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Bury Me Deep
In October 1931, a station agent found two large trunks abandoned in L.A.'s Union Station. What he found inside ignited one of the most scandalous tabloid sensations of the decade.
Inspired by this notorious true crime, Bury Me Deep is the story of Marion Seeley, a young woman abandoned in Phoenix by her husband. At the medical clinic where she finds a job, Marion becomes fast friends with Louise, a vivacious nurse, and her roommate, Ginny. Before long, the demure Marion is swept up in the exuberant life of the girls, who supplement their scant income by entertaining the town's most poweful men with wild parties. At one of these events, Marion meets the charming Joe Lanigan, a local rogue and politician on the rise, whose ties to all three women bring events to a dramatic and deadly collision.
Inspired by this notorious true crime, Bury Me Deep is the story of Marion Seeley, a young woman abandoned in Phoenix by her husband. At the medical clinic where she finds a job, Marion becomes fast friends with Louise, a vivacious nurse, and her roommate, Ginny. Before long, the demure Marion is swept up in the exuberant life of the girls, who supplement their scant income by entertaining the town's most poweful men with wild parties. At one of these events, Marion meets the charming Joe Lanigan, a local rogue and politician on the rise, whose ties to all three women bring events to a dramatic and deadly collision.
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2009
60 people are currently reading
4701 people want to read
About the author
Megan Abbott
62 books6,326 followersMegan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Die a Little, Queenpin, The Song Is You, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, The Fever, You Will Know Me and Give Me Your Hand.
Abbott is co-showrunner, writer and executive producer of DARE ME, the TV show adapated from her novel. She was also a staff writer on HBO's THE DEUCE. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, SUNY and the New School University and has served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at The University of Mississippi.
She is also the author of a nonfiction book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She is currently developing two of her novels, Dare Me and The Fever, for television.
Abbott is co-showrunner, writer and executive producer of DARE ME, the TV show adapated from her novel. She was also a staff writer on HBO's THE DEUCE. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, SUNY and the New School University and has served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at The University of Mississippi.
She is also the author of a nonfiction book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She is currently developing two of her novels, Dare Me and The Fever, for television.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 247 reviews
June 7, 2012
Marion Seeley is left in Phoenix by her doctor husband as he goes to Mexico to kick his smack habit. Marion gets a job at a hospital and falls in with two other nurses, Ginny and Louise, and soon falls under the spell of a friend of theirs, Joe Lanigan. But Joe's intentions are anything but honorable.
First of all, I love Megan Abbott's writing. She's like James Ellroy only not so exhausting, and her noir books could easily be made into 1930's era films. However...
... I've read three of her books and Bury Me Deep was easily the least enjoyable. It's only 225 pages but not a lot happens until the last 70-80. Sure, things really break loose after that but until then, the book moves about as quickly as a snail under the influence of Nyquil.
That being said, it's not a bad book. Megan Abbott's writing shines and the relationship between Lanigan and Mrs. Seeley was pretty well done. I was as taken in by Lanigan's sob story as Marion was. When things started coming unglued, I couldn't put it down. Too bad the rest of the book was so well-glued.
Seriously, if the rest of the book had been as good as the last 70-80 pages, this would be nearing five territory. Like I said before, the glacial pace really wrecked things for me. Marion wasn't all that interesting either, for that matter.
In conclusion, it's not a bad book but it's definitely not Abbott's best. It's a solid 3 though.
First of all, I love Megan Abbott's writing. She's like James Ellroy only not so exhausting, and her noir books could easily be made into 1930's era films. However...
... I've read three of her books and Bury Me Deep was easily the least enjoyable. It's only 225 pages but not a lot happens until the last 70-80. Sure, things really break loose after that but until then, the book moves about as quickly as a snail under the influence of Nyquil.
That being said, it's not a bad book. Megan Abbott's writing shines and the relationship between Lanigan and Mrs. Seeley was pretty well done. I was as taken in by Lanigan's sob story as Marion was. When things started coming unglued, I couldn't put it down. Too bad the rest of the book was so well-glued.
Seriously, if the rest of the book had been as good as the last 70-80 pages, this would be nearing five territory. Like I said before, the glacial pace really wrecked things for me. Marion wasn't all that interesting either, for that matter.
