A rich and detailed look at the impact of a life, and a mystery spanning 50 years. This reminded me of the works of Erik Larson, Jon Krakauer, David Grann, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, and other writers who are able to get inside a story, and reveal connections between historical events and people and eras in surprising and amazing ways. I was enthralled by the story of Jane Britton, her work at Harvard, and her extraordinary circle of friends who never stopped thinking of her. Becky Cooper's research is detailed, informative, emotional, and connects so beautifully to her own story as a Harvard student and as a young woman navigating personal and professional relationships. I did not know the story of Jane Britton, and I found Cooper's investigation so compelling. It was also incredibly sad. The research is phenomenal, and I hope to read more from this author.

I am not a huge reader of True Crime and have no idea what interested me in reading WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE. I am glad I did because Becky Cooper has written an engrossing book, detailing the murder of Jane Britton in 1969.

Copper weaves her own experiences whilst going into tremendous detail about Britton’s life and her death. Honestly the research is astonishing but the real craft lies in making the story readable and not dry. Sometimes rather than having red herrings to ensure the pages are turned, you just need a good story.

True Crime is one of my favourite genres because it explores human behaviour at its most extreme. When that is combined with the skill of an investigative journalist, as it was in this case, the results can be both compelling and educational.
Becky Cooper, while studying at Harvard, hears a rumour of another student - Jane Britton - who was murdered decades earlier after allegedly threatening to reveal an affair with a professor at the university. Her body was covered in cigarette burns and she was sprinkled with red ochre similar to the burial rituals of ancient civilisations. Hearing this story planted a seed and years later, Cooper returns to Harvard to find out the truth of what happened to Jane.
Cooper becomes obsessed with the cold case and goes on to join a group of web sleuths to try and solve a mystery that the police seemingly could not. Over the course of her investigation she uncovers a dangerous culture of misogyny at Harvard which, at least looking in from the outside, sought to prevent women from reaching the top of their fields. I appreciated that Cooper chose to include this because it helped explain so much about why Jane's murder was essentially consigned to the rumour ill rather than being properly looked into by Harvard.
By the end of the book, you will discover what happened to Jane. However, perhaps equally if not more importantly, you will also learn what happens when an institution chooses to remain silent about issues which left women like Jane vulnerable. At the time of Jane's murder, for example, security at the women's dorm was known to be lax but nothing was done about it. Students were made to feel that if they spoke out against professors behaving badly their grades and subsequently their career would suffer. Even the police force charged with getting justice for Jane was similarly flawed with corruption proving to be a factor in their investigation. Decades later, police only did the work to find Jane's attacker once the case garnered too much media attention to be ignored.
We Keep the Dead Close is an excellent contribution to the true crime genre and I would recommend this to readers who enjoyed I'll Be Gone in the Dark, The Stranger Beside Me and In Cold Blood.

Becky Cooper has spent a considerable chunk of her adult life working on and thinking about this incredible story. Nothing is overlooked in this cold case investigation even as Becky reflects on her own journey from first examination to final conclusions. "We Keep the Dead Close" is compelling on so many levels. The parallels between the archaeologist's interpretation of historical artifacts discovered from prior centuries and the interpretation of the facts of the horrific crime being are so perfect. Becky is all too aware of the prejudices of the day and how some have persisted in certain areas 50 years later. The timelines used between the events of 1969, the present and the investigation make for an exciting and logical consideration of all of the suspects alongside their testimony.

The story of Jane Britton haunted me over the few days that I read this book; at one stage I woke up in the night thinking of how to catch the killer.

Although I thought this book could have been many pages shorter, it was a sensitive glimpse into the murder and folklore surrounding the death of a young woman at Harvard. Becky Cooper will be an author to watch if she tries her hand at another true crime book. The subject matter was fascinating and the conclusion satisfying.

We Keep the Dead Close is the biggest true crime book released this year that came to my attention: it exposes Harvard's history of misogyny and dives into who Jane Britton was, who the people in her life were and the decades of unsolved mystery that seemed to have all the looks of a coverup by Harvard. It was definitely an interesting read, and there were such unsettling coincidences in this case (so many people dying mysteriously) and several shady characters that are easy to suspect.

