To a large degree, I found myself in this book. Except, of course, that I’m not a woman.
But I am very much “in touch with my feminine side,” and might actually be a “feminist.”
In Murder Book, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell chronicles the history of her obsession with true crime, and pretty much blames it all on her mother.
I have developed a similar obsession, but can’t blame my mother at all. I actually blame our oldest daughter, because she’s the one who introduced us to My Favorite Murder, a few years ago.
Hilary, in delightful graphic novel form, takes us from the beginning of her true crime obsession, all the way back to her days of watching Law and Order with her mom. I understand that Law and Order, and shows like it, such as CSI, NCIS, and Criminal Minds, are not “true crime.” However, they frequently use true crimes as bases for their episodes.
Hilary evolved from Law and Order to shows like Forensic Files, which, she claims, is always on somewhere. The craze, itself, has blossomed into a veritable plethora of media, though, from those TV shows to Netflix original movies and miniseries, to the inevitable Podcast, which is where Karen and Georgia come in, with My Favorite Murder. My wife and I (and that aforementioned oldest daughter) have seen Karen and Georgia live, by the way, in Dallas. It was quite a show.
Hilary’s obsession actually began with the Zodiac. Her mother lived through that era, along with all the other serial killers in the late sixties and early seventies. I, myself, do not remember the Zodiac murders, but I do remember being terrified of Charles Manson and his “family.” Anyway, she got obsessed with Zodiac, and it simply grew from there.
So the book pretty much starts out with Zodiac, then goes into movies and TV shows that were based on true crime cases. After that, she discusses Ted Bundy and, of course, many peoples’ true crime hero, Ann Rule, who wrote The Stranger Beside Me, because she actually worked right next to Ted Bundy and thought that he was a really nice guy and that they must have been mistaken when all the evidence pointed to him.
Then there is a section about Anne Marie Fahey, about whom I had never heard before reading this book. She was another victim who disappeared in the late nineties. Actually, that section began by discussing podcasts, of which Serial seems to be the groundbreaker in the true crime arena. Karen and Georgia came along and pretty much normalized the true crime podcast with My Favorite Murder.
I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel memoir and would recommend it to anyone who has found themselves mesmerized by this craze of true crime that has struck us in the past decade or so.
TTFN, y’all!
The Constant Reader 