I enjoyed this book but thought the book dragged at times. I enjoyed the characters but figured out the killer early but it was a fun, classic mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

First, I have to admit the whole story within a story started off slow for me. The emails from Leo were, at first, a distraction from the main story. Then it got good! Leo had some valid points as an unofficial editor but ultimately, his storyline didn't really play out. I felt cheated out of closure. The main story wrapped up too abruptly while the side story, the correspondence with Leo, left so many unanswered questions.

What a fascinating story. It is a story within a story. I loved that it was based in the Boston Library. You are visiting the library and then you hear a scream! The security has everyone locked down to investigate. This book had me on edge throughout it. I would highly recommend this book to all mystery lovers.

I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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.

Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all. (Goodreads synopsis)

I have not read anything by Sulari Gentill prior to this, but I will begin to follow her.

I liked the way the novel started, with Freddie, Cain, Whit, and Marigold becoming fast friends following a woman’s scream in a quiet library. As a librarian, even a pin dropping can be cause for a scare, so the idea of someone letting loose a bloodcurdling scream sent chills down my spine. I was instantly captivated by the dynamics of the characters and the resulting mystery. I will say that I had a suspicion of the culprit, but I also read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, so I wasn’t completely astounded.

I didn’t like the additional story within the story concerning the “author” Hannah and her pen pal Leo. I just really didn’t see the point of the “letters”, and their significance to the ultimate story overall. I actually found it a bit distracting, because I was more invested in Freddie and company, that I only wanted to follow that story and not this seemingly random one.

The edition that I read had an author discussion with Sulari as a bonus. I did appreciate her take on what authors are currently facing concerning chronology in their projects as well as how the pandemic and social economic tensions might affect everything.

Overall I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

This is a most unusual plot. Hannah, a mystery author living in Australia, is writing a novel about people involved with a series of murders in Boston. Her four leads are two men and a woman her protagonist, also a mystery writer, meets at the Boston Public Library at the time a woman is found murdered there. They bind as friends over the murder. As they begin to divulge more of themselves the reader learns one is a murderer. Additionally, Hannah has an acquaintance who lives in Boston who is editing an proofing her book. He is Leo. Freddie, the novel’s other protagonist, also has a friend in her building named Leo. Each chapter is written in either Hannah’s words or Freddie’s followed by something from Leo. There are many twists and turns in both novels and I found myself waiting for the next. Thanks to Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC for an honest review.

The Woman in the Library is a story in a story making it difficult to describe but I’ll give it a go.

Hannah is an Australia writer. She is writing a mystery story based in Boston. We learn very little about Hannah herself.

We read the story as Hannah writes it.

The main character in Hannah’s story is an Australian writer Winifred Kincaid (Freddie). She is in Boston after receiving a Marriott Scholarship. While visiting the library for inspiration three people share her table. She begins to write a story about them in her mind. They are:

Marigold, a psychology student with tattoos who Freddie nicknames Freud Girl.

Cain McLeod who is also an author with a secretive past. She refers to him as Handsome Man

Whit Metters a law student and handsome sone of a powerful lawyer who she calls Heroic Chin.

A scream pierces the silence in the room. The security people quickly lock down the library pending an investigation. While unable to leave the four of them begin to chat to each other and discuss what has just happened. When no body is found they move onto a coffee shop and begin to get to know each other, forming a friendship that leads into their own investigation.

Each has their own story gradually revealed as the story progresses. Freddie falls in love with the mysterious Cain. As their stories are revealed another murder occurs. There is another murder, a mysterious disappearance and strange phone messages. It becomes apparent one of the four is a stalker and one is a murderer.

As the main story unfolds Hannah sends each chapter to a fan, Leo, in Boston. This is the second story within the main story. We get to read Leo’s emails with his comments on the storyline and correction of Australian idioms not used in the US. Gradually his emails become stranger as he suggests major changes to the manuscript including sending photos of actual crimes. The author becomes concerned and contacts the authorities.

It is complicated but very clever, well plotted, and easily followed.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sulari Gentill for the opportunity to read this book.

Readers are gifted two suspenseful whodunnits for the price of one in "The Woman in the Library," and it makes for a charged and acute page-turning rush. I was adrenalized from the outset, I was absorbed. I could hardly put it down until I finished.

The "main" story involves four strangers who are sitting at the same table in the Boston Public Library when a woman screams. That event triggers introductions, then a conversation. Shortly after that camaraderie and friendship blooms between the foursome. With the mystery of the woman's death still looming, however, and dark secrets pooling between Freddie, Cain, Whit, and Marigold respectively as they search for the culprit, the question soon becomes: did one of them commit the murder? And if so, who?