In conclusion, it's not a bad book but it's definitely not Abbott's best. It's a solid 3 though.
February 17, 2020
In Bury Me Deep, Megan Abbott reimagines the true story of Winnie Judd, the infamous 1931 "Trunk Murderess" of Phoenix, Arizona. Judd was accused of murdering two of her female friends in a dispute over the affections of a local business man and philanderer who had befriended all three women. Judd then allegedly transported the bodies by train from Phoenix to Los Angeles. She was originally convicted for committing one of the murders and sentenced to death, but the death sentence was vacated after Judd was determined to be mentally insane, and she was committed to a state mental hospital. She escaped several times from the hospital and was ultimately paroled.
In Abbott's fictional account, an attractive young woman named Marion Seeley, the naive daughter of a minister from Michigan, has married a doctor several years her senior. The doctor turns out to be a drug addict and loses his license to practice. He is forced to take a job working for a mining company in Mexico, where having a license is not critical to his employment. While there, he will attempt to kick his drug habit and, in the meantime, he leaves Marion alone in a desert community that is never identified but which we assume to be the Phoenix of 1931.
Marion gets a job at a medical clinic and is befriended by two party girls, one of whom is a nurse at the clinic where Marion works. Marion soon falls under the influence of the women who supplement their income by entertaining local businessmen. The attractive young Marion is seduced by a local civic leader, a philanderer named Joe Lanigan, and her life rapidly disintegrates. Marion ultimately gets into a terrible fight about Joe with her two friends, Louise and Ginny. A tragic accident is compounded by a vicious murder, and Marion finds herself in a hopeless predicament from which there would appear to be no recovery.
This is not a crime novel in the usual sense, although there are plenty of crimes committed during the course of the story. The characters, Marion in particular, are extremely well-drawn, and the reader watches in horror as her innocence is taken and her life is destroyed. It takes a while for the story to gather momentum, but once it does, it moves like a runaway train. The reader understands that the train is about to go over a very high cliff, but you can't look away from the carnage that will result. This is, ultimately, a gripping story set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, in a world where attractive young women are often simply the playthings of wealthy and powerful men--a very good read.
In Abbott's fictional account, an attractive young woman named Marion Seeley, the naive daughter of a minister from Michigan, has married a doctor several years her senior. The doctor turns out to be a drug addict and loses his license to practice. He is forced to take a job working for a mining company in Mexico, where having a license is not critical to his employment. While there, he will attempt to kick his drug habit and, in the meantime, he leaves Marion alone in a desert community that is never identified but which we assume to be the Phoenix of 1931.
Marion gets a job at a medical clinic and is befriended by two party girls, one of whom is a nurse at the clinic where Marion works. Marion soon falls under the influence of the women who supplement their income by entertaining local businessmen. The attractive young Marion is seduced by a local civic leader, a philanderer named Joe Lanigan, and her life rapidly disintegrates. Marion ultimately gets into a terrible fight about Joe with her two friends, Louise and Ginny. A tragic accident is compounded by a vicious murder, and Marion finds herself in a hopeless predicament from which there would appear to be no recovery.
This is not a crime novel in the usual sense, although there are plenty of crimes committed during the course of the story. The characters, Marion in particular, are extremely well-drawn, and the reader watches in horror as her innocence is taken and her life is destroyed. It takes a while for the story to gather momentum, but once it does, it moves like a runaway train. The reader understands that the train is about to go over a very high cliff, but you can't look away from the carnage that will result. This is, ultimately, a gripping story set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, in a world where attractive young women are often simply the playthings of wealthy and powerful men--a very good read.
March 29, 2017
It’s a real pity that Megan Abbott wasn’t pitching stories on the Warner Brothers lot in the Thirties or Forties, as she could have created numerous great vehicles for a Bette Davis or a Joan Crawford. With her there we could easily have had a dozen Mildred Pierces.
