‘This Book Will Bury Me’ by Ashley Winstead

Published by Head of Zeus,
3 April 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-03590504-1 (PB)

This Book Will Bury Me tells the story of a young woman, Jane Sharp, who experiences a profound personal tragedy and is overwhelmed with grief to such an extent that her world begins to implode.  She questions the very meaning of life with its cruel and apparently random twists and turns.  In her despair she finds solace in online true crime groups and becomes engrossed in the investigations she pursues. 

Before long Jane has dropped out of college and taken a low paid job, but most importantly she has been instrumental in solving a crime.  She enjoys the affirmation she receives from her online buddies and some mainstream media outlets, and being part of TheRealCrimeNetwork community gives her a clear purpose in life.  Hungry to continue her crime solving exploits, Jane is delighted when she is invited to become part of a private chat group.  The group of four members all belong to TheRealCrimeNetwork site Jane has been posting on and their encouragement and suggestions helped her find her way when she first joined.  She’s delighted to accept the invitation, these are people just like her, people who want to make a difference, people who want justice for victims of crime…

Jane’s first person narrative addresses the reader directly with a candour that is convincing and invites empathy.  Her confessional style is interspersed with threads from online exchanges, and this adds to the immediacy of her story as well as contrasting on and offline relationships.  Jane interacts with three distinct groups of people: her family and friends, her online community, and those she addresses directly – her readers.  Characters are revealed through their online postings as well as what Jane writes about them.  The reader must decide how reliable they find the narrator’s reports of her fellow investigators who range from proficient hackers to a former detective. 

The book, I discovered, has sparked some controversy, particularly in parts of the United States, where the main murder case driving the plot echoes one that will be tried later this year.  The author addresses this in an introductory note where she explicitly warns readers that real crimes have informed her work of fiction.  Indeed, one of the most intriguing aspects of the narrative is its exploration of true crime as a literary genre.  This is reflected in Jane’s own misgivings about the ethics of true crime as entertainment, even as it acknowledges that it was her compulsion to find justice for victims of crime that saved her from the depths of despair and sorrow.

This Book Will Bury Me is a thoughtful and tantalising thriller.  It considers the ethics and randomness of life and death, but at its heart it is the moving story of a young woman’s struggle to recover from, and make sense of, losing someone you love.

A compelling read and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Ashley Winstead writes about women finding meaning and catharsis across genres. She has a Ph.D. in English. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide.  She lives in Houston with her husband, two cats, and beloved wine fridge. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.