinion. If you’re familiar with the case, you may feel pulled out of the story each time something comes up as I did.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for a complimentary advance copy of this eBook, out 3/25/2025.

As a fan of True Crime, I found this book to be highly enjoyable! If you're into True Crime, this might be the perfect fit for you. While the pacing slows in the middle, the story remains captivating, and I appreciated the characters and their investigative efforts, especially the dynamic among the five FBI consultants in Jane's team.

This was one of my most anticipated new release books to read in 2025 and unfortunately it fell flat.
I did like the idea of a true crime forum and the process amateur sleuths go through but I didn’t expect a 500 page retelling of the 2022 Idaho murders.
I feel like at times there were two separate plots, one about the Idaho massacres and one about her dad’s death. I personally think with how long this book was the subplot about her dad could have been cut.
While I understand that authors draw inspiration from real life events all the time, this might hit a little to close to home for some considering the trial hasn’t even begun.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmarks for allowing me to read this eARC.

True crime fans may really love this one. The writing is good as always with this author. I had a hard time with it personally because the beginning death of her father was very triggering for me as I lost my father in a similar way. The story also mirrors a real recent true crime case and I felt it was a little soon for that. So, for me the fiction was a little to close to home and nonfiction in those aspects and it effected my enjoyment. I think others would like it more though!

I will preface this by saying I am a huge Ashley Winstead fan, I’ve read all of her books and have loved every one of them - and this one is no exception. I won’t reveal any spoilers, of course, but I will say that yes, while this book draws parallels to the Idaho murders & how blurry & convoluted the world of true crime can get - it also a novel about grief and how everyone deals with it differently.

Quite frankly, I’m glad Ashley didn’t play it safe with this one - I think she perfectly captured how easy it is to let grief consume you - but also how grief can bring even the unlikeliest of people together. I think the reason I love Ashley’s books so much is because I can relate with (some aspects) of her main characters & can put myself in their shoes in certain situations. I can both empathize and sympathize with Jane throughout this novel. Okay; enough rambling from me. But one more thing I’ll say is that as a Swiftie, I appreciated Ashley’s Taylor references throughout the book 🫶🏻 Oh and the one mention of Veronica Mars 🕵️

This Book Will Bury Me is true crime at its best. I enjoyed following along with the story and trying to figure out what happened alongside Jane. Jane’s obsession with true crime leads to her hunting killers from afar and feeling like she can solve one of the most famous crimes in modern history. This twisty, tense ride is perfect for fans of Winstead’s previous work or for any reader who thinks of themselves as a true crime sleuth.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year so I was really excited to go into this. We are following Jane who after the loss of her dad gets into online true crime solving. She meets a group of amateur sleuths and they help to solve a murder case of college students at Idaho State University.

Although I liked the story I found it incredibly predictable. I figured out the entire murder by around the 50% mark, I thought it was pretty obvious. I was really hoping I was wrong and there would be a huge twist at the end, but sadly that was not the case. I’m not sure how I felt that this entire story was based on the Idaho college murder case from 2022. That’s a case I have been following and am pretty familiar with so it was just odd reading a story based on that. She portrayed the victims in not the best light and I was a little uncomfortable with that.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and watching the team solve the first murder. I think when it got to the Idaho murders it lost me a little bit. This was a long book and I’m not sure it needed to be that long, some of the chapters seemed unnecessary. The chapters were very short which made it a quick read so I enjoyed that. I just also had a hard time with the chapters with her dad, I just was sort of trying to find a reason for mentioning him so much. I was almost thinking that maybe the twist was that he killed the girls! That would have been wild.

If you are a true crime fan and a fan of Ashley Winstead then I would recommend picking up this book on March 25th.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one had me a little all over the place. I'll just try to tally the good and not-as-good.

Good: This kept me turning the pages. I really liked the concept of a story told from a true-crime junkie who has reached some fame (or notoriety) on the national stage. I was very invested in the fundamental question about how we should feel about true crime hunters: are they exploitative and a hindrance to real law enforcement? But don't they also sometimes hit pay-dirt by finding intel that the authorities have missed and, thus, lead to resolution and justice for families?

Not-as-Good: I saw the end coming early. Like, really early. In some cases, I don't mind figuring things out. But in this case, it changed how I read the whole book. I would have liked to have been more surprised. I also wasn't sold on the conceit that hovered around the main character and the loss of her father. I wasn't making the connection to her motivation that I think I was meant to.

The last thing I need to mention (I was going to call this "the ugly" but I really don't know how I feel--I might have to keep thinking on it) is the controversy this is stirring up with Winstead's (meta)decision to use much of a real, ongoing murder case as the basis for her story. On the one hand, it's edgy and it works; if you're writing a story about true-crime aficionados, what better vehicle than to base part of your story on a re-created version of a true-crime story that kept much of the US glued to their televisions and phones for a couple of weeks? Literature is very often inspired by real life and allows the reader to further examine and process real life.

On the other hand, since the real story--at the time of the book's publication--is not totally resolved, might it be too soon? Were the fictionalized details in the book not fictionalized enough? Might it feel too close to real life and not enough like fiction?