Tough, edgy, but with enough melodrama to supply material for a woman’s picture, ‘Bury Me Deep’ is an excellent crime throwback to the depression. It’s Arizona 1931 and a receptionist, whose husband has left temporarily on a foreign tour, is thrown together with a voluptuous nurse and her TB suffering roommate and wild times begin. One of the main things I enjoyed about this book is how the genteel prudishness of the times is gradually dismantled. Mrs Seeley is initially shocked by the loucheness of this new world she’s entered, but over time accepts it and becomes part of it, until it's clear that – no matter how pristine her outer veneer – she’s always been somewhat aware of the seamier parts of life. Furthermore, as she realises that she is standing on a fault line which could open at any moment, we see that all this book’s characters are in exactly the same predicament. Such is the painted-on nature of their respectability that the world could drop from their feet in an instant.
This is an excellent tale of thwarted and twisted passions, which really does capture the period. The appendix gives details of the real life case which inspired it (“Ruth Judd – The Trunk Murderess”; I’d never heard of it, but it might be better known the other side of the Atlantic), and it is interesting to see how the book deviates from the reality of the case. But even without that information, the book stands high as a really fine melodramatic thriller.
Tough, edgy, but with enough melodrama to supply material for a woman’s picture, ‘Bury Me Deep’ is an excellent crime throwback to the depression. It’s Arizona 1931 and a receptionist, whose husband has left temporarily on a foreign tour, is thrown together with a voluptuous nurse and her TB suffering roommate and wild times begin. One of the main things I enjoyed about this book is how the genteel prudishness of the times is gradually dismantled. Mrs Seeley is initially shocked by the loucheness of this new world she’s entered, but over time accepts it and becomes part of it, until it's clear that – no matter how pristine her outer veneer – she’s always been somewhat aware of the seamier parts of life. Furthermore, as she realises that she is standing on a fault line which could open at any moment, we see that all this book’s characters are in exactly the same predicament. Such is the painted-on nature of their respectability that the world could drop from their feet in an instant.
This is an excellent tale of thwarted and twisted passions, which really does capture the period. The appendix gives details of the real life case which inspired it (“Ruth Judd – The Trunk Murderess”; I’d never heard of it, but it might be better known the other side of the Atlantic), and it is interesting to see how the book deviates from the reality of the case. But even without that information, the book stands high as a really fine melodramatic thriller.
May 25, 2023
06/2022
A novel retelling a notorious true crime occurrence from 1930 (though changing the names and filling in the unknowns). I appreciated the lovely writing and especially the many details of life in 1930.
A novel retelling a notorious true crime occurrence from 1930 (though changing the names and filling in the unknowns). I appreciated the lovely writing and especially the many details of life in 1930.
January 3, 2013
I think my feelings towards the work of Megan Abbott have been made pretty clear in the past, but in filling this gap in my reading I feel exhausted and disappointed. Generally I can't praise her or her noir writing skills enough but today I don't have a huge amount of pleasant things on my mind.
This is the reimagining of a true story, 1931's Trunk Murderess case, it seems perfect for an Abbott noir and she does so much right with it. The tale of Mrs Seeley, abandoned by her drug-addicted doctor husband whilst he takes work in Mexico, adopted by a pair of high spirited women out for a good time, seduced to her ruin by a smooth talking lothario, is a sad and depressing one.
With her debut novel Die a Little things moved quite slowly as the scene was set but once this was achieved the novel became an addictive page turner, but in this instance that same slow paced writing style is used but with the handbrake on. This book just didn't want to be going anywhere, focussing on the slow fall from grace and the disintegration of Mrs Seeley before rushing through the inevitable crime and cover up.
As always the research shines through, Abbott provides a real sense of time and place with her many descriptions and asides, casually dropping in song lyrics and consumables but this time that was not backed up with a tale of an interesting character, just a portrait of a naive woman led astray by weak men.
This is the reimagining of a true story, 1931's Trunk Murderess case, it seems perfect for an Abbott noir and she does so much right with it. The tale of Mrs Seeley, abandoned by her drug-addicted doctor husband whilst he takes work in Mexico, adopted by a pair of high spirited women out for a good time, seduced to her ruin by a smooth talking lothario, is a sad and depressing one.
