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A review by illstoptheworldandreadwithyou
The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard
3.0
The granddaughter of a convicted serial killer finds herself in the center of a present-day murder investigation in the The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco.
Capri Sanzio has always believed in her grandfather’s innocence. Growing up, her grandfather was a banned topic in the household, but the suppression of those discussions only fueled Capri’s curiosity more. Now in her 40s, Capri has spun that interest in her grandfather’s alleged guilt into a tour business: she offers serial killer tours of San Francisco.
When her ex-mother-in-law cuts off funding for Capri’s daughter’s grad school tuition, Capri needs additional income to help out. She starts digging more into what happened when her grandfather was convicted so long ago, hoping to both prove his innocence and make some money from creating a podcast and writing a book in the process.
Then a copycat killer strikes in San Francisco, and Capri finds herself trying to figure out the culprit in those original murders and the ones impacting her family today.
This book ended up falling somewhere in the middle for me. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.
It’s not a long book—in print or on audio—but it ended up feeling long to me. I liked the setting and setup but wasn’t enamored with the pacing and delivery of information. I liked when you get glimpses of information shared on tours as interstitials and would have loved to have seen more of that. I also wish that some of the details from the original murders had been included in a podcast format instead of getting into the weeds as Capri discovers that information.
I liked the hint of a budding romance but wish the little details and interactions had been played up a bit more.
Side note: I will admit that I am too much of a scaredy-cat to go on the serial killer tours based on true crimes in the book, but if that tour agency were to put together the Alfred Hitchcock tour that's discussed, I would gladly go on that.
I had advance copies of both the ebook and the audiobook. Stephanie Németh-Parker’s narration kept me engaged in the story, and I liked her voices for all of the characters. It was easy to keep track of which character was speaking.
I had an advance copy of the ebook from Minotaur Books and advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.
Capri Sanzio has always believed in her grandfather’s innocence. Growing up, her grandfather was a banned topic in the household, but the suppression of those discussions only fueled Capri’s curiosity more. Now in her 40s, Capri has spun that interest in her grandfather’s alleged guilt into a tour business: she offers serial killer tours of San Francisco.
When her ex-mother-in-law cuts off funding for Capri’s daughter’s grad school tuition, Capri needs additional income to help out. She starts digging more into what happened when her grandfather was convicted so long ago, hoping to both prove his innocence and make some money from creating a podcast and writing a book in the process.
Then a copycat killer strikes in San Francisco, and Capri finds herself trying to figure out the culprit in those original murders and the ones impacting her family today.
This book ended up falling somewhere in the middle for me. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.
It’s not a long book—in print or on audio—but it ended up feeling long to me. I liked the setting and setup but wasn’t enamored with the pacing and delivery of information. I liked when you get glimpses of information shared on tours as interstitials and would have loved to have seen more of that. I also wish that some of the details from the original murders had been included in a podcast format instead of getting into the weeds as Capri discovers that information.
I liked the hint of a budding romance but wish the little details and interactions had been played up a bit more.
Side note: I will admit that I am too much of a scaredy-cat to go on the serial killer tours based on true crimes in the book, but if that tour agency were to put together the Alfred Hitchcock tour that's discussed, I would gladly go on that.
I had advance copies of both the ebook and the audiobook. Stephanie Németh-Parker’s narration kept me engaged in the story, and I liked her voices for all of the characters. It was easy to keep track of which character was speaking.
I had an advance copy of the ebook from Minotaur Books and advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.