I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for my review. (Side note: this is my first ARC that hasn’t been won in a contest so I was super excited!) So where to begin! This story was pretty unique, with a subplot that intertwined with the other chapters. I thought it was a great idea, because it enabled the author to not only add more mystery to the book, but to advance or incorporate key ideas that might be brought up later. Back to the main story, I loved all these characters and their interactions! The Fab Four all had good connections and they were all integral to the story, they weren’t just window dressings. The ending had me guessing up until the big reveal! Any of the four could have done it! On my second read through though I was able to pick up on the hints about who the killer was. Overall, a very solid mystery novel and I look forward to more from this author, especially if they’re in this same vein!

Four strangers at the Boston Public Library hear a scream and the subsequent speculation and discussion provides a bonding experience. One of them is a murderer and has ties to the woman, whose body is later found in the library. How could one of them be guilty when they were all together? Freddie is a young writer from Australia who received a Grant allowing her to write in the US. She is attracted to Cain, who is a published author working on his next book. When he becomes a person of interest to the police, she enlists the help of her other friends, Marigold and Whit, to look into the murder. Cain has served time for a violent crime in his past, which he claims was self defense. The question is whether Cain is guilty or is someone using his past to manipulate evidence and shift blame on him.

In Sulari Gentill’s story nothing is as it seems. It is also a story within a story. Hannah is a writer in Australia who is writing Freddie’s story. She has been receiving letters from Leo, a Boston resident who critiques her chapters and gives her information on the area. While his early letters offer helpful observations, his letters start to take on a darker and more violent tone as they progress, leading Hannah to question who Leo really is and what he is capable of. From the early stages of friendship, where each member of the group is supportive, to betrayal and murder, Gentill’s story will keep you guessing to the very end. She is a master of manipulation and I have become a true fan. This is one mystery that should not be missed. I would like to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing this book for my review.

I was a bit intrigued with this story and was curious to find out how Leo fit into the story. Good story but I felt like Freddie was living in a fantasy world and fell for Cain too soon in the story. The author did a good job at trying to make us suspicious of Marigold but I had a feeling it wasn’t her. I felt like the ending where Leo showed up was interesting.

I could not get into this storyline. Sounded like people interested in themes like the boardgame Clue would match.

I loved the premise of this book because it's so original. I also liked all of the characters so much that I didn't want to get to the end because inevitable one of them was going to be the killer. That being said, it was a bit too long with a few too many clues and red herrings.

I liked the format story within a story. Writter Hannah receives feedback from a beta reader to write her book and we have the letters from her beta reader Leo who also send her advise, for example she should mention the use of masks. We also have the story itself that tells about Freddie an Australian writer in USA who met three people in the Boston library where they hear a scream from a woman and what happens afters that.

This book fell flat for me. The second story interwoven was more interesting than the main story and then didn’t go anywhere. Disappointing.

I finished this book because I really wanted to know how it ended, however I felt rather disconnected. I’m not sure if there was a translation issue or something but it fell flat for me.

The Woman in the Library reminded me of the movie "Inception" because it's about an author writing a story and in that story, the author is also an author writing a story. It was a pretty cool concept! The story follows a murder mystery that happens in the Boston Library, causing a group of individuals to become friends. These friends have some secrets, some more than others and as the reader, we try to figure out who the culprit is in the story. Concurrently, other murders are unfolding in real life and real time, in which the story in the book mirrors the actual story in real life. And without giving away much more, it is a little confusing to describe, however, the author did a great job at making it discernable throughout the book.

Three stars because although the ending really picked up and I enjoyed the premise of the story, I found myself trying to skim and even having to re-read some chapters because of the lack of excitement/thrill. The beginning grabbed my attention, but the middle of the book got a little boring and then the excitement picked up towards the end. The story overall was pretty predictable, I guessed the plot and mystery pretty early on but it was nice to see it unfold. If you like a thriller with a twist and enjoy visiting Boston, add this one to your shelf!

Sending a huge thank you to NetGalley, Sulari Gentill, and team for an e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

This book sounds like it would be a fun read, a murder in a library and trying to find the killer…but it was just confusing. An email within a book within a book? It was just too much for me and I only made it 1/4 through before I gave up.

I am not generally swayed by the cover of a book. I know there are readers out there for whom the cover is an important part of the joy of a book; not so, me. This book's cover, however, did grab my attention, along with the title and the marketing copy of the story. I'm glad for whatever got me to request an early copy of this book from the publisher and equally happy I was given a copy for review.

The story begins with an email from aspiring author, Leo, to successful mystery writer, Hannah,. They appear to be friends and Leo offers to give chapter-by-chapter feedback on Hannah's latest project. Thus begins the book-within-a-book story as Hannah writes a book by a character named Freddie and Leo supplies comments at the end of each chapter.

Four strangers are together in the reading room of the Boston Public Library when a scream is heard, security is called and all patrons are told to remain where they are. The strangers begin to talk and introduce themselves: Freddie, a fellowship author struggling with her muse; Cain, a published author doing research; Whit, a law student who hates the law and is being forced to study it by his parents; Marigold, a psychology student at Harvard. These strangers and her relationship to them become the focus of the story Freddie begins to write. What seems like a coincidental meeting turns into friendship. Add in the murder of a woman whose body is later found in the library, and the four new friends bond in a curious fashion. When one of them becomes the focus of the police investigation into the death, they come together as a group to solve the murder.