With her debut novel Die a Little things moved quite slowly as the scene was set but once this was achieved the novel became an addictive page turner, but in this instance that same slow paced writing style is used but with the handbrake on. This book just didn't want to be going anywhere, focussing on the slow fall from grace and the disintegration of Mrs Seeley before rushing through the inevitable crime and cover up.
As always the research shines through, Abbott provides a real sense of time and place with her many descriptions and asides, casually dropping in song lyrics and consumables but this time that was not backed up with a tale of an interesting character, just a portrait of a naive woman led astray by weak men.
December 23, 2024
Megan Abbott takes on the 1930s as only she can in this noir-steeped tale of an innocent young lady, new to town, who gets turned OUT by the strangers populating her budding world...
And then the bloody mayhem begins.
SA-WEEEEEEEET!!!
3 1/2 Shadow-Shrinking Stars
And then the bloody mayhem begins.
SA-WEEEEEEEET!!!
3 1/2 Shadow-Shrinking Stars
January 4, 2015
I'm in love with Megan Abbott's writing.
December 17, 2018
I am always surprised when I go to review one of Megan Abbott's books and they have an average rating in the mid-threes. I'm like, really?
She is a favorite, whom I lump in with other favorites like Ron Rash, Shirley Jackson, William Gay, etc.
From reading some other reviews, I now know that this story was loosely based on a real story, and as far as Megan Abbott's books go, one of my favorites.
Part murder mystery, part subtle psychological thriller, Bury Me Deep felt like a story I'd seen before, yet still fresh and engaging, and with nicely plotted twists. She did a marvelous job of laying the groundwork. The characters and setting were also perfect and perfectly rendered.
A few reviews I read mentioned this was a little slow, at least in the beginning. Either I didn't notice or didn't care. The writing itself is top notch as well.
If I hadn't previously purchased all of her books, (something I tend to do with authors who impress me) I would've certainly done so after reading this, and I think that is the highest praise I can give to a book.
Oh, and the cover art is phenomenal.
She is a favorite, whom I lump in with other favorites like Ron Rash, Shirley Jackson, William Gay, etc.
From reading some other reviews, I now know that this story was loosely based on a real story, and as far as Megan Abbott's books go, one of my favorites.
Part murder mystery, part subtle psychological thriller, Bury Me Deep felt like a story I'd seen before, yet still fresh and engaging, and with nicely plotted twists. She did a marvelous job of laying the groundwork. The characters and setting were also perfect and perfectly rendered.
A few reviews I read mentioned this was a little slow, at least in the beginning. Either I didn't notice or didn't care. The writing itself is top notch as well.
If I hadn't previously purchased all of her books, (something I tend to do with authors who impress me) I would've certainly done so after reading this, and I think that is the highest praise I can give to a book.
Oh, and the cover art is phenomenal.
April 29, 2015
Another dark tale about a woman who invites abuse and darkness into her life. Evil men, immoral women, etc. She murders one of her true friends and her abusive lover murders the other. Dismal, hopeless.
July 12, 2010
Choice noir from one of my favorite authors in the genre but is much more in a literary vein. Bleak but then 1931 was a bleak time. The prose is powerful and to my tastes.
September 6, 2016
Salacious. Dirty. Hardboiled. Sauciest book I've ever read, but it was fun. I blushed and had to put the book down several times.
November 12, 2022
Another book for Noirvember and, yet again, another book that it's about time I got around to reading. I've spent a handful of times looking for the murder house in central Phoenix that this novel is based on. I've heard it's still standing, and I've heard it's been replaced by a modern office building. As for the book itself, it's probably best enjoyed by people familiar with the real Winnie Ruth Judd story behind it. Megan Abbott puts a ton of research into her historical novels, from the songs one would have heard then to the type of candy one would have filched from the drug store. All of that makes for an absorbing read. At the same time it might make some readers impatient for the plot to move within all the details. I know that I had started this novel a few times in the past only to put it down after 2o or so pages looking for something else that moved a bit faster. Patience is rewarded. By the time the relationships between Marion (the Winnie Ruth Judd figure) and her two friends Ginny and Louise are exposed I was hooked. The prose has a dreamlike quality which is another thing I liked. The sharp edges are hidden until things fall apart. And, in the true spirit of noir, we have a protagonist who makes choices she knows will only bring misery. The men in this story are all predatory and self serving. An old friend of mine joked about going into a famous steakhouse in Phoenix and still smelling the brimstone in its red velvet walls, remnants of shadowy men of power and influence buried within the old smells of hair tonic, cigars and broiled steaks. The city in this novel is a den of wolves who wield sharp knives. Among them, our gal Marion had no chance.
