Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

This dark as ink tome covers several trending topics such as small bookstores closing due to online and big box chains, true crime everywhere in books, tv and podcasts and obsessive friendships and/or love interests. This debut novel does all this in a remarkably fresh voice. Roach works at a London struggling bookstore which she uses to her full advantage to get in unlimited free reading material of true crime books. The home office sends in a team to revamp the store for one last hurrah including one perky, no nonsense Laura who charms everyone even the polar opposite goth Roach. Almost from the beginning Laura is borderline openly hostile to Roach which only makes Roach want to win her over even more. What starts out as curiosity is now becoming an obsession not only with Laura herself but with what Roach feels is a shared love of true crime. This sets Roach on a true crime journey of her own with a beautifully murky ending. Frightening and violent this is just the ticket for true crime aficionados, rabid fans of Caroline Kepnes YOU and stories of toxic relationships.   4 stars