I like the format of the book within a book very much. In "The Woman in the Library", this method is executed perfectly. Also, the pacing, the writing and the slow reveals of each character's part in the novel is excellent. I eagerly read late into the night to find out what was going to happen next. I did have a problem with the ending and felt it was a bit rushed and the rationale behind the murder was a bit weak. Overall, it is an excellent read, however, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy of this book. The publication date is June 7, 2022.

3.5 stars
This has such a cool ‘book within a book’ premise and it had some really clever twists (especially the reveal halfway through) up its sleeve. However I felt like the conclusion of both stories left a bit to be desired for me. One of them (and probably the one I was more invested in) was wrapped up very quickly and it felt like it wasn’t really satisfying.

Thank you for the ARC of this book. I had high hopes for it but sadly it is DNF for me. I could not get into it at all, not sure why because from the description I really wanted to love it.

A mystery with the word library in the title is so in my wheelhouse. I thought this was very well done. We have an Australian mystery writer who shares the chapters of her new book with a fan/early reader, who in turn responds with his observations and critiques. Her book is about an author who is writing a book. So a book within a book within a book. It sounds more confusing than it is because Gentill manages to pull it off beautifully. The four main characters happen to be at the Boston Public Library at the same time when they hear a woman's scream. The incident forges a bond and subsequent friendship between these four strangers who discover that a woman has been found dead in one of the library's event rooms. As the story develops, we discover other events in the past that tie these characters together and it is clear early on that one of them is a murderer. This is a good plot with well developed, likable characters, and a few interesting twists. A big thanks to netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

One of the most interesting and original books that I have read for ages.
We follow a mystery writer who is writing a mystery whilst living the scenario. A highly entertaining read and I would certainly look out for this author in the future.

This one was very hard to put down, especially toward the end. I loved the framing for it: a mystery writer is writing a book about a mystery writer who’s writing a mystery (my brain exploded for a while over that), and between each chapter, there’s a letter from a fan. The fan seems to be a regular correspondent of the writer’s, and he’s giving writing feedback and insider information on Boston, since the Australian writer’s research trip has been postponed by the pandemic. There are no letters by the author included in the narrative, but she is clearly corresponding and sending chapters for feedback, based on what the fan is writing. It’s a clever way to make the setting current without Covid taking over everything about the plot (the fan and the author disagree over whether or not it should be included in the plot of her book). I don’t want to give too much away with more details. I will say, at 91%, I was sure I had figured out the murderer in the novel within the novel (and not that proud of myself since it was so close to the end)…and I was wrong!

Worthwhile notes and a nice interview at the end—I recommend reading them all! I’ll definitely push this once it’s out, and I’m eager to check out the author’s other work.

This is a very clever story about four strangers in the Boston Public Library who meet and bond over hearing a woman’s scream. This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it definitely won’t be the last. The story is easy to follow, despite its being a story within a story. Recommended.

3 Stars

WOW, What a ride!

This book was definitely interesting. I thought that the book inside a book trope would be off-putting or that I'd be interested in one story more than the other, but that wasn't the case at all.
The book is written as chapters from a novel that's currently being written alternating with letters between the author of the novel and an aspiring author, who also happens to be a fan of her books.

<em><b>"And then there is a scream. Ragged and terrified. A beat of silence even after it stops, until we all seem to realize that the Reading Room Rules no longer apply."</b></em>

The novel that the author is writing is about four people who meet at the Boston Public Library, and become friends after they hear a woman's scream in a nearby room. Next day, they find out that a woman was murdered in the library the night before and the murderer was actually one of them. And that's how their friendship starts.

The novel was so good and the pace was fine. To be honest I didn't like how Leo, the author's correspondent commented on her novel as if it were his own.
Throughout the novel there were some weird comments about race. These comments just irked me. for example:

"People who have assumed these people were white may feel betrayed and tricked if they realise that the people they've invested in could be Black. Some folks only want to read about people of their own kind, and even the idea that a character could be black, means he's not white enough."

Really???!!! What does that even supposed to mean?

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. A new, twisty spin on your usual whodunnit, but done so well that I honestly forgot the bad guy was going to be one of the central characters!

It is sort of a “story within a story” which was a little confusing at first but once you get what’s going on, it’s not hard to follow.

The outermost story is one-sided epistolary and I really enjoyed it. My only complaint was that the “author’s” pen pal, Leo, declares quite a few of her details as being either American or Not American, as she is writing a book set in the states while she lives in Australia… I disagreed with quite a few things he said, which made him a little questionable as the authority on Americanisms. We do, in fact, refer to cold weather knit hats as “beanies.”

All in all, one of the better ones I’ve read this year. I’ll be keeping an eye for this author’s work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an advanced copy of this book.

Great idea for the main plot but did not care for the dual story line. Two stories in one took away from the main storyline for me. Switching back and forth complicated the reading enough that I did not enjoy the book as much as I thought I would from reading the synopsis. If you are into dual storylines, this would be a great read for you. If you are into a smoother single plot then skip this one.