1 Year of Murder Book!
Happy Birthday true crime lovers!
Oh how time flies when you’re talking about murder!
This time last year I was in a flurry of party planning, making life size cartoon cut outs, giving interviews, and feeling so flippin’ excited that the book I’d spent years on was finally out in the world instead of living inside my mind and on the floors of my office.
So what happened in the past year? The answer is, a lot.
WHAT AWESOME SHIT HAPPENED BECAUSE OF THE BOOK
I became friends with Ann Rule’s daughter Leslie!!
I’m sorry to say that I never finished this comic because other work got in the way but I can say that Leslie and I spoke for hours, chatting, laughing and bonding. It was truly incredible to hear stories about her mother. I felt so star struck. She shared with me that Ann herself actually drew comics for her college newspaper, something I never knew. If you haven’t read any of Leslie’s work, she’s a great writer and focuses on GHOSTS.
The co-creator of Forensic Files Facebook messaged me.
Murder Book was shortlisted as the best nonfiction of the year at Bouchercon. You can read last week’s comic about it here.
Georgia Hardstark of My Favorite Murder is fan (ahh!)
I made art for Law & Order’s new season!! Send me to my grave!!
I was on the podcast Seek Treatment which is literally my favorite podcast in the world.
Murder Book was the #1 new book in comics on Amazon for like, a few days!
WHAT I WISH WAS IN THE BOOK
Helen Mirren’s hit series Prime Suspect (1991-2006)
How in the actual fuck did I not know about this show? Who failed me? Is it my mom’s fault? Seems like it, because when I was informed of this show (a month after I’d finished the book and turned it in), I called my mother and said “Have you seen the Hellen Mirren detective show???” And she was like “Ohhh yeah that’s great.” Ummm… what!! Laurie!!? We never watched it together!! Prime Suspect is a literal piece of gold. You’ve got a stunning Helen Mirren (wow) as the first female lead detective in London (wow) fighting against the misogyny in her squad (wow) and serial killers on the loose in Britain (wow). I was astonished by the powerful writing in this series, from how they dealt with the brutal sexism in the workforce, to the crimes themselves, and Helen Mirren’s character’s personal life. If you are like me circa last year and haven’t watched this show, I highly recommend it. Sadly, it appears they’ve removed it from Hulu, but it’s available to rent on Amazon, and it’s very worth the $2, or you can get a free trial of BritBox and binge it!
The case of Lori Vallow
This is one of the most unhinged stories I’ve ever heard in my life and if I were to ever write a sequel to Murder Book it would probably be about the trail of dead bodies Lori left behind in the quest of being Jesus’ bride. I assume you know about Lori Vallow, but if you don’t, just do a basic google search, watch some Dateline, and you’ll be as hooked as America was in the search for her children, who we know now she murdered. As of today, Lori and her conspirator/husband Chad are still sitting in jail after a year—Lori facing a competency hearing possibly this week and Chad pleading not guilty.
Not so many typos
Listen, when you write/draw a book with your literal hands, as in, hand-lettering every single word, there will be mistakes. It doesn’t matter how many copy editors are on the job, you’re always gonna miss something. I got plenty of emails of people pointing out my mistakes in the book and I wanted to respond in screaming emojis. Do I wish there were no mistakes? Sure, of course. But can I do anything about it now? NO.
MY FAVORITE REVIEWS, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Between Amazon and GoodReads there’s a lot of potential panic attacks for authors to be having as they scroll through the reviews section. What I love about Murder Book is how polarizing it’s been with readers. You either love me or you hate me, or you don’t understand why I’m always peeing…
This one REALLY cracks me up because he completely misunderstands my joke about thinking killers are attractive, because if you really understand the book you know that I in no way think killers are attractive.
An explanation of a joke (sigh):
My FAVORITE PAGE!
Well, 2 of them actually. Both about my mother, obviously.
GIVEAWAY + MERCH!
If you haven’t read Murder Book yet and are a kindle person, I just saw that it’s on sale for only .99 cents on Amazon! But also, if you want to enter a giveaway to receive a free signed physical copy of Murder Book along with a notebook and Law & Order stickers, please subscribe to my newsletter and comment below!
(p.s. only US based people can qualify-sorry!)
Don’t forget you can also always order Murder Book Merch like the Ann Rule hat, the Murder Book tote bag and more. Makes a great Christmas present for a fellow murderino!
Thank you for reading! New posts every Friday!
Recently Watched: the new season of Indefensible !!!
Obsessed with: The case of the Last Call Killer
Currently listening to: The Murdaugh Murders Podcast
Order prints and more on Etsy!
Have you read Murder Book? I’d love to hear from you!
I’m a new subscriber, yay! Can’t wait to laugh my A$$ off. Haven’t read Murder Book YET but it’s the next book on my list!
Hooozaaannnnnnah! Congrats, Hilary!