A book within a book that begins with 4 mysterious strangers in the gorgeous and atmospheric Boston Public Library brought together by a blood curdling scream? I was invested from page 1! This one was more of a modern cozy mystery versus fast paced thriller, and I found it to be completely unputdownable. The characters were well established and I enjoyed getting to know each of them as I tried to piece together the clues as to the whodunnit behind it all.

I loved the book within a book premise involving our main character Hannah, who is working on a fictional mystery about four strangers united by a murder mystery as she’s receiving correspondence and advice from a fellow novelist, who may have his own ulterior motives.

Overall, the mystery was well done and I would absolutely recommend this to my fellow mystery lovers! Thank you so much to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this gifted ebook ARC in exchange for my review!

The premise of this book immediately captured my attention. I loved the structure of a story within a story. It added to the mystery of the book overall. The writing was powerful and didn’t rely on cheap twists to convey a sense of thrill. The plot was well-crafted and clever.

Fun mystery romp. A lovely little twist with the letter between the “author” and fan. Quite enjoyed it.

I was so excited to get a copy of The Woman in the Library .

Sadly this book was not for me . This “book within a book “ was so CONFUSING!

I had no idea what was going on for the entirety of the book .

There were surely two mysteries but I couldn’t figure out which was which and I kept having to reread passages .

The concept of this book is very interesting. It’s essentially two stories in one - the story that Hannah in writing and sending to Leo, and the emails that Leo sends to Hannah. Leo critiques Hannah’s chapters and provides her with inside info from the US, since she lives in Australia. After a few chapters, you start to notice a few strange comments that Leo makes in response to Hannah, and his comments and suggestions become increasingly disturbing throughout the book. You can also see how Hannah weaves Leo’s suggestions into her story. My favorite is when Leo comments on how he cannot tell if Hannah’s characters are black and that she should describe Cain as wearing hoodies if he is indeed black, so in the following chapter Hannah has almost every character wearing a hoodie.

The story that Hannah is writing is about a group of people coming together after hearing a scream in the library. The story follows Freddie, Cain, Marigold, and Whit as they try to solve the mystery of the scream and the dead woman in the library. As Freddie says in chapter one, “I am a bricklayer without drawings, laying words in sentences, sentences into paragraphs, allowing my walls to twist and turn on whim.” That is exactly how it feels like Hannah’s story is written. There are some very great, attention grabbing sentences that a lot of the chapters end on, but the story itself is predictable. The ending of Hannah’s story is just okay, but the overall book itself is complex and fun. I like the idea of an informant and fellow writer/researcher being an actual killer. It’s an interesting peak at an extreme creative process.

This is a book within a book within a book. An author is writing a story about a writer writing a story. Confused yet? The plot really isn’t this confusing and the real story told is told in a unique way. An author is sending chapters of their book to someone who communicates back to her his thoughts on what she is writing. Each chapter alternates with the story she is writing and the emails commenting on what she has written. The book is described as being twisty but the twist (or really the actual story) is given away half way through and spoils the natural progression of letting the reader figure it out and realization of what the real story is. The ending became anticlimactic for me. Anyway, the story within the story was interesting. Thanks NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I loved the start of this book, it had such a great hook! But to be honest I got so lost in the story within a story and kept getting the "real" characters confused with the "book" characters and the formatting of having both felt like it kept drawing me out of the story.

Four strangers hear a woman scream while in the reading room of the Boston Public Library. The scream starts a conversation and then a friendship among them that evolves as they learn of the murder that was discovered after the scream took place. Could one of the friends be responsible for the death?

This is a clever story within a story where the author alternates between the murder mystery she’s writing and emails from a fellow writer offering editorial advice on the novel-in-progress in increasingly disturbing ways. The two storylines provide tension and suspense to keep the pages turning in this unique mystery thriller.

If you’re looking for an engaging and fast-paced summer read, this one will fit the bill. The quirky characters and dual story arcs make this a quick and enjoyable read that will keep you guessing how it will all turn out in the end.

Thank you #NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity of reading an ARC of #TheWomanInTheLibrary for my honest review. The book is available June 7th, 2022.

The Woman in the Library is a mystery within a mystery that starts at the Boston Public Library.

Four strangers meet while sitting together at a table in the library. After hearing a woman scream and later finding out she was murdered they realize they have a lot in common they become friends, try to help in assisting to find the woman's killer.

This story is told as a book within a book. At first I found it very difficult to follow, once I caught on to it and got attached to the charming main characters I didn't want to put it down.

I gave this very exciting thriller 4 stars.

As a library worker, of course I was intrigued by the title and cover. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I liked the creative idea of a story-within-a-story, but didn’t feel it ultimately paid off. I also thought the main story’s mystery wasn’t difficult to solve.

I am a library associate and received an advance copy from #NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the digital ARC of ”The Woman in the Library.”

I very much enjoyed the story within a story in this book. At first I was a little confused, but after a couple of chapters it started to make sense. It ended up being an intriguing mystery!

The joy of Sulari Gentill's The Woman in the Library is that it's a story within a story within a story, and each successive chapter reveals one or two more puzzle pieces for readers to ponder. I could compare the unfolding of the plot to peeling back the layers of an onion, but not only is that comparison worn out, but it also doesn't really fit. No, this story is a beauty, and much more like the slow but certain blossoming of a rose, petal by soft, scented petal.

A series of emails from Australian writer Hannah Tigone to Leo Johnson tells readers that Hannah is in Australia writing a novel about a murder set in the Boston Public Library and Leo is her American contact who reads Hannah's manuscript and searches out locations and offers tips on clarification. But that's not the only thing going on with the Hannah and Leo layer. The Freddie/Cain/Marigold/Whit layer also blossoms with the steady infusion of kernels of information about each character. These stories play off each other beautifully.

