Today we are talking about The Woman in the Library!
Netflix was kind enough to notify me that Criminal Minds will be leaving at the end of the month. Is there a better show to watch when reading about a mysterious murder with a very small suspect pool?

When Winifred received the Marriot Fellowship to write a mystery novel while living abroad in the U.S. she never envisioned she would become enmeshed in a mystery herself. While writing in the Boston Public Library, using some of her fellow patrons as inspiration, an ear piercing scream shatters the silence of the room. Marigold, Whit, and Cain, all as alarmed as Winifred, begin to guess the cause. When a body is found hidden away the next morning, the four form a bond. It doesn’t take long for accusations to begin to fly in the group when one of them is stabbed and another has been previously incarcerated, for murder.

Huge thanks to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sulari Gentill for an advanced copy of this book.

There is nothing that will make me gravitate to a book more than for it to be epistolary. If you don't know epistolary novels are those that include a diary, journal or letter format. Today that can also include emails or even text messages. My all time favorite epistolary so far is Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata. The Woman in the Library is definitely a close second. It is a story within a story. It is whimsical and thrilling.

The characters are well thought out and all have their own story to tell, which they do. I really enjoyed how Winifred, Freddie, became the center of the group, how the other three characters gravitated towards her as lover, protector, and friend. I definitely wasn’t surprised by how the story ended, but enjoyed the journey to the end. All in all I would recommend this book if you love a good murder mystery or epistolary novels like me.

The book opens with Hannah, who narrates most of the book. She is an aspiring Australian writer working on her next novel in the Boston Public Library and in the opening scene, she's in the reading room to do some surreptitious people watching, hoping her observations will inspire the creation of some of her story's characters. Her eyes eventually sweep toward Cain, a nearby author who turns out to be doing much of the same. They, along with two other nearby patrons in the reading room, are startled when a bloodcurdling breaks the room's studious silence.

These four strangers, bound by a shared mystery, conduct some impressive if amateur sleuthing to try and figure out what happened in the library. Through local news, the four realize, not with little horror, that they were witnesses to a murder. But when the work of local police forces seem to hit a strangling halt, the new friends decide to do some amateur sleuthing of their own. Before long, strange and increasingly sinister things start happening to each of them, as though someone was trying to get warn or get rid of them.

All the while, the writer in Hannah decides this is perfect fodder for storytelling. As she and her new friends try to get to the bottom of the murder, she spins all the events into newly spun chapters for her book. Each chapter of the book begins with a letter from her American writer penpal, Leo, who gives her regular feedback on the unwinding novel.

At prima fascia, there was a lot to like about this book. The first chapter opened with some thrilling action, in one of my favorite earthly locations no less. I loved that the two of the main characters were aspiring writers, which allowed the author unique opportunities to offer some interesting meta-commentary on the writing process, including gems such as these (spoken by Hannah, the narrator) -

"I am a bricklayer without drawings, laying words in sentences, sentences into paragraphs, allowing my walls to twist and turn on whim. There is no framework, just bricks interlocked to support each other into a story."

Plus there was the whammy of a whodunnit that splashed out in the very first pages. Who was murdered and why? From there, the plot got a little messy for me. As the book unfolds, there are a perplexing flurry of red herrings thrown the readers' way. Her penpal Leo becomes increasingly creepy, a neighbor seems unnecessarily clingy, and each of her friends seem suspicious for one reason or another. I'm a big fan of suspense, but this dizzying carousel of suspects became quickly tiresome.

I know some other readers have made mention of the charming 'book within a book' theme, but it actually created serious trust issues for me as a reader. If I were in Hannah's scary shoes, witnessing people beat up in the streets and and picking up on creepster vibes around me all day, I seriously doubt I'd have the wherewithal to sit before a typewriter and spin tales about being a real life target. And then there were a slew of questionable decisions from there. Staying in place while creepy notes and anonymous 'gifts' showed up at her home address. Aiding and abetting someone with a criminal history that she just met. Falling in love with one of the primary suspects, against all seemingly obvious signs. I know it's all fiction. I know that there's the good-moral subtext that not everyone with a criminal history is truly criminal. I know that as a reader, I'm bound by an implicit agreement to suspend disbelief whenever the author deems necessary. But it all made me question Hannah's qualifications as the hero of this story and I found myself caring less and less about what happened to her.

