Amateur Sleuths who are part of an online true crime community throw themselves into hunting for a diabolical killer and solving the recent murders of three college young women. They leave their armchairs where they have done their sleuthing online to join up and hunt down a killer of the women. Along the way this 'found family' of online sleuths will bond, will ponder, will question others, and will question themselves.

Jane Sharp, who is still grieving the recent death of her father, joins the online group who fill a void in her life. There she finds friends, a purpose, a distraction from her grief, and danger! The group is an interesting one with distinct, flawed, interesting and flawed individuals. They have a common goal and do their best to get to the bottom of things.

I found this book to be enjoyable, intriguing, and well thought out. My one main issue is that it does lag in the middle. I feel a little editing could have benefitted the book a bit. Having said that, I enjoyed the twists, reveals, the sense of danger and suspense toward the end of the book.

If the setting Delphine, Idaho and the killing of the college women rings a bell, Abigail Williams and Liberty German, were murdered and their real like murders have been dubbed the “Delphi murders” This book may feel to close and too soon for some and several reviewers have voiced this in their reviews.


Overall, an enjoyable book about online sleuths hunting for a killer. As with her other books, this book was well written, well thought out, thought provoking, and tense.

DNF. Very disturbing that this book clearly draws from the very REAL events of the 2022 University of Idaho murders. I was really disappointed when this realization struck me -- I LOVED 'In My Dreams I Hold a Knife,' so I was beyond thrilled to receive an early copy of Winstead's next novel. It feels, no, IS extremely insensitive and gross to fictionalize something that is very real and, not only that, but create parallels upon parallels between what happens in the book and what happened to Kaylee Gonglaves, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin (the Idaho murder victims). These victims also have yet to receive justice! The trial doesn't take place until 9 months from now! Hugely disappointed.

Started off a bit slow, but it did pull me in and kept me wanting to know more. I liked the internet sleuths angle, who hasn't gotten sucked into a rabbit hole online? And the author did a good job of showcasing that these online groups really can cause harm to a case. I wish it were a bit shorter as some parts drug on, but it is well written which helped. Despite that it had me needing to know more and I couldn't stop reading. If you're a fan of true crime/detective type stories I do think you'll enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.

I looooove Ashley Winsteads books SO much! This one was good but not my favorite. Slower than usual, and not nearly as dark as the other ones.

Unfortunately this was my first read by this author and and I'm not impressed.. at all 😭 the overall idea of this story is great but, it fell flat as 💩 in its execution..
main pain points with this read:
-this easily could have been 50ish pages shorter.. maybe 100..
-main character wasn't likable (some supporting charactors, Lightly & Mistress, were)
-killer was obvious to me way too early and kind of destroyed the path/s the author was trying to make you follow instead..
-too much of a grasp for the ending resoluton...

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC. Expected publication date is March 25th 2025

After the death of her father, Jane needs a distraction. She finds one in a true crime online forum, and she finds a new family in her fellow online sleuths. So when a massacre of college sorority girls happens in Idaho, Jane and her newfound family immerse themselves to try to solve it. Ashley Winstead chose a unique writing style with this mystery; it is written to the reader. It is written as if by main character Jane herself where she alludes to messages that she assumes the reader already knows. It even includes footnotes (which as an ebook reader can be tricky depending on which device you’re using). While the writing itself was creative, there was too much of it. Many of Jane’s asides could have been edited for a more concise story. Even with the pacing being slow at times, mystery readers will likely find this a satisfying read. One more caveat though, for a book that is a commentary on true crime sleuths exploiting crimes, this book kind of exploits a true crime. Yes, details were changed, but this book felt a little too close to the real University of Idaho killings.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ashley Winstead is an automatic read author for me. I was beyond excited to dive in to her latest work.

This Book Will Bury Me reads like an extensive deep dive in a rabbit hole on reddit. After I lost my father in 2022; I also found myself in many reddit rabbit holes. I find this easy to relate to with Jane. Her endless searching for answers on the cases she works and about her father made her very likeable to me. I did find some suspension of disbelief is required that everyone was able to uproot to go to Idaho on a whim. With that being said I still found this book compulsively readable. I would recommend this book to others looking for a fast pace and that enjoy all the intricacies of true crime.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Ashley Winstead for allowing me to read this ARC.

