- Length: 503 pages
- Genre: True crime
- Overall volume of words you don’t hear every day: light/ moderate
- My rating: 3 out of 5
The Book
Last night, I finished reading Beverly Lowry’s true crime book on the 1991 yogurt shop murders in Austin, Texas, Who Killed These Girls?
Not having been familiar with the case prior to picking up this book, I have to say Lowry did a great job of explaining all its ins and outs.
If you’re not familiar either, this case surrounds the murder of four teenage girls that took place in a yogurt shop, which was subsequently set on fire. Although there were a number of confessions— and even convictions, which were eventually overturned— ultimately, no one has ever been brought to justice and we may never know who’s responsible.
My Critique
Overall, I think this book was pretty well-researched, and I appreciated the writing style; it reads almost like a novel, and I love that in a true crime book. (Nothing drives me crazier than authors who overuse footnotes and include unnecessary details.)
The author really takes her time to describe the scene of the murders, the investigation that took place afterwards, and the eventual court cases that resulted… and that’s great.
But, given the general consensus that the men who’d originally been convicted likely aren’t the killers, I do wish that Lowry had gone a bit further to explain how and why the suspected real culprits are believed to be responsible. To me, that was the most interesting part of the book, but it was also the shortest.
Other than that, this was a great read, and I can certainly see myself reading other true crime books from Lowry in the future.
Leave a comment below if you read this title, and let me know what you thought!
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