January 23, 2013
After reading Queenpin and this one, I'm a lovestruck fan of Megan Abbott. Super entertaining, provocative, dark, sweet . . . massively sexy about stuff that if she spelled it out in detail, I'd just be like BARFORAMA! but instead she just makes you feel the all-consuming bigness of wanting someone or something to just obliterate everything else so you'd do absolutely anything for them or it. Abbott knows how to mention the unmentionable as just . . . unmentionable so you get the feeling of out-of-control need and shame. Your imagination fills in the blanks. I appreciate having that opportunity (though I'd also love a graphic cartoon version of these books to jerk off to).
March 18, 2010
Period noir based on a true story, with style to spare, and a powerful statement about gender iniquities one rarely finds in crime/noir fiction. Very well done.
September 15, 2018
Based on events involving the true crime "Trunk Murderess" case of 1931, Bury Me Deep started out as a slow burn (and I mean, slooooow) for the first 60 pages. In fact, I considered chucking the novel back on the shelf, but once murder and mayhem ensued I was hooked. Megan Abbott has an unusual style of writing, almost stream of conscious coupled with an ethereal prose style that gives the narrative a dreamlike quality. Mixing fact with fiction gives this slim read (231 pages) an interesting take on the "what if" and "could've been" perspective. Definitely worth a try if you enjoy vintage crime.
February 28, 2018
Beautifully written, absorbing, disturbing and thought provoking. The author's note at the end explaining the details of the historical case on which it was based was fascinating. We will never know what really happened and whose fault it truly was (if, indeed, it was only one person's fault).
October 2, 2022
I could not put it down! Abbott has a wonderful connection with the vernacular of the time and this time is 1930. Marion Seeley, Mrs., has been left at a small boarding house by her husband. Will he ever return? How will Marion pass the time without going stir crazy? Can the friends withstand so much of so very much? Very good!
Based on a true story of dissected bodies found in a trunk in A California train station.
Based on a true story of dissected bodies found in a trunk in A California train station.
December 24, 2017
I loved this! It was so crazy and pulpy and dripping with drama and depravity and awesome atmosphere. The writing is hyper stylized to the point where I can see a reader being turned off by the gimmickry but for me the prose was so artful and vivid that I loved drinking it in. Abbott creates a very dark and seedy world but I loved inhabiting it to read this twisted tale. The characters are as colorful as the plot is thrilling and disturbing.
December 26, 2013
Oh Wikipedia you are a gift to the world, without you I never would have learned of Winnie Ruth Judd and the notorious trunk murders. How I stared at that dismembered leg in horror. Thank you Megan Abbott for going in your way back machine and bringing the world this clusterfuck of intrigue, murder, illicit sex, lesbianism and dope addiction.
Marion Seeley has been burdened with a husband who can’t keep a job due to his morphine addiction. His latest attempt at a livelihood and sobriety is taking a doctors post in Mexico for a mining company. He finds her a job at a TB clinic and leaves her in a small southwest town to fend on her own until he can make enough scratch to start over again.
Marion becomes fast friends with Louise and her roommate Ginny. The girls begin to corrupt the young ministers daughter with parties, hooch and men, well one man really. His name is Joe or Gent Joe as the girls call him, and he’s the town big shot. He’s also a deceitful lech and master manipulator. Since he’s the owner of a chain of drug stores he does big business at the clinic where Marion works, and that’s his main hunting ground. Joe zeroes in on Marion, sizes her up and chases her accordingly. Of course Marion falls for it, and she learns the things her junkie of a husband never taught her about sex.
It all goes wrong when Joe moves on to newer and younger conquests. While Louise and Ginny depended on Joe for money by being his personal pimps he now has Marion to do his dirty work. This causes an epic fight that results in murder with Marion left to take the fall.