This Book Will Bury Me pulls you in with a chilling premise and keeps you hooked with its sharp twists and eerie atmosphere. After losing her father, college student Jane Sharp turns to an online true crime community for comfort and distraction. But when she and her internet friends dive into the infamous Delphine Massacres, the case turns out to be darker—and more dangerous—than any of them imagined.

Told a year after the case’s shocking conclusion, the story unfolds like a slow confession. Jane’s obsession with solving the murders feels both relatable and unnerving, and as the mystery deepens, so does the sense of dread. The book is not just a clever whodunit; it’s also a sharp critique of true crime culture and the fine line between seeking justice and exploiting tragedy.

The twists come fast, the tension never lets up, and the ending left me stunned. If you’re a fan of dark, twisty thrillers with a psychological edge, this one is for you.

This was pretty hard to read. Not just because of what the author has done with the story but I found it to be kind of boring. It wasn't really keeping my attention and took me forever to read it. I'm usually a quick read but not with this one. This may work for others, but it's not for me.

Dnf for reasons below. I can't get behind making money off real tragedy

I started reading this book and wondered why it seemed so familiar. I always keep my TV on for background noise. It's most often in the ID channel. I was not far in and put my Kindle down to get a snack, and that's when I heard the TV talking about whatever case, and that's when it hit me. This book is a fictional version of the Idaho 4. I started thinking maybe that I was exaggerating, so I continued on more. I wasn't wrong. I had to dnf about 40% in. Before I quit. I came to read the reviews to again make sure I wasn't wrong. I wasn't.

This thriller begins with Jane/Janeway (dad was a Trekkie) explaining that after the unexpected death of her father she took solace in a true crime forum, one that eventually led to her writing a book to explain what controversy happened while she was “sleuthing.” Grief turned her into an obsessed college drop-out, forgetting to eat or go to the bathroom, instead searching the internet for clues to a stranger’s macabre murder. Feeling adrift and helpless after her father’s funeral, small revelations of clues made Jane feel like a “quixotic warrior” fighting a “virtual windmill.” So, of course after a victory, she became addicted to a true crime “Network” and considered the other participants friends.

But even though her group was acknowledged as the elite internet sleuths, it’s increasingly obvious they have rivals and the book that Jane is writing (and we’re reading) refers to another woman with her own book and an apparent legal action.

This is an absolutely fascinating story about true crime detectives — those working through social media and making bold contacts of friends and family, and even showing up to crime scenes, all done outside of official police investigations. Jane truly goes down a rabbit hole, but she makes the other four in her group (Mistress, Citizen, Goku, and Lightly) her new family. And I imagine that’s what happens to internet sleuths — they’re 21st century pen pals with a purpose. This book is jarringly loosely associated with the real life Idaho student murders, before the final trial of the accused murderer, so I’d expect some criticism from other reviewers. That fact didn’t put me off — in fact, it was easier to imagine the plot line. Winstead’s novel is really about the people currently obsessed with true crime and our information-laden society that allows insiders to participate in unsolved crimes. Michele McNamara’s “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” is the non-fiction masterpiece of true crime investigation and obsession, and Ashley Winstead’s fictional thriller is just as thrilling. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Harlow has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): YES Jane describes her parents’ neighborhood as having blooming birds of paradise in early September, but in Florida these usually bloom in late winter to early spring.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Oof. Not sure why the author thought it would be good to write about a current ongoing murder case. It’s so blatantly based on the Idaho murders. Very tasteless

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. ASHLEY NEVER MISSES. From IN MY DREAMS, a whodonit college murder mystery, to the LAST HOUSEWIFE, a dark cult thriller, to MIDNIGHT, a southern gothic thriller, and now to BURY ME, a true crime inspired murder mystery.

I really feel like Ashely went back to her roots with this one and it has a lot of similiar vibes as In My Dreams while still being different and unique.

I could really tell that Ashley did her research with this one & really tapped into the true crime community, which personally I LOVED. There were so many references to true crime including true crime stories/cases and just police procedure

This book was so eerily realistic. It really captured all the good and bad that can come out of real life crime sleuths and true crime obsessed communities. It was such an eye opening story while being completely captivating.

This book was the DEFINITION of an unreliable narrator. I could not turn the pages fast enough & simply did not want to put it down.