Seeing as how she's the main protagonist, that made it pretty difficult to keep the pages turning.

As an ARC previewer, I knew I'd have to make it to the end if I wanted to give genuine feedback. But as a reader, I lost interest long before the midpoint. So as far as reviews go, I'm afraid the verdict is in.

arc so no spoilers as always! this was one of the most disturbing books i've ever read but it was absolutely fantastic. the way the horror elements creeped in slowly and the layering of how the story within the story escalated as the outside events did as well was fantastic. the plot twists were incredible, especially because using someone else as a feedback device on the story as you're reading really threw off at least my natural detective instincts (lol). cannot recommend enough, read asap if you're into thrillers, horror, and love the boston area!

spoilers for netgalley:
the FBI letter reveal halfway through was SO GOOD. seeing leo become more and more unhinged as he got obsessed with the anonymity of masks and even cain's race was a nice touch. and whit was a good twist as well! obviously i was at least a little suspicious of him the whole time because freddie tells us straight away it's going to be him, marigold, or cain, but the way it was revealed and the fact that he knew caroline were fantastic. LOVED this book

Such an amazing and well done story!
I wasn't able to put this book down! I've always liked "books within a book" kinds of stories and this delivered!
The author does an amazing job with creating balance between perspectives and guiding us along with no confusion whatsoever. It flowed really well and had a great pace that kept me turning pages.
The plot? The twists! So many mysteries within mysteries.
One of my favorite things with this was the relationships the author created between all of the characters,

At first I thought I was just going to read a fun mystery, but this blew my expectations away.
Highly recommend!

An interesting take on reversed locked room mysteries and a wonderful exploration of tropes in mystery writing. If you enjoyed Peter Swanson's Eight Perfect Murders you might like this book.

Told between two perspectives: The fictional narrative in it's "draft" form and the correspondence from the writer's friend who is giving both helpful suggestions and details their woes as an aspiring author themselves. The "draft" reads as a bent take on what may have been the reality of the main character Freddie. While Freddie is in the Boston Public Library one day working on her manuscript, everyone in the reading rooms hears a horrifying scream from within the library. When a security guard goes to inspect what may have happened, Freddie and her tablemates become instant friends and immediately being speculating what may have happened. When reports later on the news tell of a dead body found in the library the four band together to figure out what happened.

The forced insta-friendship was a bit much for me. Certainly there were other aspects that came along with the forced friendship that also felt very fake. All those parts were necessary to move the story where it was going, but it just felt like placeholders that were needed to move the plot along instead of being cohesive part of the narrative. But that could also just be me interpreting the book wrong?

I felt like this book was trying to say more about the mystery locked-room scenario than what was on the page and maybe I just wasn't as knowledgeable about the mystery tropes the author was trying to pull apart? I don't know, but I just left this book feeling like I didn't *get* it?

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Sulari Gentill for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.

I was unfortunately underwhelmed by this story. It started strong with characters I initially felt drawn to and wanted to know more about. But there was so much jumping around from fictional to real life characters, that I lost interest and had to force myself to refocus. By the time I made it halfway I felt disconnected from the characters and the story.

There were also two twists in the story that weren’t surprising but did make the story more fun. This wasn’t the right fit for me but I’m sure plenty of people will enjoy this unique mystery and the Boston setting.

Thank you @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the chance to read and review this arc.

I really don't know how to feel about this book. I really liked the sound of the premise, with a body being found in a library, it was giving me strong Agatha Christie vibes, but the book was far from what I expected. Freddie the protagonist meets three future friends when in the reading room at the college library. They end up bonding over what happens that day when they hear a girls scream. From there they decide to investigate what really happened, especially after a girls body is found. Each of them have a past that they are hiding and that soon comes to light over the course of the book. I really liked all of the characters, they are all slightly more mature college students and that was definitely reflected in the writing. They also had believable relationships, and were naïve as young adults are.
My issue came from the emails/letters within the book. I know that these were there to show that the story of Freddie was actually fictional but I felt that it really lacked relevance and would have been fine without them. I found that it deterred me away from the actual story, and at times was quite jarring.

