First ever Sulari Gentill reader here and definitely not a last. Gentill writes a super clever who-done-it tale. It's a book within a book and for a book lover like me its absolutely wonderful! The audio by Katherine Littell was most enjoyable and I imagine with all the complexities of this book wasn't an easy task..

Imagine writing a novel the Boston Library and meeting the 3 people at your table when someone screams inside the library and you then find that person is dead. Next, imagine unknown to you one of the 4 is the killer. This is the premise of "The Woman in the Library." Freddie is on scholarship and writing her novel when the above happens. She quickly becomes friends with the 3 others sitting at the table, Marigold, Whit and Cain. But not truly knowing each other, are any of them truly safe?

Ah, but this is not the whole tale. In between chapers are notes, Hannah (the real author) sends to her beta reader (Leo). And this is the truly golden part of the book. As Hannah send chapters for review to Leo, he in turn, returns his suggestions for changes. Some she incorporates and others she ignores. Leo's responses change throughout the exchange, leading the reader to question who is he?

We are kept tied to the mystery (or mysteries) as each story unfolds. Who done it? Red herrings abound. When the group suspects one of them, is that person the murderer, falsely accused or a pawn for the real murderer. And dont forget, we need to know whats going on with Leo.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Sulari Gentill and Dreamscape Media for a cleverly written and immensely enjoyable mystery set in a magical location. From the format to the actual mysteries, layer after layer, this books is a fun trip!

Great read.
The back and forth was an interesting way to tell this story. Edge of your seat until the last page.

One note there should have had a male narrator for Leo.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

So I kept seeing posts about this book all over social media. I've heard a lot of good things and just had to check it out for myself.

Unfortunately, for me this book just didn't hold up and I don't understand the hype. I mean it's fine, but it's not anything that stuck out to me or that will stay with me. I finished it, was like okay that's done and now I'm already forgetting it. I managed to finish the audio book but if I had of had to physically read it I probably wouldn't have finished.

The narrator seemed to fit the story quite well. Her voice and tones fit the story perfectly. Katherine Littrell did a good job making the characters distinguishable from each other making the storyline easier to follow, which given that it's a story about a story was super helpful.

I loved the way this was written with the story within a story. I don’t believe I have read anything like this. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters and flipped a few times with who I believed was the killer. My only disappointment was that I thought it should be longer. Could this be book one of a multi book saga exploring these characters again?

Wow! 4.5 stars! This was a mystery within a mystery. A cool concept where a writer, Hannah, is writing the story of 4 stranger who meet in the Boston Public Library. Drawn together when a woman screams, the screamer is later found murdered. A whodunit ensues. Meanwhile, Hannah, a quite famous Australian writer, has been sharing her newest mystery with a super fan, Leo Johnson, who also seems to be a serial killer. They’ve met through an online reading group. This is really the side plot. Hannah’s story about Freddie and her cohorts are the main focus and seem to be a thread in leading to the capture of “Leo.” Intrigued yet? I’m already calling it; this is the best mystery to come out this summer.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape for this audio e-book.*

Many thanks to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Dreamscape Media for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of this wonderful book by Sulari Gentill - 4.5 stars!

Freddie hails from Australia and is in Boston after winning a writing scholarship to continue work on her book. She has a random meeting with 3 other people at a table in the Boston Public Library when they hear a scream and soon learn a woman has died. The four soon develop a close relationship, not really knowing all they should about each other and if they too are unsafe.

This book was such fun - a whodunit story with beginnings in a library, authors writing and critiquing their work, a story in a story setting. Add in differences between American and Australian culture, the pandemic, and racial issues and it gets better and better! This is my first book by this author but I'll definitely come back for more!

Narrated by Katherine Littrell, who did a great job with all the voices. I started reading the digital copy and switched to the audio, but I think the digital would probably be easier to follow due to different typesets of the correspondence - or maybe that's just me!

I literally couldn’t put this book down from the moment I picked it up. Think clue - four people trapped in a room tigger her and one of them is the killer. Honestly a little predictable but still a roller coaster of a ride. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This one just didn't work for me. There were too many stories within stories and the characters are the same within each story. I just couldn't keep up. It felt like so much work to keep everything straight, and when I really, I really just want to be swept away by the story.

This just got too byzantine at the end.


Review copy provided by publisher.


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This literary mystery thriller started off really strong but sort of lost steam midway through for me. Told as a story within a story, the reader is left trying to determine what is fact and fiction as we follow four strangers who meet in the reading room of the Boston Public library only to have their silence interrupted by a woman's dying scream. From the beginning we are told one of these four is the killer but the journey to uncover who is a long one. Twisty and great on audio, this was an entertaining ride and perfect for fans of books like Cover story or Who is Maud Dixon. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copies! I'll definitely be waiting eagerly for the next book by this author!

I was so excited for this one, but I made it 20% of the way through before giving up out of boredom. I think I needed a little bit more info about the characters to actually care about them. And the plot didn't keep me. Also there was a lot of telling what americans do or say compared to Australians and as an American, I didn't find them all true. I found that annoying.

