Death of a Bookseller
by Alice Slater
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Pub Date Apr 25 2023 | Archive Date Mar 31 2023
Penzler Publishers | Scarlet
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Description
In this "utterly unforgettable" debut (Catherine Ryan Howard), a disaffected, true crime-obsessed bookseller develops a dangerous obsession with a colleague.
Roach would rather be listening to the latest episode of her favorite true crime podcast than assisting the boring and predictable customers at her local branch of the bookstore Spines, where she’s worked her entire adult life. A serious true crime junkie, Roach looks down her nose at the pumpkin-spice-latte-drinking casual fans who only became interested in the genre once it got trendy. But when Laura, a pretty and charismatic children’s bookseller, arrives to help rejuvenate the struggling bookstore branch, Roach recognizes in her an unexpected kindred spirit.
Despite their common interest in true crime, Laura keeps her distance from Roach, resisting the other woman’s overtures of friendship. Undeterred, Roach learns everything she can about her new colleague, eventually uncovering Laura’s traumatic family history. When Roach realizes that she may have come across her very own true crime story, interest swiftly blooms into a dangerous obsession.
A darkly funny suspense novel, Death of a Bookseller raises ethical questions about the fervor for true crime and how we handle stories that don’t belong to us.
About the Author:
Alice Slater is a writer, editor, podcaster and former bookseller based in London. She co-hosts the What Page Are You On? podcast with Bethany Rutter. Death of a Bookseller is her first novel.
Advance Praise
"Fresh and sharp, expertly plotted and also emotionally charged, comic but also pitch-black dark. . . . Utterly unforgettable." - Catherine Ryan Howard
"Fresh and sharp, expertly plotted and also emotionally charged, comic but also pitch-black dark. . . . Utterly unforgettable." - Catherine Ryan Howard
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781613163771 |
| PRICE | $26.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 368 |
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 266180
Deliciously Dark..
Meet Roach - bookseller and true crime aficionado. She also owns a giant snail named Bleep. Roach is settled enough, she has all she needs. When Laura joins the bookshop along with her posse and her secrets, things are about to change and an obsession is about to begin. With a credible and well crafted cast of characters- most of whom are, quite deliberately, wholly unlikeable - and a tantalisingly immersive and compelling narrative, this is quite impossible to put down from the first page onwards. Fabulously and deliciously dark, often bleakly amusing,
Librarian 574614
I just CAN'T describe how wonderful this grotty, dank, rancid little story was. Such a gripping and modern story of obsession, work relationships, true crime, bookshops, drinking, problematic attitudes....urgh! I really couldn't put this down.
The characters of Roach and Laura are both unlikable in disparate ways, and their intertwining issues are so dark. The setting and references are so vivid and I found myself able to picture every aspect of this story. I hated how I related so much to both characters, and started worrying that I might have ever been treated like Laura. I can't wait to read more from Alice Slater, she is such a modern and interesting writer.
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