3.5 stars ✨

They are four strangers. Sitting across each other in the library and then, they heard a scream! As they were cleared with their link to the screams, a friendship bloomed. But soon they realize things are related to them more than it seems, and one of them is a murderer…

The Woman in the Library is a “story within a story” that follows Hannah, a mystery novel writer who is writing a book about four strangers connected by a woman’s scream in the library, and her namesake Freddie, also a mystery novel writer who is one of the four strangers in the book.

I loved the concept of having a story within a story, and it was so captivating in the way it was executed. The plot was well thought out and the correlation between real and fictional characters was remarkable and very unsettling at times. But, I feel that maybe this concept made the pacing of the plot a little slow. I would have loved this book more if the pacing was a bit fast…because there were many moments that I wanted to skip.

We don’t have much about Hannah, the real-life character as the focus is more on Freddie, the book character. Talking about Freddie, she becomes more and more confused about things happening around her. There were many occasions the answers were in front of her but she didn’t look at things rationally.

Out of all the other characters, Cain was the only one whose backstory was discussed profoundly, but that too was not enough to get attached to him. Marigold was annoying throughout the book and Whit was well…Whit, not much is there to him. Leo, the one who interacted with Hannah in real life didn’t have much impact either (but it could have been something else…something better).

The mystery started so well and I was fully immersed in the story. Even the story within the story gripped me with the unsettling way both the stories were connected. But, I’m very disappointed with that finale. The ending Hannah had and the ending Freddie had, both were so anti-climactic. Even though Freddie’s story is finished, maybe Hannah’s story has a little hint for a sequel? But if it isn’t, then it’s super disappointing.

Overall, this book is captivating and very interesting. The story within the story was perfectly executed, keeping the suspense and unsettling feeling constant throughout. But this one lost its charm with such a poor ending. I’ll recommend you read it for it will keep you engaged in the whole process of things being connected and who the killer is.

Trigger Warnings: Death, Murder, Violence, Rape Attempt, Stalking, Gun Violence, Blood.

I first became aware of Sulari Gentill when I read her stand-alone novel, Crossing The Lines, which I loved. In The Woman in the Library, another stand-alone, Gentill has again turned to metafiction, utilising the device of writers corresponding and thus telling stories within stories.

Hannah Tigone, is an Australian crime author. Her opus is about a murder in the Boston Public Library – a typical locked room mystery. Leo, her correspondent, is an aspiring author, as yet without an agent and with no manuscript accepted. He is Boston based and happy not just to beta read for Hannah, but to offer authoritative information on local customs and landmarks.

This book is a lot of fun. The heroine of Hannah’s book, Freddie Kinkaid, is an Australian in Boston on a writing fellowship. She is pondering her latest novel in the Reading Room of the Boston Library when she hears a curdling scream and soon after she, together with the three people sitting nearest to her, are all ushered out of the library.

It turns out that the body of journalist Caroline Palfrey has been discovered and she was murdered in the Library. Over coffee, the four library visitors – Cain, Marigold, Freddie and Whit discuss the murder and bond over their shared interest in finding out what happened.

So Hannah’s novel becomes Freddie’s story of solving the mystery of The Woman in the Library. And to further complicate matters, Hannah writes Leo into the story as a neighbour and helpful friend.

This pleases our correspondent and his namesake. As Hannah finishes a chapter, Leo reads it and offers feedback. Eager to be helpful in the beginning, he soon begins to offer more assertive suggestions and to query the direction of her novel. It seems our beta reader hasstrongly held views about what Hannah should be writing…

The Woman in the Library is a murder mystery but the danger is both within the novel that Hannah is writing and from external sources. Both narratives come together and it seems that everyone in this fictional story has something to hide and our author may herself be under threat.

Verdict: I found The Woman in the Library hugely fun to read. The murder mystery stands up as a good read in its own right and the added layers of a chilling correspondent make for an extra frisson of interest. I especially love the exchanges between Leo and Hannah on what is important when writing her book. Gentill touches on the dilemmas every writer faces – do you include the pandemic in your story? Should you be explicit about the race and colour of your characters, or leave it to the reader to form their own opinions? This is a brilliantly constructed novel. It is great fun, clever, thought-provoking and a joy to read.

