What we’re about
Welcome to the Raleigh/Durham Mystery and True Crime Book Club for Women!
Typically, we meet the 4th Saturday of the month to discuss a mystery (fiction) novel and the 2nd Sunday of every other month to discuss a true crime (non-fiction) book. Members are welcome to attend just one or both of these meetings—your preference!
This is a book club for significantly female-identified people—we use an inclusive definition of “woman” and “female” and we welcome trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who are significantly female-identified.
No-show Policy: After two no-shows in a row, or three no-shows overall, you will be permanently removed from the group. We define a no-show as either not showing at all, or canceling within a three-hour window of the beginning of a meeting. Please be conscientious of the other members and keep your RSVPs up-to-date!
Book Selection: We select our books once a year at planning meetings that are separate from a regular book club meeting. Any group member who wants to attend a planning meeting may do so subject to the location space limitation—we welcome ideas for places to meet, including members homes, as well as suggestions for books and special events at planning meetings.
Discord: Join us on discord! https://discord.gg/vfVFTMMScq
Our list of upcoming book selections and dates (and master list of book selections) can be found here.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Reykjavik: a crime story by Ragnar JonassonBond Brothers Beer Company, Cary, NC
Reykjavik
With over three million copies sold worldwide, Ragnar Jónasson, along with Katrín Jakobsdóttir, brings us a gripping and chilling new thriller, Reykjavík.What happened to Lára?
Iceland, 1956. Fourteen-year-old Lára decides to spend the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík. In early August, the girl disappears without a trace. Time passes, and the mystery becomes Iceland‘s most infamous unsolved case. What happened to the young girl? Is she still alive? Did she leave the island, or did something happen to her there?
Thirty years later, as the city of Reykjavík celebrates its 200th anniversary, journalist Valur Robertsson begins his own investigation into Lára's case. But as he draws closer to discovering the secret, and with the eyes of Reykjavík upon him, it soon becomes clear that Lára's disappearance is a mystery that someone will stop at nothing to keep unsolved . . .
- The Bird Watcher by William ShawNeeds location
Mystery for October is The Bird Watcher by William Shaw.
From Amazon: "A methodical, diligent, and exceptionally bright detective, South is an avid birdwatcher and trusted figure in his small town on the rugged Kentish coast. He also lives with the deeply buried secret that, as a child in Northern Ireland, he may have killed a man. When a fellow birdwatcher is found murdered in his remote home, South's world flips.
The culprit seems to be a drifter from South's childhood; the victim was the only person connecting South to his early crime; and a troubled, vivacious new female sergeant has been relocated from London and assigned to work with South. As our hero investigates, he must work ever-harder to keep his own connections to the victim, and his past, a secret.
The Birdwatcher is British crime fiction at its finest; a stirring portrait of flawed, vulnerable investigators; a meticulously constructed mystery; and a primal story of fear, loyalty and vengeance." - Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida [true crime]Needs location
November true crime is Guilty Creatures.
From Amazon:
Mike and Denise Williams had a tight knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while hunting on Lake Seminole.
After no body was found, everyone assumed that Mike had drowned in a tragic accident, his body eaten by alligators. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mike’s disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising romance set tongues talking. People began wondering how long they had been a couple, and whether they had anything to do with Mike’s death. It took another twelve years for the truth to come out—and when it did, it was unimaginable.
Now, the full, “richly atmospheric, deeply researched, and terrifying true crime” (Betsy Bonner, author of Round Lake) tale is revealed as never before. Through tenacious research and clear-eyed prose, Guilty Creatures probes the psychology of a couple who killed and explores how it feels to live for eighteen years with murder on the soul.This is also now a Netflix documentary "Mr. and Mrs. Murder" if you don't have time to read the book.
- Bluebird, bluebird by Attica LockeNeeds location
Mystery for November is Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke.
From Amazon:
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules -- a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.
When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders -- a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman -- have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes -- and save himself in the process -- before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. From a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire, Bluebird, Bluebird is a rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas.
