Death of a Bookseller

Our Review

"By Christmas Laura Bunting was gone. And it was my fault." 

Death of a Bookseller is dark, thrilling and right up my street. I admit to having participated in the True Crime obession at times but this book provides a new perspective on this gruesome trend. 

Roach is a long-term member of staff in a bookshop called Spines. She is obsessed with serial killers and true crime podcasts and has collated her own library on this theme in the bookshop. 

Laura is a new bookseller send with a team of people to try and increase footfall to the shop. She takes an instant dislike to Roach and finds the whole true crime thing to be a fad proffiting off the grief of others. 

"Vulnerable women, right? " Sarah said with cold authority. "Women who'd been let down by society and by the state, and then they were let down by the cops who didn't give enough of a shit about their death to investigate them properly. They were let down by every single institution that was meant to lift them up." 

Roach is an outsider and clearly very lonely. She is desperate to become friends with Laura and goes to extreme lengths to get her to like her. 

"Laura Bunting. Her name was garden parties, and Wimbledon, and royal weddings. It was chintzy tea rooms, Blitz spirit, and bric-a-brac for sale in bright church halls. It was coconut shies and bake sales and guess-the-weight-of-the-fucking cake."

I loved the contrast between the two protagonists and obviously the fact that it was set in a bookshop helped. 

A very creepy read. 

 

Our Final Rating...

Mon, 3rd April 2023