Double review: Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard #MichelleChouinard @SNemethParker @MinotaurBooks @MacmillanAudio #LoveAudiobooks @sophiarose1816

Anne’s Review

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The chill of a San Francisco summer can be deadly. No one knows this better than Capri Sanzio, who makes her living giving serial killer tours of the city. Capri has been interested in the topic since she was a kid, when she discovered she’s the granddaughter of serial killer William ‘Overkill Bill’ Sanzio. She’s always believed in his innocence, though she's never taken the leap to fully dive into the case.

But now an Overkill Bill copycat has struck in San Francisco. And Capri’s former mother-in-law, Sylvia, just cut off Capri’s daughter’s tuition payments. Needing cash, Capri wonders if this is the time to exonerate her grandfather. The case is back in the news and the police will be looking to understand the past to catch a present-day killer. Capri could finally uncover the truth about Overkill Bill—documenting the process with a podcast and a book—and hopefully earn some money.

Before Capri can get very far, the cops discover the copycat’s latest victim: Sylvia. Capri soon finds herself at the heart of the police’s investigation for an entirely different reason. She and her daughter are prime suspects.

I loved this! I am so glad I was able to squeeze this one into the schedule.  The Serial Killer’s Guide to San Francisco was very smart, fun and easy to read.  Our main point of view and teller of the story is Capri.  She is a divorced mother of a graduate student daughter, Morgan.  At the time of her divorce, she had to develop a way to support them and came up with running a tour company about serial killers in San Francisco.  It’s been successful.

As the grand-daughter of a famous serial killer (who died in prison claiming to be innocent),  she has never learned much about him.  When her ex-mother-in-law cuts off Morgan’s school funding, there is a copy-cat murder, her lovely co-workers suggest she do a podcast and write a book, solving the old murder and the new.

Capri was so smart and her journalism background gave her skills to research and dig out the facts for us. She also has the fear of an innocent being arrested for something they didn’t do, like her grandfather. Her co-workers are a found family of sorts and were great supporters.  All the while, she and Morgan were also suspects.  They are also dealing with their devastated ex-father-in-law and horrible ex-husband.

I won’t say more for fear of spoiling the mystery and investigation.  It had some tense moments.  I recommend this read highly!

Narration:

I have listened to this narrator before.  I really appreciated her clear and distinct voices for characters. The emotional tones added to the performance which was a pleasure.  I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.

Listen to the clip: HERE

Sophia’s Review

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The granddaughter of serial killer finds herself in the crosshairs of a police investigation when a copycat killer starts working the San Francisco streets.  Sometimes a title is all it takes to draw one in and this was true for me.  New to me author, Michelle Chouinard married a love for the city of San Francisco with a clever murder mystery and I was happy to be along for the literary tour.

The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco was a blend of women’s fiction and murder mystery.  The protagonist is a middle-aged divorcee who runs a boutique tour company taking her clients on a fun and unique tour of San Francisco by way of killer views and hot spots.  Naturally, many of her clients are as intrigued by her status as the granddaughter of Overkill Bill as they are the locations associated with famous killers.  It puts bread on the table and helps her daughter through college.  In her spare time, she researches her granddad’s case and anything she can learn about serial killers because Capri doesn’t believe William Sanzio was guilty and wants to prove it someday in spite of her dad telling her to leave it alone.

Then, the copycat killings start including her ex-mother in law and old money San Fran socialite, cold as ice as long as Capri knew her.

From the fun occasional chapter interludes to share a ‘tour stop presentation’ and the tone of the writing to the fully-fledged and entertaining cast of characters including Capri (never call her Capricorn- hippy mother, nuff said), this was an entertaining murder mystery to read.  It was cozy in tone and especially since Capri and her coworkers and the longsuffering homicide detective working the case all give her the lead.  One of her coworkers is a really good tech guy (think hacker) and Capri herself is a trained journalist and researcher.

It’s not far-fetched that she can one-up the police effort- especially since she had a habit of pocketing evidence or sharing convos with some witnesses, and checking it out before turning it over to the police.  This isn’t because she thinks the law officers are incompetent or corrupt, but because she has a real fear of them looking no further than her or her daughter who both have motive, means, and opportunity and she’s convinced that being innocent won’t help her any more than it did her granddad.  As a reader, I could see her fear got in her way of seeing the true picture of how the detectives were actually working the case properly and by the book so everything would hold up in court afterwards.

I enjoyed that San Francisco and a bit of its culture and the characters were so fully developed and added a lot of layer to the solid mystery plot.  I had no idea who was guilty until the pieces fell into place and it was fun to be along as Capri investigated.

All in all, this was a wonderful surprise and lived up to that original interest caused by the title.  Definitely recommend to the mystery lovers.

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I can't really remember any time when I wasn't reading. I LOVE books and what they give me. It's an opportunity to learn new things, see new places,live different emotions in a "safe" way. It lets me live in a new world.

I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.

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