I don't know. I have to think on that. But I do think Winstead took a chance with this and I'm . . . intrigued by that choice.

Ashley Winstead’s 2021 thriller, In My Dreams I hold A Knife, caught my attention and never let go throughout my reading experience, so I jumped at the chance to obtain an advance copy of her newest novel.

This Book Will Bury Me, is told from the POV of our main character, Janeway Sharp (what a truly awesome name!), who tells her story in a book she is writing after being involved in a controversial true crime case. A book within a book is one of my catnip tropes so I was immediately intrigued. Janeway, known as Jane, is a college student who recently and unexpectedly lost her dad to a heart attack. Everyone deals with grief in their own way, and for Jane that means diving into the internet world of true crime amateur sleuthing. After Jane assists in solving her first case, she falls in with 4 other internet sleuths, who quickly make a name for themselves as they try to solve a recent murder of 3 university women. This novel was a slow burn, but I was invested throughout. Unlike some other readers, I did not see the twist coming. I always appreciate a thriller/mystery where the author can catch me off-guard in that way.

Admittedly, I did find, In My Dreams I hold A Knife, more propulsive and heart-pounding, however, This Book Will Bury Me, still gave me a lot to think about. It will be perfect for lovers of true crime and those who enjoy diving into the underworld of internet sleuthing. It will also make for great book club or buddy read discussions, especially for those who love mysteries, thrillers, and/or books that have an element of controversy around them. Winstead’s latest novel is based on the November 2022 murders at the University of Idaho, and some may find that fact controversial and uncomfortable, since this is a murder case that will not have been tried by the date of the publication of this book, March 25, 2025.

3.5 Stars

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

If you saw my stories recently or even the reel I posted yesterday, you already know I DEVOURED this book. First of all, thank you @bookmarked for sending this ARC, it meant SO much to me. A book within a book about amateur true crime detectives and I couldn’t have loved it more. If you hear me talking about this book for the foreseeable future, I am sorry but not sorry. Coming March 25, 2025 so put this on your Libby hold, pre-order, or whatever you want but just make sure to add it to your TBR!

I for the most part I really liked this story. The characters were likable, the plot to some extent believable, the message that the online true crime community can be harmful or helpful was also important. What I didn’t like and what made me really uncomfortable was the fact that the author used the 2022 Idaho murders as the basis for her story. Anyone familiar with that crime will certainly see it in the story. It is a pretty blatant use of a recent high profile crime to base a fiction story on. Many people will be justifiably outraged by this, and there will be pushback on what is otherwise a pretty good book.

I really liked the main character Janeway, who is the sole narrator of the story. The story is told in the first person and is styled like a memoir or true crime nonfiction story, which I really liked. I liked how Jane often broke the fourth wall to help the audience understand what was going on. Jane was a young woman dealing with the grief she felt over the death of her father. Her grief was overwhelming her and she starts off looking for answers. The depiction of her grief and the path she takes to overcome it, was well done. Jane’s biggest fault though is her impulsivity and her naivete. Both of these put her in some difficult situations throughout the story.

I also liked the community of armchair detectives that she befriends on the internet. They have a bond and are very much like a family though they have never met in real life. They welcome Jane with open arms and take her in and help her learn how to solve a murder.

This is very much a plot driven story and there were some really interesting twists to the story. I was able to figure out part of what was really going on with the murders early on, but not all of the story was easy to figure out. The pacing and writing were solid for the most part and I was happy to follow along with figuring out the story with the characters.

However, I really disliked how close to the Idaho murders the story gets. It felt very exploitative, and totally unnecessary. The victims were almost exact copies of the real life women, the suspects were similar as were the crimes scenes. The seemingly ineptitude of the small police force was also used. Even the description of the town was eerily similar. I think using this crime that is still in litigation was unseemly and I expect better from authors and publishers.

But the commentary on how social media and the true crime community sometimes hinders or at times helps high profile investigations was well done. We saw this with the Idaho murders. The social media posts were out of control, accusing people right and left with no thought to how that would impact innocent people’s lives. The friends and families of the victims were unfairly victimized during the whole thing. As was the police force who, for good reasons were very quiet about the investigation. I think the author did a good job of portraying all of this in the story, but also showed how some of these amateur detectives can be helpful at times. (Although I don’t believe that was the case with the Idaho murders)

Looking past the huge problem I had with the use of a recent the murders, this was a really well done story. The twists and turns were well done and I was second guessing myself the whole time. If you like fiction that resembles true crime then this might be a book that would interest you. But be aware that there are parts that might make you just as uncomfortable as they did me.

I binged this book! I’m fascinated by true crime and the culture surrounding it. Like many individuals, I’m deeply curious and love to solve mysteries. Yet, I recognize the complicated nature and potentially harmful side to this phenomenon.

With that said, I feel like Winstead does an excellent job exploring the nuances of true crime. There are many layers to this story, and I really appreciated the character depth.

I was able to “solve” this one rather quickly. But that didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the book, rather it felt like a sort of validation.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of true crime and mystery thrillers. It’s a slower paced thriller, but I think it pays off in the end.

My rating: 4⭐️