This was one of the best thrillers I've read this far. it did slow down at times, but I enjoyed it through and through. Full review upcoming on my blog "Abby's Coven".

I really liked the setting of the novel, a library in Boston. However, the novel did not engage me. I did like format. I struggled to stay engaged with the characters. This book was a miss for me.

What a mind-boggling ride!

Hannah is writing a book and sending chapters to Leo to critique. Her story centres on Freddie, who meets Whit, Marigold and Cain at the BPL after hearing a scream while studying in the reading room. What follows is a whodunit-style mystery that will keep you second-guessing yourself until the end.

It was a very unique and enjoyable read!

I like the flow of the main story. The start was quite engaging and each chapter ended with a good cliffhanger. Enough to make you want to continue reading. How it kept me guessing up until the very end. But, I was a bit underwhelmed at the end. That revelation of who the killer is, yes, eventful but I was hoping for something more.

What I was not a fan off were the messages Leo to Hannah. In the beginning, they were entertaining but as the main story progresses, I found Leo’s messages quite annoying, and oftentimes, ruins the momentum of the main story.

You can read my full book review on my blog.
Here is the link to it:
https://thecatwithabook.wordpress.com/2022/06/06/book-review-the-woman-in-the-library/

Stayed up all night so I could finish this book. It has nothing to do with the fact that this is that thriller genre. Average thriller doesn't keep you awake, especially when you read a bunch of them.
This piece is beyond a great thriller. It is a detailed, well-told story that includes everything you need if it is thoroughly connected. Sulari Gentil takes strangers, events, friendships, romance, jealousy stalking, good food, and dead bodies and with tremendous dedication, she pins it all on her investigation board that is this book. And the part that I like the most is the fact that she's not afraid to judge and comment own work in form of email correspondence that is a part of this book. I felt like she use that for a great story inside of a story but also to show weaknesses that this genre can have.

If you are bored of oh no the husband/wife did it trope that you probably read at least 10 times before, and if you want something more complex pick this book up it is a great read I promise you that might regret it.
4,5⭐

3.5 Stars

This book is a very interesting concept, it’s ‘story within a story’ concept consists of the main mystery story which is in the form of an author’s manuscript and a beta reader writing letters to the author giving their thoughts on the manuscript.

At the beginning I didn’t love the beta reader input because I thought it was slowing down my discovery as to what was going on. The letters were placed perfectly as the tension grew and at times it felt agonising as I just wanted to know what happened next. As the story went on and the storyline of the beta reader grew through the letters I enjoyed these bits more.

In terms of mystery this book did really well, it kept me on my toes guessing until almost the very end, I was literally suspicious of everybody and questioning motives/alibis and aware of what seemed too obvious looking for hints at twists along the way.

I loved the character development and the friendships that formed in this book. I can’t really go into detail about which ones I loved as it would give the mystery away but if you know you know!

Overall, I enjoyed this one however I think I could have done without the story within a story style and instead just focussed on the main mystery. Although as it unfolded I got more into it, I think it only took away from my general feelings towards the book as appose to adding anything. Having said that this book was fast paced and gripping with lovable characters.

*Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Woman in the Library, Sulari Gentill. 4.5*
The Woman in the Library is a fascinating, entertaining murder and psychological mystery set in Boston, specifically in Boston Public Library (BPL), told from 2 main points of view, as well as a sinister third thread. Sulari Gentill has written a book within a book, an original meta fiction mystery. Sometimes her threads become confused and complicated, as there are two authors at play in the book. Her author is called Hannah Tigone, while the protagonist of The Woman in the Library is Australian – like Sulari Gentill herself – author Winifred (‘Freddie’) Kincaid who is the beneficiary of a writing grant giving her a room in Boston to write her next novel. The second protagonist is, by way of emails, Leo, a would-be author, Hannah's Beta-reader and her fan. This gets complicated when Freddie adds a Leo to her novel; different names would have been less confusing. The third POV is news broadcasts and correspondence to Hannah.

The mystery starts when four strangers – Freddie, Cain, Whit and Marigold – sitting in The Reading Room of the Boston Public Library bond over the scream of a frightened woman within the library. Chancing upon this mystery, Freddie starts a novel based on imagined events. As the foursome become fast friends, Freddie weaves in the other three as the main characters in her crime book.

