Review
The reason I still love physical libraries is because they make it so easy to wander slowly through a selection of books and pick up something spontaneously that comes with none of the bumph of online selection: no aggregated number of stars by reviewers, no detail about what comes before or after it in a series, no picture or author biography. This book has a great cover and a fun premise, about those so fixated on true crime that they want to touch the items themselves, relishing their provenance as coming from a killer, murder victim, or crime scene. (Coming appropriately after my review of Alice Slater’s Death of a Bookseller, which itself focuses on true crime enthusiasts who go too far.)
This is one of those books, then, that I’ve picked up without knowing anything about the series, and it works sufficiently well that one doesn’t really need to know anything more about the characters, although I think I may have found it a little flat because I didn’t have any personal investment in the Narey and Winter pairing (our investigating DI and her former-crime-scene-photographer partner).
There are some fantastic scenes here, particularly Chapter 1 (as well it should be). Robertson also makes a really impressive turn of the personal narrative (a high-risk pregnancy) to drive the plot itself. There are some fanciful elements whereby the serial killer is just a little too good, but what really brings this together is the believability of the odd foursome that comprise our murderabilia collectors. In the modern market, this sort of thing could believably be anywhere and everywhere, on eBay, Etsy, Instagram, and beyond. People sell all sorts, and it’s often weird. Is murderabilia so different to other collectibles that people might find macabre or gross?
This book is very entertaining, written no doubt a little more for dedicated fans than for the casual library-goer, but I would very gladly read more Craig Robertson novels in the future!
See also
These lists capture other stories and characters that I thought of as I was reading this piece. I won’t explain why, to avoid spoilers, but they’re associations and not ‘if you liked this, then you’ll love…’ recommendations!
- Crime Writers On (podcast)
- Life (TV series – episode 2.11, “Canyon Flowers”)
Take a look at my short story collection featuring Victorian “lady detective” Meinir Davies; order now! Or check out my academic work about detective and crime fiction (free PDFs available) right here.
Dominique Gracia 
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