Issue 45: This Book Will Bury Me - A Book Recommendation

Today instead of a true crime case, I am offering a book recommendation. I have just started This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead. CrimeReads explains the book as, ‘Written in the first person as a tell-all by Jane, a college drop-out reeling from her father’s sudden death, This Book Will Bury Me explores the consumerisation of true crime and offers a poignant meditation on grief. It’s also a thrilling mystery with twists and turns aplenty, featuring an engaging cast of singular characters who clash and collaborate in order to solve the murders.’

What struck me about this book was that, while I know it is fiction - the author doesn’t hide that it is based firmly in reality. In the author’s note before the start of the book Ashley has written, ‘This Book Will Bury Me is a book about true crime, born from my honest fascination, sympathy, and occasional horror with the ways true crime communities respond to unfolding crimes.

This book is directly influenced by the University of Idaho murders and the Gabby Petito case. The author had lost her father at the time that the murders took place, she used her grief to bury herself in that case. This is something that is replicated in the book.

A final thing I will mention is that the author uses footnotes in a very similar way that Terry Pratchett does. Instead of giving more of the world of Discworld, Winstead instead uses it to draw true crime connections. It leaves me feeling that this book, though fiction - reads like nonfiction.