Murder, sex, abuse of pharmaceuticals, hooch, slangy dialogue, sin, infidelity, philandering husbands oh my! This is a wonderful noir of a book that would have made a great film in the late 30s and early 40s. Someone should make this book into a film but style it in an old timey way.
Marion Seeley has been burdened with a husband who can’t keep a job due to his morphine addiction. His latest attempt at a livelihood and sobriety is taking a doctors post in Mexico for a mining company. He finds her a job at a TB clinic and leaves her in a small southwest town to fend on her own until he can make enough scratch to start over again.
Marion becomes fast friends with Louise and her roommate Ginny. The girls begin to corrupt the young ministers daughter with parties, hooch and men, well one man really. His name is Joe or Gent Joe as the girls call him, and he’s the town big shot. He’s also a deceitful lech and master manipulator. Since he’s the owner of a chain of drug stores he does big business at the clinic where Marion works, and that’s his main hunting ground. Joe zeroes in on Marion, sizes her up and chases her accordingly. Of course Marion falls for it, and she learns the things her junkie of a husband never taught her about sex.
It all goes wrong when Joe moves on to newer and younger conquests. While Louise and Ginny depended on Joe for money by being his personal pimps he now has Marion to do his dirty work. This causes an epic fight that results in murder with Marion left to take the fall.
Murder, sex, abuse of pharmaceuticals, hooch, slangy dialogue, sin, infidelity, philandering husbands oh my! This is a wonderful noir of a book that would have made a great film in the late 30s and early 40s. Someone should make this book into a film but style it in an old timey way.
October 21, 2012
BURY ME DEEP, Megan Abbott
2009, noir, historical, based on true crime. Nice young woman in 1931 Phoenix abbandoned by her husband, falls in with a wild crowd' once awakened to the good times possible she enjoys herself rather a lot, but eventually must pay for it - and she's not the only one.
Minister's daughter, young and innocent Marion Seeley has gone and married herself a rotter, a drug addict who drags her down with him as he slowly loses control over his desires. Attempting one last chance to "make things right", her doctor husband accepts a job in Mexico and parks his genteel ("too good for me!") and compliant little wifey in a crummy-but-respectable lodging house in Phoenix where she will also work, and save, so that when he returns in a year or two he will (hopefully) be clean and sober, and they each will have saved some money to start their lives anew. At the clinic where she becomes a transcriptionist, lonely Marion meets up with nurse Louise, wild and wonderful, exotic and seductive, and the die is cast... full review at Reviewing the Evidence:
http://reviewingtheevidence.com/revie...
2009, noir, historical, based on true crime. Nice young woman in 1931 Phoenix abbandoned by her husband, falls in with a wild crowd' once awakened to the good times possible she enjoys herself rather a lot, but eventually must pay for it - and she's not the only one.
Minister's daughter, young and innocent Marion Seeley has gone and married herself a rotter, a drug addict who drags her down with him as he slowly loses control over his desires. Attempting one last chance to "make things right", her doctor husband accepts a job in Mexico and parks his genteel ("too good for me!") and compliant little wifey in a crummy-but-respectable lodging house in Phoenix where she will also work, and save, so that when he returns in a year or two he will (hopefully) be clean and sober, and they each will have saved some money to start their lives anew. At the clinic where she becomes a transcriptionist, lonely Marion meets up with nurse Louise, wild and wonderful, exotic and seductive, and the die is cast... full review at Reviewing the Evidence:
http://reviewingtheevidence.com/revie...
July 11, 2011
Abbott's prose is well worth your time. It most reminded me of Shirley Jackson's _The Haunting of Hill House_, honestly. When I mentioned this on Twitter, Abbott replied that she LOVES Jackson's work, and it was a big influence on her. I don't mind when people's influences show, not when they are lovingly borrowing with the skill Abbott displays here.
The story is a typical noir-crime, with drugs and affairs and lesbians and corrupt officials. Yet it's *how* the story is told that is compelling. The narrator, Marion, is unreliable, yet we-the-reader are wise to what's going down. Or so we think. There are a couple of reveals at the end that I could see were probably coming, yet I was still pleasantly surprised at how they came out.