The second story, or the "frame," involves emails that are sent between an Australian author, Hannah, and an avid fan/aspiring writer, Leo. He gives her constructive feedback on each chapter in addition to providing her with specific details about Boston, Americanisms, and the like. Their correspondence grows more taut, more nefarious, the longer the plot progresses, adding tension to both the main plot and subplot.

It's been a long time since I've read come across such a clever and addictive embedded narrative, especially one that's framed around writing. Framing a book around characters writing or talking about writing can be tricky if it's not executed with consideration and delicacy, but I'm happy to say this was well-developed as well as riveting.

I will say it doesn't take too big of a leap to figure out "whodunnit" in either of the storylines. However, there are still a lot of surprising connections and moments of unease to keep readers turning the pages. I'm looking forward to more from the author in the future!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I love reading mysteries I truly do, however I am the worst at figuring out who done it so I spend more time convinced that the red herring is the murderer and I get swept along with the story. I loved this book because it definitely kept me guessing. Our main character is Winifred Kincaid an Australian transplant living in Boston, a writer she meets the other characters in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library while she is trying to get inspiration on the novel that she's working on. A terrified scream brings them together but did one of them commit the murder? This is a twisty, atmospheric and engaging mystery.

This was just……disappointing. This has everything that I usually love in a book and thought it would be a hit, but it just wasn’t. Ugh!!

3.5 rounded up.

This book starts out with a murder in a library that ties together four strangers that would have never met otherwise. Bonded over this experience, they begin an unusual experience.

Freddie the aspiring writer.

Cain the handsome man.

Whit the young law student.

Marigold the psych student.

Together they will start to reveal secret upon secret while trying to unravel who really murdered the woman in the library.

The book was quite unique with containing a mystery within a mystery. I spent a lot of time contemplating how the two plots would eventually tie together. While I enjoyed the overall premise and pace of this novel, I found the ending a bit lack luster.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

An author shares chapters of a book she's working on (about an Australian mystery writer in Boston on a fellowship) with a fan and aspiring novelist named Leo. After each chapter, we see an email from Leo, who starts out by giving helpful tips on American English and Boston locales. But when he starts urging the author to include more violent scenes and displays knowledge of some murders, we see that he is disturbed and possibly a serial killer. The twin storylines of how the author deals with Leo and how the Australian writer within the book deals with the mystery she's found herself in make for fascinating reading. And Gentill cleverly uses Leo's emails, where he wonders why the races of the characters are not revealed and why Covid is never alluded to, to raise questions in the reader's mind about her own story.

I loved this book! It was such an interesting premise and really kept you guessing. I loved that there were almost two different stories going at once. It really added a twist to the main story. Having lived in the Boston area years go, I loved the setting as well.

This novel comes out on June 7, 2022. The publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, provided me an early galley in exchange for an honest review.

As a librarian, the title of the book immediately grabbed my attention. I very much enjoy books that revolve around a library. But I quickly found that this story appealed to another aspect of my personality even more - the writer in me. I have always wanted to be a writer since I was a child in the 70's. Having not one but three of the characters being writers made this story even more fascinating.

The story's structure I also find intriguing. As noted, it involves writers. Yet each chapter has an added framing element which I found worked very well - that being the letters from the real Leo to the Australian writer Hannah. He provides constructive criticism for her writing that we see get worked into her ongoing story, which is the story of the four friends and the murder at the library. I have never encountered this meta-technique used in a book before; it gives this novel another interesting layer. In some ways, it reminded me of the monthly writing group I run at our local library and how we offer one another constructive criticisms on our work.

As for the main mystery - Hannah's story within the story, I found it played out well. I am very critical of the mystery genre in general, especially if an ending appears to come out of leftfield. I expect the clues to be there for me as a reader to discover along the way, and Sulari met those expectations for me here. I am encouraged to seek out more of her work after reading this one.

“With a great readership comes great responsibility”
“And so we go to the Map Room to find a friendship, and I have my first coffee with a killer”
This book was really good !!!actually it was a mystery plot inside a mystery plot!!’
The romance playing in the background, the mystery, the investigation, the past, the secrets and the identities and the writing parts (because we’re talking about writers) got all together to create a book that was easy to get into, easy to follow and some characters that are very very good to read about!!!
Honestly the last paragraph for each chapter where we have this side personality who leaves comments, notes and opinions about the chapter and insights of the story was really good to read and finding out, later on, who this person it definitely added to the vibe and the novelty of the book!!
I found myself more than once siding for one character or with the other but getting more confused the more I was reading about them!!!
I couldn’t really figure out who the real killer was.
I’m glad I had the chance to read it but I sense that the story is not over. I sense that there are still some secrets to be uncovered and some characters that we haven’t seen enough!!!
“The mystery writers, the historical novelists, the political thriller writers, the science fiction writers … everybody but the people who write instruction manuals, is writing romance”
“It’s a murder now”

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Woman in the Library.