I have to disclose that I have an ambivalent relationship to true crime: I often find myself initially intrigued and drawn to the mystery and puzzle aspect of it, but then I start feeling a bit weird diving so deep into people's lives, seeing just how easily one could become a victim, how horrible people can be and so on. This was also the case for We Keep the Dead Close, where I felt a lot of times that Jane was being treated as a cautionary tale and a stereotype than an actual person. While the author does address these misgivings, how she herself had seen Jane a certain way and was humanizing her more and more as the book goes on, I just did not think it was necessary to spend half the book treating Jane like a character of a story instead of a real person.

I was not a fan either of how Becky Cooper chose to insert herself so much in this book - I had hoped to read mostly about Jane, and I truly did not care to read about Becky's relationship, or how she starts to feel like she and Jane were so similar etc. I thought this was weird. I understand that she was trying to make a point about how history / true crime / archeology are all sciences that are still told through people; biased, flawed people who will see things a certain way depending on their own experiences. In that, I think she really made her point brilliantly! And I have to say reading about all the archeology was super fun. I just wished there was a little less author and more Jane (that would've easily shortened the book by 100 pages in my opinion).

I enjoyed this read, and I think Becky Cooper is a very committed author, I truly enjoyed that there were photos and interviews, and that she put such a focus on misogyny in Harvard, touches a bit on homophobia and racism, too, and challenges us to not try to fit Jane's story into a narration we're familiar with. I think most people will love this a lot more than I did, honestly! So despite my lukewarm response, I think this is probably one of the best true crime books out there and I highly recommend it, if only to get you positively enraged with Harvard.

I love true crime but I tend to listen to podcasts more than read the genre, as it is very male-dominated and the authors do not tend to treat the victims with respect. I’m always delighted to read a female author of true crime so I was very eager to read We Keep the Dead Close.

I enjoyed Becky Cooper’s writing style and I found the story of Jane Britton to be compelling. Cooper does insert herself into the story a lot so if you prefer a more distanced true crime reportage, this mightn’t be the book for you.

I usually only request shorter books as I dislike reading longer books on my kindle app. I’m glad the length of this book didn’t put me off requesting it, as I did really enjoy the reading experience. Having said that, I did feel that the book was a tad too long and it became a bit repetitive. Overall though, an engaging true crime read with an original slant.

3.5 rounded up

True crime as a genre has experienced something of a resurgence in recent years, with all sorts of media (books, tv shows, movies, podcasts etc.) covering all manner of cases and crimes, recent and historic. But with this there has been increased criticism of the commodification of the topic for entertainment purposes, and subsequently a lack of respect afforded for victims, their families and those involved - even peripherally - in the crimes.

In light of all of this discourse some might say it's a bold move to write a book in 2020 where the author inserts herself directly into a narrative of this type, and to even go as far to discuss the topic within said narrative. Becky Cooper (mostly) pulls this off, although I did find myself wishing she could have delved further into this at times.

The crime: a Harvard graduate student studying archaeology, Jane Britton, is found dead in her apartment in January 1969. There are some odd discoveries at the crime scene, and the case ultimately goes cold for nearly 50 years. Cooper becomes interested/haunted by the crime during her time studying at Harvard, and on the basis of this book it seems that the murder consumes her life for the next 10 years or so.

I've toyed with rounding down my rating - the book is very long, much longer than it needed to be, and later sections get bogged down in detail and long conversations with people who knew Jane which I didn't feel added much to the narrative. It's a slow burn of a read, and I expect this will put some readers off. But in spite of it's length, the book is incredibly well written and engaging for about the first 80% or so, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. I also think Cooper deserves credit for her respect for Jane, and the efforts she went to to learn what Jane was like as a sister and friend - something lacking from many other true crime books. Recommended.

An exciting true crime story depicting the murder of a Harvard student many years ago, the investigation and everything that went wrong. Enlightening and intriguing!