This book was so so good & I strongly urge you to add it to your TBR for when it releases in March 2025. Don’t worry you won’t forget it’s releasing because I won’t be shutting up about it any time soon !!!

I enjoyed the slightly different spin on a serial killer story. Jane, to me, felt like a pathetic character. I enjoyed the backstory of the other characters.

From the anonymity of the internet, five armchair sleuths band together to investigate the high profile murder of three young women in a small Idaho college town. This ragtag group includes a retired detective, a grandma librarian, a military vet, a talented hacker and Jane, a directionless young woman still dealing with her own father’s unexpected death. The group had previous success with online investigating and have built a significant reputation in their subculture. Winstead expertly builds and reveals the backstory of each character through their probing, and a mystery within the quintet runs alongside the nationwide hunt for the brutal co-ed killer.

Jane Sharp is a regular college student. When her Dad dies without warning she spirals. She throws herself into reading up on true crime and it becomes concerning when three college girls in Idaho are killed. I enjoyed the way the book was laid out with online chats and how Jane goes about getting to the bottom of the mystery. Including a shocking end.

thank you to ashley winstead, sourcebooks landmark, and netgalley for providing an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

i don’t typically read thrillers these days, but i’ve always been captivated by ashley winstead’s writing.

in “This Book Will Bury You”, janeway sharp is reeling from her father’s sudden death so she joins a group of online sleuths dedicated to solving grisly crimes. what begins as a distraction from her grief soon turns into an obsession as she becomes a key player in investigating the high-profile deaths of three college girls in a small town—a case that has captured the world’s attention.

while i was immediately hooked by the premise, i found the execution a bit disappointing. the heavy-handed foreshadowing made the major twists predictable, and i correctly guessed the main plot twists less than a quarter of the way through. so, reading the last 75% of the book was more just me confirming my initial suspicions.

one aspect I truly resonated with was how jane’s grief for her father intertwined with her need to investigate his past. her emotional journey—exploring the pieces of her father’s life she never knew—was moving and deeply relatable. i found her grief extremely familiar and i was drawn back to my own moments of grief and the pull to find answers.

though predictable, i had hoped the final chapters would at least have a satisfying finale. however, i felt like the ending was rushed and didnt pack as much of an impactful punch as i expected.

the author did note that she took inspiration from a real and recent crime, but i wasn’t expecting the deaths in her book to be SO closely described as the real crime, which did feel a little uncomfortable and exploitative to me.

ultimately, while I love ashley winstead’s talent and have loved her previous works, this one didn’t quite meet my expectations. however, it’s still a decent, twisty read for lovers of true crime-inspired thrillers.

📜This Book Will Bury Me
✍️Ashley Winstead
📠Sourcebooks Landmarked
📚Mystery/Thriller Fiction
🗓️Pub date: March 25, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @bookmarked for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Jane Sharp, after dealing with the sudden loss of her father, needs a distraction. Deciding to take a break from school, she becomes fascinated with true crime and turns to an underground internet sleuth group to help solve crimes.

✨When the country’s biggest triple murder on a college campus leads headlines, everyone is racing to solve the murders as quickly as they can. Only the details don’t add up. The police are being cagey. And there’s more media hype than evidence.

✨When another string of murders happen, it’s clear they have a serial killer on their hands, and if the police won’t investigate the murders properly, the sleuth group will.

✨This was the first book I read by Ashley Winstead, and it certainly won’t be my last. I am big into true crime and this was right up my alley. Well written, mind-blowing twists, interesting plot, a little too long at times, but overall excellent! A must-read for crime fiction fans!

#netgalley #thisbookwillburyme #ashleywinstead #sourcebookslandmarked #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #springreleases #thrillerfiction #mysteryfiction #readthisnow

I am torn on this book; on one hand, it was gripping, fascinating and impossible to put down. On the other, it too closely resembles the real life Moscow murders and that just didn’t sit right with me. I wish that some details were changed so it was only “loosely” based on it if it needed to be based on anything at all. That being said, overall this was a pretty great thriller and I appreciate the opportunity to have received an advance copy of it for review.

I love Ashley Winstead's books- they are always so well-paced and written, even across multiple genres. This Book Will Bury Me is not exception, and I do think that thrillers are absolutely where she shines the brightest. This story combines true crime sleuth communities with some semi-real ripped from the headlines details of true crime cases to unravel a story about grief, trust, and betrayal.