The premise was so intriguing, but it was a bit more complicated than I expected.

It's a story within a story, kind of meta, where an author is writing a manuscript and her life begins to mirror the book she's writing.

At the same time, a stan is writing her admiring letters that gradually become obsessive and homicidal.

I liked the author's writing style; that's the biggest plus, but the mystery...not so much.

It was not suspenseful or dramatic; in fact, I guessed who did it early on, but the characters didn't draw me in, nor did I sympathize or connect with any of them.

At first, I liked the idea of a story within a story, but it sort of became confusing, though the correspondence at the end of each chapter reminded me. But this soon became distracting, and brought me out of the story itself.

I liked the concept of a story within a story, but the characters and mystery weren't unique and I thought the reason behind the murder was kind of silly.

I would read the author's next book.

This is my first Sulari Gentill book, and received an ARC copy from NetGalley for an honest review...
I love the setting in Boston, who did it, the back story of 2 writers and the premise of book. If I'm being honest though, I hated the back and forth with crazy stalker writer at the end of every chapter. At first it was confusing, why add it? Then it was too much and I almost threw my kindle and stopped reading once it got to talking about covid (which I get, fine) but then this whole issue with race and wanting it forced to say are the characters white or black. I would have enjoy the book much more without it added to the end of every chapter.
Again, this is an honest review... I read to escape the news and enjoy stories. This just felt like listening to the news or someone telling me how to feel. Here are a few examples of what's at the end of each chapter,
-The reality is, I suppose, that I am a straight white man with no diversity of disadvantage to offer as a salve for this fashionable collective guilt that rules publishing. I understand that popular correctness demands that men like me be denied to compensate for all the years which were given too much. I just wish I'd had a chance to enjoy a little of that privilege before it became a liability.
- I've assumed he's white, If he is Black the likelihood of being shot by the police quite high, and this whole fugitive from the law caper is a great deal more dangerous.
-I admire your determination to ignore skin color, but it's a bit like ignoring the virus. It's not real. Whether or not a character is Black will affect his story arc...but perhaps that's the point you want to make by ignoring it. Do you want readers to say this couldn't happen to Black people, and then wonder, why not? Is that what you're saying
-People who've assumed these people are white may feel betrayed and tricked if they realize that the people they've invested in could be Black. Some folks only want to read about their own kind, and even the idea that a character could be Black, means he's not white enough. It's just the way it is.
-The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Cain is Black. You really do need to let people know at the outset. If you don't want to say it outright, perhaps you could have him wear hoodies throughout.
-You're setting this book in America-you cannot ignore race. It needs to be declared. If a character is not white, you cannot treat him as though he is. It's simply absurd. And if he's white, he cannot live in Roxbury without comment as to why.
-Needles to say, I suggest you remove all the hoodies and replace them with some fucking masks!

I truly enjoyed this book! A mystery inside a mystery - a book inside a book! I lived the way the story was told - the excellent character development and the way it was all neatly wrapped up!

I'm still not convinced Leo didn't do it!!

I enjoyed this book and really liked the structure of the book with the letters throughout. I felt like things moved too quickly in the subplot at the end.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It had me hooked since the very first chapter. That one line, "And so we go to the Map Room to found a friendship, and I have my first coffee with a killer," was what originally hooked me. But then, the story took off more with the romance and constant plot twists!

I loved the addition of Leo's notes to Hannah and the revelation that he was not in fact who he seemed to be right away. You start getting hints after awhile which led me to start hating him, and then the twist was revealed. I do think that Leo got a little bit dark, but I assume that that's just his character.

I love all the characters! They have amazing back stories and I liked the idea that Hannah was writing this story while talking to Leo!

An interesting mystery within a mystery. On the day that a writer meets 3 people in the public library, a woman screams and dies. Someone plays that scream to her later on, involving her, as it increasingly appears that one of the 4 may be the culprit. Then we find out that this mystery is fictional, and the real one is unfolding in letters. A slow first half is compensated with a racy second half. Though it is predictable enough, the writing gives you moments of disquiet. The scenic prose is enjoyable.