The scream is followed by the police confirming a murder the next day or two, and the four friends are interviewed. Eventually secrets emerge of the past life of one character in particular, who soon becomes a police suspect. In true murder mystery style, a second murder ensues followed by some knife attacks.

Red herrings proliferate, characters are further interwoven in historical threads, and there are themes about the prison system, ex-convicts who have served their time for their crimes, and homeless people who were noted by society once. The book is twisty and page-turning, always riveting. The characters are ones to root for. Freddie is warm and likeable. Great ending that all the arrows pointed to towards the final quarter.

Sulari Gentill is going to an author I will read again. Strongly recommended.

I love a smart, well written mystery, especially one with a twist in the tale, so this was definitely my kind of book. I have to admit it took a lot of concentration to stay on top of events but the best books usually require participation on the part of the reader.

The Woman in the Library introduces us to Hannah Tigone, a Sydney based author of mysteries. She is writing a book set in Boston and has a beta reader called Leo who lives there and provides suggestions when the text needs adjusting for local atmosphere. Her characters, Freddie, Whit, Marigold and Cain, meet in the library when a young woman is murdered.

The book progresses with excerpts of Hannah's writing interspersed with Leo's replies. Then at his request Hannah writes him into her story. That is the point where I had to start really concentrating, and also when things started to become really tense and I had problems putting the book down just to make a cup of tea!

I liked the way the author (the real one that is - Gentill) included Covid as a sort of aside to the story rather than featuring it all the time. She has added some good notes at the end about the issue that Covid has been to all authors currently writing novels. I enjoyed the mystery, the little romance between Freddie and Cain, Hannah's smart moves regarding Leo and the rather edgy ending. I smiled at the reference to Australian chocolate being superior to American, remembering when I arrived in Australia from the UK and thought it was dreadful. Of course I love it now - it is all a case of what you are used to.

This is an excellent book as I would expect from this author. I still yearn for more from her Rowland Sinclair series though.

. . . ⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭒ ⭒
All in all, this was a very middle-ground read for me - I don’t feel like my time was wasted by sticking it out and finishing, but I also don’t feel like this was a particularly memorable read either.

I definitely struggled to get into the groove of the book - the premise was intriguing, but I felt like the initial spark of interest fizzled out pretty quickly. I will say that the pace definitely picked up in the last quarter of the book, and that momentum kept me reading.

I’m somewhat divided on the subplot of the correspondence between Hannah and Leo, perhaps slightly leaning more towards interesting versus unnecessary. If I really dig down deep, I may even have been slightly more invested in how that played out over the fictional characters.

It did feel like both plots wrapped up r e a l l y quickly, a little too quickly even, which left me feeling a bit underwhelmed after the last page.

With that being said, I think there was potential here, and it read a bit like a miniseries - I could see it adapting well onscreen.

Woman in the Library hits shelves June 7th if you’re interested in checking it out!

~ 👩🏻‍🦰

I loved this book! It was so creatively written and I was addicted early on.

The book is a story within a story, about someone writing a story. Freddie, main character in the novel and aspiring author, meets a small group of people at the library after they collectively hear a scream which turns out to be a murder. What seems like it could be a random/isolated incident turns out to bring danger to their own doors. With the quirks of her new friends, you don’t know who to trust.

At the end of each chapter, there is a section where a man 'Leo' is giving feedback on the story to the author, chapter by chapter as he is reviewing it like a manuscript. This adds a really cool twist to a typical mystery- we get someone else's thoughts as the plot unfolds!

I loved this. I am actually really excited to read it again to see what I could have missed the first time around.

This was a clever read. I will describe it as a fictional mystery story within a real story with a fictional story being written in the fictional story. Have I lost you? Surprisingly, it is not confusing if you will read the book. I feel like the author did a great job of making us really care, even though we are told very early on that the main mystery is a fictitious one. We want to know why the author has told us this info, because that must mean something crazy must be happening in real life. I really enjoyed the conversations about how things are said differently in America and Australia. There is occasional language(F-bombs), but not as much as in most thrillers and no smut, for those that pay attention to such things. I feel like this book is what happens if a psychological thriller and cozy mystery where to have a baby. I received this book prior to release for an honest review.