What's something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail. Having “stopped” the serial on serial killers (just kidding apparently, I have at least one more next week on a short story), I was trying to figure out what to do with my blog. For so many years I’ve tried to “keep it professional”… only about writing and reading.

I've come full circle in this exploration of serial killers in fiction. What kicked everything off was Crushing Snails by Emma Murray, and about a year later, I've arrived at Murray's next book: Shoot Me in the Face on a Beautiful Day. Once again Murray features a serial killer along with a brutal female perspective that rips your heart out, stomps on it a few times, and doesn't quite put it back together.

The most recent serial killer book I read was A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers. The book is absolutely brilliant. 10/10, lovely writing, witty, thoughtful, sarcastic voice and just dark enough to keep my internal "horror" reader engaged. It features a middle-aged female serial killer, Dorothy, writing her tell-all memoir from the confines of a prison she has no hope of leaving.

I started this journey with very specific types of serial killer fiction in mind. I wanted to read POV serial killer fiction with a focus on the difference through time and regarding gender. But as I read, that scope has widened and shifted. Throughout it all, the one type of book I wasn't interested in was the more classic, mainstream books that tend to take the detective or journalist POV.

YouTube video by Syosset Public Library

YouTube video by 4 Fife 6 Studios

There seems to be clearly defined battle lines when you compare audio stories with written narratives. In one camp there's the "listening isn't reading!" group. To be fair, there are some benefits to reading as opposed to listening. For me personally, reading allows me greater space to exercise my imagination by putting my own emphasis and tone onto written words. There's also the idea that reading can increase comprehension, but I think that has more to do with the idea that we often multi-task when listening.

One of my favorite books of all time and definitely one of my favorite serial killer books is My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I originally read this back when it first came out in 2018, and it's stuck with me since. But I did a re-listen to it this week, and I loved Adepero Oduye's take on it.

Abigail F Taylor's first novel, Maryneal 1962, is a powerful mixture of supernatural horror, personal coming-of-age narrative, and sharp social critique. Set