Category: True Crime

Recent Reads: I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara

Posted on by Pam

My rating: ?????

I’ll be gone in the dark is Michelle McNamara’s recounting of the Golden State Killer, which is the name she gave the East Area Rapist, who moved out of the East area, and started to kill people.  McNamara felt that he wasn’t being talked about as he didn’t have a catchy name.

As the book states, it is an obsessive search, and she does talk about that, but she also talks about the crimes, and the evidence.  All in all, it was a very well researched book, if you like true crime!


This was finished by friends of McNamara’s (Billy Jensen (investigative reporter) and Paul Haynes (researcher)), as she died writing the book.  Some credit her popularising the Golden State Killer leading to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo in April 2018, who is going to stand trial for these crimes.

I found My Favorite Murder (MFM) podcast last year, and gobbled up over 200 episodes (they’re just coming up for 300 in total), and loved Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark’s frankness over their anxiety, mental health struggles, addiction, and how talking about true crime helps them!

Their book Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered was out on 28th May this year, and they have live shows in London on 27th and 28th November this year! 

MFM have introduced me to so many true crimes I didn’t know existed, and then they mentioned “I’ll be gone in the Dark”, and hosted an event for it, and I knew that I had to read it!  Luckily for me, my library had a copy!

Billy Jensen (who helped to finish the book), and Paul Holes (criminalist, who was involved in the Golden State Killer case) have their own podcast now, called The Murder Squad, where they talk about true crimes that haven’t been solved, and ask for help from armchair investigators in solving them!  Episode 3 is about the Golden State Killer, if you’d like to listen to that!

I’ll be Gone in the Dark is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: Furious Hours; Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Posted on by Pam

My review: ?????

Furious Hours by Casey Cep is a book of many tales, all of which tie up together, but knowing what’s going on makes it so much more interesting!  

The first is the life and trial of Reverend Willie Maxwell, who is accused of killing five family members for the multiple insurance policies he had on each of them.  

The second is Maxwell’s lawyer, Tom Radney, who goes on to defend Robert Burns, who murders Maxwell.  Radney was a politician, and so was well versed in public speaking, persuading your listeners to your cause, which you can see in the courtroom.

The third is that of Harper Lee.  We go through her life, and see her friendship with Truman Capot, it talks about why she only published two books in her lifetime.  It also looks at how she went to the trial of Robert Burns, planning to write a book about it, in the same way that Truman Capote did in Cold Blood, for which Lee was his assistant.

This is Casey Cep’s first book, but she has written articles before for the New Yorker, and others, and some of them have been about Harper Lee, and as Cep says on her website, she’s loved Lee’s work since she was a child.

I thought this was really well written, and has made me want to read both To Kill a Mockingbird again and Go Set a Watchman for the first time!  If you like true crime, and learning a little more about such a reluctant celebrity, this is for you!


Furious Hours was published on 16th May 2019,  and is available to buy on Amazon  and on Waterstones.  I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House UK and Cornerstone (the publishers) for this book.
Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Recent Reads: The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay

Posted on by Pam

My review: ????


A true crime book that takes you to the late 19th century home in London where a body is discovered in the cellar, but whodunnit?

You get introduced to all of the people who lived there, and get glimpses into their lives, scandals and all.  You meet the victim, the suspects, and get taken to the courtrooms to hear the testimony through first hand accounts that are used throughout this book.  This gives a sense of immediacy, and a taste for how things really were, including prisons, and lunatic asylums.

I read a lot of murder mystery books, as my shelves on GoodReads will show you, and this was an entertaining read as it kept you guessing as to who the murderer actually was, and what the motive was.

The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay is out now in hardback.  It is available in a giveaway on GoodReads!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile for more reviews.