Love Letters to a Serial Killer

Starred review from April 1, 2024

DEBUT As for many millennial women, being comfortably middle class and in a happy, committed relationship seems painfully out of reach to Hannah. After a breakup, she finds herself drawn to true crime. She becomes obsessed with the murders of four women in Atlanta, and when a suspect is put on trial for the crimes, she becomes obsessed with him as well. While he is in jail, she writes him letters. What starts out as venting her disdain for him becomes an exchange of personal reflections that turn amorous. When William is unexpectedly acquitted, their romance escalates. But Hannah is not sure that William is innocent--and she's also not sure if she cares. Coryell's engrossing bent comedy isn't afraid to delve into scathing and frank analyses of modern dating culture, American classism, and serial killer fixation, while still being a thrilling read with twists throughout. Hannah is a forthcoming narrator with very real flaws, and the often-relatable motives behind her questionable choices are part of what will keep readers glued to the novel. VERDICT Witty, shocking, and wild, this is a must-have mystery.--Joanna Harris

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2024
Poet Coryell’s impressive mystery debut chronicles a young woman’s budding obsession with an accused killer. After Hannah’s quest for a promotion at her Minneapolis nonprofit job stalls and her boyfriend ghosts her, she finds solace and kinship in an online true crime forum focused on identifying the culprit who murdered four women near Atlanta. When handsome young lawyer William Thompson is arrested and charged with the crimes, Hannah begins writing angry letters to him while he awaits trial behind bars. When William unexpectedly responds, their communication turns flirtatious. Before long, Hannah agrees to be his girlfriend, and becomes so consumed by their exchanges that she’s fired from her job. She decides to go to Atlanta to watch William’s trial, bonding with fellow “serial killer groupies” in the process. When another body is found during the trial in the same ravine where the other women were discovered, William is swiftly acquitted, and Hannah moves in with him, gradually growing accustomed to his moneyed lifestyle. All the while, however, she’s nagged by doubts about her new beau’s acquittal, and begins looking for incriminating clues. Coryell expertly renders her protagonist’s uneasy perch between love and suspicion, keeping readers as in the dark as Hannah is about William’s true nature until the very end. This is un-put-downable. Agent: Katie Greenstreet, Paper Literary.

May 1, 2024
Facing an unfulfilling life and being ghosted by the other in her recent situationship, thirtysomething Hannah decides that she is going to join a true-crime forum and solve the recent murders of four women in Atlanta. Hannah lets the obsession go too far--to the detriment of her career and friendships--when she falls in love with William, the man accused of the murders, through a series of letters. How can loving him be wrong when he makes her feel so special? In her debut thriller, Coryell takes us through a series of events that make readers constantly question Hannah's sanity and reasoning all the way through to the predictable twist and abrupt ending. Hannah is a delusional yet somewhat relatable character, one who justifies being with William, who might kill her, by continuing to look for evidence of his guilt or innocence. This novel is a quick, lighthearted, and possibly satirical murder mystery where you must like the unlikeable characters and suspend disbelief to get through it and enjoy it to its end.

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