Roach has worked in the Spines bookstore branch in Walthamstow, outside London, her entire adult life, but her real passion is true crime. She has purple hair and a pet snail called Bleep. Roach lives above her mother’s pub and disdains the people she calls “normies,” especially when they’re sipping on pumpkin spice lattes.
But when Laura Bunting arrives at the bookstore, Roach’s interest is piqued. Laura wears vintage dresses and her berets often match her shoes. She is relentlessly cheerful with customers and is a whiz at marketing. But she also writes poetry—about crime victims.
Laura has been reunited with her old friend Sharona, now the store manager, and Eli, an old flame who’s now involved with another woman. Roach tags along to their after-work pub parties. She strives to befriend Laura, but the other woman is repulsed by her. Even Roach’s obsession with Laura’s poetry fails to sway her.
Slowly, the situation escalates. We know from the outset that, by the new year, Laura will be “gone” and Roach will blame herself for whatever happened. But what will happen? The tension is unbearable at times. Roach insinuates herself into Laura’s life. The description “crossing boundaries” doesn’t even begin to describe her behavior.
Laura, meanwhile, is not the perfect, bouncy blonde bookseller she appears to be. She has a drinking problem, and is concealing a dark secret, one that has tragically informed her life. She knows she is spiraling out of control, but is not quite aware of Roach’s role in the unraveling until it’s too late.
At times I felt that I needed to escape Death of a Bookseller before I reached the end at page 368. Roach is that creepy. But I enjoyed the details of bookstore life, the compelling storyline, the undertone of dark humor and the often lyrical writing. Truth be told, I won’t forget Roach, or Laura, anytime soon.
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