Avoid if noir isn't your thing or if you insist on a reliable narrator.
Read if you like lush prose with lots of clauses, if you want to know how a good-but-willfully-ignorant person can fall so hard, if you always wondered if you would break or rise to the horrible occasion, or if you are craving more female points of view in your noir.
The story is a typical noir-crime, with drugs and affairs and lesbians and corrupt officials. Yet it's *how* the story is told that is compelling. The narrator, Marion, is unreliable, yet we-the-reader are wise to what's going down. Or so we think. There are a couple of reveals at the end that I could see were probably coming, yet I was still pleasantly surprised at how they came out.
Avoid if noir isn't your thing or if you insist on a reliable narrator.
Read if you like lush prose with lots of clauses, if you want to know how a good-but-willfully-ignorant person can fall so hard, if you always wondered if you would break or rise to the horrible occasion, or if you are craving more female points of view in your noir.
July 23, 2010
Fictionalized story based on Winnie Ruth Judd, who was convicted of murdering two women in 1931, and who was nearly hanged for it. Abbott reimagines the story, as if things turned out a bit differently.
In 1931, Marion Seeley is left in Phoenix while her heroin-addict doctor husband is working in Mexico. While working in a clinic, she falls under the influence of two co-workers who are little more than prostitutes who entertain some the town leaders. Seeley is very innocent, almost too innocent, and she falls for a pharmacy owner, and falls into sin. This, and what happens next, parallels the Judd story, but what happens in the second half does not.
Abbott tells the story well, though perhaps Marion Seeley seems a bit too much the naif; but then again it is 1931. The book is short, a very fast read, and Abbott does portray the characters well.
In 1931, Marion Seeley is left in Phoenix while her heroin-addict doctor husband is working in Mexico. While working in a clinic, she falls under the influence of two co-workers who are little more than prostitutes who entertain some the town leaders. Seeley is very innocent, almost too innocent, and she falls for a pharmacy owner, and falls into sin. This, and what happens next, parallels the Judd story, but what happens in the second half does not.
Abbott tells the story well, though perhaps Marion Seeley seems a bit too much the naif; but then again it is 1931. The book is short, a very fast read, and Abbott does portray the characters well.
January 13, 2012
Holy god, I loved this book. Abbott did a great job of making me care about her protagonist, which when one considers what she does over the course of the novel, is no small feat. It read like sex in a back alley feels - fun, dangerous, exciting, scary.
December 24, 2018
This never got off the ground for me: clunky writing, dialogue and boring characters I didn't care about. It also seemed quite long for a short book.
April 19, 2023
It's been close to a decade since I last read this book. I even wrote an essay praising Abbott back in 2017, which you can find here:
https://themillions.com/2011/07/megan...
But after Trump and the pandemic, somehow this novel hasn't held up as well on a reread, although it is still tremendously compelling. It skillfully uses nostalgia, as well as the real-life case of Winnie Ruth Judd, but I think that Abbott has subsequently displayed more visceral grit as a writer.
I still stand by my great admiration for Abbott's eccentric sentences -- somewhere between loving homage to 20th century pulp and staccato pith -- although, based on what we've seen from Abbott's later novels (with their keen fixation on girl groups such as cheerleading and hockey), I think (of the early novels at least) that I now greatly prefer the visceral power of QUEENPIN to BURY ME DEEP these days. It was a better indicator of where Abbott was heading.
You can't quibble too much with the momentum of this book, but I wish the relationships between the women were fiercer (even though this is ultimately about murder).
https://themillions.com/2011/07/megan...
But after Trump and the pandemic, somehow this novel hasn't held up as well on a reread, although it is still tremendously compelling. It skillfully uses nostalgia, as well as the real-life case of Winnie Ruth Judd, but I think that Abbott has subsequently displayed more visceral grit as a writer.
I still stand by my great admiration for Abbott's eccentric sentences -- somewhere between loving homage to 20th century pulp and staccato pith -- although, based on what we've seen from Abbott's later novels (with their keen fixation on girl groups such as cheerleading and hockey), I think (of the early novels at least) that I now greatly prefer the visceral power of QUEENPIN to BURY ME DEEP these days. It was a better indicator of where Abbott was heading.