The Woman in the Library is one of those books that you can't talk about very much without giving something away, so I'll just say this: I decided right at the beginning to let myself become a leaf caught in a current in the river. This means that I didn't bring out my deerstalker hat and magnifying glass in order to solve the mystery before the characters in the book had a chance to. No, I simply went along for the ride and enjoyed every page. Once the rose that is The Woman in the Library has completely blossomed, there was nothing left to do but marvel at the story Gentill created. Wow!

How is it possible that I enjoyed a book but never understood what was really going on? I don't have an answer, but this story-within-a-story concept truly left me shaking my head despite the surprising reluctance to put it down. Even now, I'm not sure what was real and what wasn't (ditto the who) - but I'll try to explain it as best I can. To paraphrase Billy Joel, I may may be wrong for all I know but I may be right.

Hannah Tigone lives in Australia; in part because of pandemic-related travel bans, she sends chapters of the Boston-set mystery she's writing to Leo, a Boston writer who has agreed to contribute background information and correct content errors. Enter another setting: Four strangers in a Boston library include Winifred (Freddie) Kincaid, an Australia native in Boston on a prestigious writing scholarship. Their quiet is interrupted by a terrifying scream from an unknown person - female, all four conclude after they begin to talk with one another and form a collective friendship based on that common bond. Then, an actual body is found - that of a murdered woman.

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong here, but that second scenario appears to be the book Hannah is writing. Freddie, the star of that show, is writing a book herself - and one of her neighbors is named Leo. From then on, chapters shift from exchanges between Hannah and Leo and the four new friends - make that the story Hannah is writing. That story held my interest most just because, I guess, of the whodunit factor (even though, I think, it's coming from a writer's imagination).

I can't say I much liked any of those characters - at least two of which are likely murder suspects - but the action did hold my attention. The only thing intriguing about Hannah's exchanges with Leo, on the other hand, was his progression from the role of editor to control freak. In the end, the whodunit was resolved, although I'm not totally sure whether that happened in real life or fiction (the latter, I think). I spent maybe half an hour after finishing the book trying to make sense of the whole thing, but total enlightenment never came. To be sure, it's cleverly written, but overall it just wasn't my cup of tea (or the awful American coffee Freddie - or was it Hannah - complained about). Still, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review it.

Didn’t love this. Wanted to love it. I thought the character development with secondary characters was weak. And the ending, while supposedly a twist (I think?) was just meh. I feel like there was a lot of potential with the parallel story but that fell flat too. Just a really pointless plot.

Written for an adult audience, #WomanInTheLibrary layers the story of an Australian author with the mystery novel she is writing. People she encountered in the Boston Public Library reading room grow into characters in her developing murder mystery novel. Corresponding with an American author provides authenticating research details for her writing while involving her in a dangerous mystery of her own.

Readers who love the writing process, bibliophiles and those who enjoy a jigsawed tale without obvious red herrings will enjoy this book. I struggled a little since both a real character and a fictional character share a name. But that has more to do with my crowded brain and busy schedule than any fault of the author’s. I enjoyed being immersed in the “fictional” story so I didn’t want to pop out for the “author’s” writing exchanges. But I enjoyed how the two stories dovetailed together at the end. A fun read.
Thanks to #netgalley Look for this one publishing on June 1.

A chance meeting of four people , in a library and hearing a scream ., later discover there was a crime committed.
All writers but only one is a pen pal to FBI suspect.
Through one writers eyes we read her novel and her pen pal letters while reading about the group of four becoming increasingly involved with the crime that put them together…
Brilliant!
Twisty, mysterious and just real enough to be plausible.
I highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me this ARC

I see why so many people are raving about this book. It was so interesting and gets bonus points for a cool cover. It was marvelous.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is incredibly addictive. I couldn't put it down. The plot was suspenseful, the writing was just great with vivid descriptions that I could picture easily. The characters of the book were fleshed out and read like actual, real people. Throughout the book, it got creepier. I had goose bumps reading certain parts, so that I only read during daylight hours. For someone like me, who usually isn't a thriller lover, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good and addictive read.

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.
This book was absolutely wonderful. It was told in alternating parts between the storyline written by author Hannah Tigone, a mystery writer who is writing a novel set in Boston but is unable to travel there due to COVID travel restrictions, and letters to Hannah from a superfan & Beta reader named Leo. In this "story within a story", the main protagonist is a woman named Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid, who is in Boston on a writing fellowship writing a novel and she is one of the four people at the table that fateful day. From there, the lines become blurred, as it seems almost as if she is writing out the events as they occur, and you start to have doubts about everyone's true motives. There is more than one mystery to solve, non-stop action and suspense, and it will keep you guessing until the very end. The characters are enjoyable, and it is a book set in a library. What more can you ask for?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentaty ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Woman in the Library is a book within a book within a book. Another reviewer made the comment that it's very much like the move Inception, but in this case from my perspective this book was not as executed as crisply as Inception. The premise of the book is that author, Hannah, is writing a new mystery about author Freddie who while writing her new book in the Boston Public Library hears a woman scream, but then no one can figure out what happened. Along with her table mates, Freddie tries to figure out what may have happened and a few hours later they all learn that someone was murdered.

Without giving away too much, the mystery of the story is highly readable and addictive as it takes really great twists and turns. What detracts from the ride is the author Hannah's correspondence with a fan of hers who provides her feedback and suggestions on the story. While this was interesting for the first few chapters, it began to detract from the overall flow of the story and becomes a bit annoying especially considering the random turn the communications take.

Overall, I'd suggest this to anyone looking for a light, easy read. Definitely good for a summer beach read.