The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Thompson, Alicia. Love in the Time of Serial Killers. Penguin Random House. 2022. Kindle.

Alicia Thompson’s novel, Love in the Time of Serial Killers, is a romantic comedy. The protagonist and narrator is Phoebe, a 30-year-old graduate student working on a dissertation about true crime. She planned to spend her final summer of graduate school down in Florida, preparing her late father’s house so that she and her younger brother, Conner, could sell it together. Phoebe had not lived in the house since she was thirteen and Conner was six. Their parents had divorced, and Phoebe had gone with her mother while Conner had stayed with their father. In addition to their age gap, the separate homes created distance between the two siblings. Phoebe had also lost her only friend, Alison, during her parents’ divorce, and she had grown into a lonely woman without any intimacy in her life. However, she was happy on the surface because she greatly enjoyed studying true crime in graduate school.

When Phoebe arrive in Florida at two in the morning, her neighbor, Sam, came outside and asked her if she needed help bringing in the big Victorian desk that she had tied to the roof of her car. Phoebe panicked and threatened to pepper spray him, and then she ran inside to hide, leaving the desk outside. The next morning, when her brother came over from across town, she realized that Sam had moved the desk to the side of the house for her the previous night.

Conner and Phoebe went out to breakfast and discussed their plans for their father’s house. Because he had been a hoarder, cleaning out the house was going to be quite difficult. After she got back to the house, a package arrived for Sam. Phoebe took it across the street and the two introduced themselves properly. Phoebe was attracted to Sam, but she filtered her emotions into convincing herself that Sam was a serial killer. He kept strange hours and was always in his garage doing something mysterious. Phoebe had trouble concentrating because she became so obsessed with tracking his movements.

Phoebe went to the library to research and ran into her former best friend, Alison. Phoebe was embarrassed because of her behavior during their teenage fallout, so she left rudely. She had a called with her advisor, who pressured her to start thinking about applying for jobs.

Conner and his girlfriend, Shani, came over for dinner and told Phoebe they were worried about her because she was spending too much time alone with true crime books and seemed to be fixated on the neighbor. They offered to move in for the summer, but Phoebe insisted that it was not necessary and decided to prove herself “cured” of her obsession with the neighbor by crashing his party.

Sam welcome Phoebe, Conner, and Shani into his home. Phoebe was shocked to discover that Sam was throwing a retirement party for Barbara, an elderly teacher at the elementary school where Sam worked as a music teacher. She felt bad for thinking he was a serial killer, but she could not help but be rude to him whenever they spoke because her feelings for him made her nervous.

Phoebe went back to the library and tried to avoid Alison. However, her car battery died, and she got stranded in the library parking lot. She and Alison took a walk on Alison’s break and talked about Phoebe’s dad and Alison’s life. After Alison went back to work, Phoebe spotted Sam and asked him to jump her car. He agreed, and Phoebe wanted to ask him out for lunch, but she got too nervous.

Later that week, Phoebe decided to make a pie and bring half over to thank Sam. They talked for a bit, and he told her she had pretty hair. She thought they might kiss, but then Conner knocked on the door looking for Phoebe. He told her he wanted to propose at the skating rink where he and Shani had their first date.

Phoebe and Conner went to the skating rink to plan the proposal, but then he fell and sprained his wrist, and then he decided that he did not want to propose at the skating rink. Phoebe spent the rest of the week working on the house by herself. A stray cat snuck inside, and Phoebe contemplated keeping her, but decided she was not fit to be a cat owner. Alison suggested that Phoebe do some research about cats at the library, so Phoebe went across the street and asked Sam if he wanted to go to the library with her. Phoebe decided to buy cat supplies and invite “Lenore” to live with her.

Later that week, Phoebe painted the living room and Sam came over to help. They spoke about their pasts and Phoebe told him she did not believe in love because of her parents and all the serial killers in the world. He told her that Conner and Shani seemed like a pretty great couple, and Phoebe had to agree.

They finished painting after midnight and then went for a swim in Sam’s pool. They kissed and then had sex. In the morning, Phoebe was rude and told Sam to hide from her brother. Sam got sad, and Phoebe felt bad. She invited Sam to the Fourth of July picnic where Conner was planning to propose, and he came. They kissed in public and began a casual relationship. The picnic got rained out and Conner decided to propose later. Sam offered to help him set up a flash-mob dance with his music students.

On the day of the proposal, Phoebe panicked when Sam told one of his students that he wanted to marry Phoebe someday. She broke up with Sam and told him he was just a summer fling. After saying goodbye to her brother, Phoebe left to go back to graduate school and finish her dissertation. She spent several months alone and missing Sam, but just before her defense she decided to drive back down to Florida and tell Sam she loved him and wanted to be with him. He agreed, and the two attended Conner and Shani’s wedding together.