"The Woman in the Library" is a book within a book: the story opens with the correspondence between a well known Australian author named Hannah and a man named Leo enthusiastic about giving her feedback on her new mystery novel. The chapters then alternate between Leo's suggested edits for Hannah, and her draft book chapters. Her novel is a fairly straightforward whodunit story. Four strangers hear a scream in the Boston Public Library, and they then embark on a Scooby Gang kind of adventure to discover its origin. As the novel grows in its intensity, so do Leo's comments, suggesting that maybe he isn't simply a well-intentioned beta reader. I loved the meta nature of this book: I felt like I was being given a special 2 mysteries for the price of 1 deal. The book really took off for me in the second half, and even though Hannah's book is a bit ridiculous at times, I found it charming with just the right amount of campy. A perfect, fun summer read for those of us who like our mysteries/thrillers with a low amount of gore.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

This was an incredible book. The format and feel of the book reminds me so much of Anthony Horowitz and I am here for it. We are reading about Freddie, an Australian living in Boston on a writing fellowship. She is in the library and hears a woman scream. Other patrons at her table join Freddie in speculating what happened and the story jumps off from there. Interspersed between Freddie's story are letter from Leo to Hannah (the author of Freddie's tale). Such a great novel - I binged it in a day and stayed up way too late to get to the end.

📚 Hello Book Friends! THE WOMAN IN THE LIBRARY by Sulari Gentill synopsis had me at “four strangers, a library, a murder”. I enjoyed the great cast of characters and the "who done it" twist. I was however confused at the beginning of the story because I did not understand that this was a story within a story. I put the book down. and waited two days before picking it up again to finish it. The story made sense after that, but it failed to deliver the game of Clue feel I was expecting. The ending was too open and left me with a lot of questions.

The narration was good but the narrator did not change the tone of her voice when she was reading Leo's letters. I think it would have been better if she did.

5/5 stars!!!

Thank you Dreamscape media for allowing me to review the advanced listening copy of this AWESOME book!

When a high-pitched scream shatters the quiet inside the Boston Public Library, four strangers strike up a conversation and a friendship develops. Throughout the story, these four become entangled in a web of deceit, unexpected connections and devilish pasts that results in shocking news... one of them is a murderer!

WOW! This was such a unique and clever story. There were so many layers to the plot and the characters that my head was spinning in the best way! This was a phenomenal story to listen to as an audiobook; the narrator did an excellent job with the various accents and dialects necessary for the characters. From start to finish I was hooked and completed this one so quick. I couldn’t stop listening! Such a clever mystery and the story within the story?! Trippy! Excellent writing, excellent plot, excellent narration. Get this one as soon as you can!

Overall, I found it difficult to get into the rhythm of story, then Leo's letters... This will appeal most to Boston Public Library fans, and Bostonians who read mysteries.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The Woman in the Library is told in two parallel story arcs: Winifred, an Australian novelist living in Boston is suddenly bonded with her tablemates at the Boston Public Library when they all hear a scream. What follows is the unraveling of a classic murder mystery, where everyone is a suspect and no one is safe. Alternately, at the end of each chapter we are also shown email correspondence from Leo, a Bostonian working to inform an author Hannah for her novel, as described above. Leo's letters become increasingly... hostile. From there, the two storylines converge: within Hannah's novel, Winifred works to find out which of her new friends she can trust; outside the novel, Leo's emails are becoming more and more worrisome and Hannah must keep sending him chapters for editing without tipping him off.

I enjoyed the parallel plotlines. I think that this is a feat that could have been very muddy and confusing to keep the two straight, but even listening on audiobook I was never confused as to which plot I was in. And the ATMOSPHERE. I lived in Boston for a few years and I loved when the author would name-drop some of my faves (brunch at The Friendly Toast, anyone?)

The mystery however, was very mid to me. It's not even that there is anything technically wrong or inadequate, it just wasn't for me. 3/5 stars, it was an interesting concept and I definitely think fans of mystery should give this one a go!

First off thank you to @netgalley for providing me this audiobook and I am voluntarily leaving my review! I reallyyyy wanted to enjoy this one more, but it honestly just fell flat for me 😩 I was very intrigued by the premise of this book where a woman is killed in the library and the whole murder mystery concept behind this, but the plot kinda lost me and I wasn’t a fan of the story within a story that was happening in this book. From the reviews online a lot of people enjoyed this book, it just wasn’t for me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh my golly gosh this book...

A book within a book, several mysteries braided together, and murderers within each storyline.

Gentill has blessed us all with a perfectly hateable villain, a stellar romance that has the opposite of a meet-cute, several murders, and many conversations on the sham of a justice system we have in America, how white men are the last people who should try to mansplain race, and some of the most strangely appetizing donut flavor combinations that nobody else thought of before.

Such a solid read from beginning to end.

Incredibly boring and goes off on random tangents. I don’t have much else to say unfortunately but I’m pretty disappointed. A lot of useless information that convoluted the story so I’m not sure what was trying to be done here. The characters felt so one dimensional I truly did not care about even one of them. I was excited for this one but it fell flat.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!