You can't quibble too much with the momentum of this book, but I wish the relationships between the women were fiercer (even though this is ultimately about murder).
June 23, 2023
Before she started writing her bestselling contemporary thrillers, Megan Abbott wrote several noir mystery/thrillers in the style and tone of the 1930s classics. This one reimagines the story of the "Trunk Murderess," Winnie Ruth Judd.
It's a compelling story of crime, the patriarchy, oppression, drugs and the desperation of women with few ways to earn enough money to live on. Abbott does a good job of mimicking the style of noir from the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps a little too good - there were times when I felt like she wanted to give us a character to empathize with, but some of the genre conventions got in the way of things. The atmosphere here, though, is very well done, and the horror of being sick in a time when there were fewer effective treatments is skillfully drawn out.
This was a quick, fun read, and if you like this kind of thing worth picking up. I'm giving it 3 stars because, while I enjoyed it, I doubt I'm going to be able to even summarize the plot in a few months. It's fun, but not the kind of thing that sticks with you.
It's a compelling story of crime, the patriarchy, oppression, drugs and the desperation of women with few ways to earn enough money to live on. Abbott does a good job of mimicking the style of noir from the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps a little too good - there were times when I felt like she wanted to give us a character to empathize with, but some of the genre conventions got in the way of things. The atmosphere here, though, is very well done, and the horror of being sick in a time when there were fewer effective treatments is skillfully drawn out.
This was a quick, fun read, and if you like this kind of thing worth picking up. I'm giving it 3 stars because, while I enjoyed it, I doubt I'm going to be able to even summarize the plot in a few months. It's fun, but not the kind of thing that sticks with you.
December 16, 2018
Bury Me Deep overcomes a very slow start to continue Abbott's run of solid noir novels with dynamic female characters driving the action.
The novel doesn't really get going until about halfway through, though. Up until that point, I was having to force myself to keep reading, which was unexpected for an Abbott novel. But once the turning point hit, it was a furious trip to the end.
Knowing that as of right now, this is Abbott's last "true noir" novel was a little bittersweet, as I truly appreciate her female "heroines" at the center of these novels. Her women characters truly drive their own destinies, which is a great change of pace from the novels she is so inspired by, where women seemingly only existed to be foils of men.
I'm excited to move on to the next phase of her career, where she takes these inspirations into more modern and unconventional settings.
The novel doesn't really get going until about halfway through, though. Up until that point, I was having to force myself to keep reading, which was unexpected for an Abbott novel. But once the turning point hit, it was a furious trip to the end.
Knowing that as of right now, this is Abbott's last "true noir" novel was a little bittersweet, as I truly appreciate her female "heroines" at the center of these novels. Her women characters truly drive their own destinies, which is a great change of pace from the novels she is so inspired by, where women seemingly only existed to be foils of men.
I'm excited to move on to the next phase of her career, where she takes these inspirations into more modern and unconventional settings.
May 28, 2017
Wow. What a read. It took me a few reads of the synopsis to realize this was about the infamous and gruesome trunk murders of 1931, but this was an incredibly vivid and detailed reimagining of what happened. This writing is phenomenal; a bit of a slow burn at the beginning as I was getting acquainted with all the characters, but things picked up fast. Gore, sex, intrigue...this was a work of literary art. Megan Abbott continues to impress.
August 28, 2020
Wow. I have to disagree with my friends on this one-this was fantastic. The story has a slow burn to it, and it was important to introduce the main character, Marion, slowly. I love how little bits of info were artfully added in, so that we could see the naïveté of her, the essence of her, and also to set the stage properly since it took place in 1931. That old devil, lust and sex, plays a big role. Just a really great story, loosely based on a true crime, told so artfully, in such a creative way. Great storytelling.
October 19, 2021
2.5 stars.
I have huge respect for Megan Abbott. This woman can write and nobody does it like her. But God, this was just so slow and boring. Probably one of her skippable ones. DNF
I have huge respect for Megan Abbott. This woman can write and nobody does it like her. But God, this was just so slow and boring. Probably one of her skippable ones. DNF
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