This is my second Sulari Gentiil book after The Woman in the Library and I think I found her style of writing and the way the story moves forward quite similar in these 2 books. There is a group of friends, they go out for coffee/dinner/lunch dates and somewhere there is a murder that gets inserted into this and then the relationship dynamics in this group is left imbalanced. I'm not really complaining because her books are very easy to read but at the same time, if you ask me 3 months later to recount the story, I will not remember anything at all.

Theo has decided that she does not want to study law in Australia and she wants to write books, so she decides to pack it all up and move to America to be with her brother, Gus. Gus and Theo had a rather unconventional upbringing but Gus is a supportive and protective brother. Theo starts work on her first novel, often writing and editing in one of the cafes, where she meets another bestselling writer, Dan Murdoch, who mentors her in the novel writing process. They become close and develop feelings for each other but Theo's world is turned upside down when Dan is found murdered and Theo is the one to discover his body. There is plot angle of weird conspiracy theories and Theo finds herself getting targeted by Dan's fans. Gus and his friend Mac(I liked his character and his absurd but interesting family) help Theo to untangle the mess but they themselves get embroiled in the whole matter and then things start going south very quickly.

Theo's character seems to be so naïve and always in need of protection from either Gus or Mac that at some point I couldn't help rolling my eyes. Overall although I enjoyed reading the book, I found the ending to be a little far-fetched.

This was a compelling mystery, with interesting characters and an interesting storyline. It was entertaining and for a large part of it, kept me on the edge of my seat. I did begin to be bored around 50% through, and that lasted for a while, but the reveal and overall story of this book made it worth pushing through the part that felt like a jarring change in direction.
One thing that I dislike about this author's writing is the villifying of people on the political far right. I'm not even in that party, but the author intentionally creating characters with that leaning in both the books I've read and making those characters into extremely negative caricatures is very off-putting to me. I probably will avoid her works in the future because of this tendency.
I am glad to have read both the books that I have, though.

Theo leaves law school and moves to America to live with her brother, with dreams of becoming a writer. She starts going to a local café to focus on her writing and befriends not only the employees, but some of the other regulars. When one of the café regulars is murdered, she gets wrapped up in the investigation. As much as she doesn’t want to be a suspect, she wants to help find out what happened. Will she figure out who the real murderer is? All while trying to write a novel? We shall see..

I really enjoyed the concept of the story. I thought the first half of the book was a bit slow moving, but then the story picked up a little pace. But then, mid-chapter, I got really confused and thought I accidentally turned pages on my kindle and didn’t notice. I went back and forth to make sure I didn’t miss anything, but nope, I read it all. The story just jumped to an entirely different scene. This happened a handful of times through the end and each time I had to keep reading before I figured out what was going on. At times, I’d have to go back and reread that section once I had a better idea.

All in all, I enjoyed reading it!

A quiet but powerful mystery set in the world of conspiracy theories and secrets. Theodosia Benton arrives at her brother's home in Kansas leaving her schooling and life behind to become a writer. While writing at a local café Theo meets literary powerhouse Dan Murdoch who quickly becomes her mentor and maybe something more. The day after Theo gives Dan her manuscript she finds his body, brutally murdered in his home. Theo immediately is suspected by Murdoch's fans and is dragged into conspiracy theories and the secrets of the literary world. The bodies continue to stack-up and further freighting things continue to happen to Theo and her brother Gus. Theo is not swayed to stop finding Dan's murderer, especially after the police find evidence that implicates Gus in the murders. Theo most protect her brother at all costs including falling head-first into the dark side of the literary world. Can Gus follow the trail of clues left by Theo to save his sister and shake the foundation of the dangerous underbelly of literary secrets that protect authors at all cost. Sulari Gentill is a talented writer who's novels are descriptive and captivating. Gentill's true talent is how she creates and structures her characters, their dialogue flows effortlessly and I always get lost in the world she creates. I gave this book a 3.5 stars, as I did not connect with the story and the conspiracy theory angle. Overall I did enjoy the novel, the writing and characters were intriguing and likeable. Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the digital ARC, all opinions are my own.

This was ok. The plot was very convoluted. Theo was hard to like because she kept making very immature decisions. She's young so I tried to see past this, but the decisions were central to the plot and started to get frustrating after a while. The conspiracy theorist stuff was distracting and I honestly didn't think that it added much to the plot. Gus was a good older brother and I liked Mac's family.

The pacing is inconsistent here, so the story seems to move forward in fits and starts with lulls in between. The ending felt rushed like the author ran out of time and crammed it all in. There were too many unlikely plot developments to be believable, which took me out of the flow of the story.

Not my favorite thriller this month or even this year, unfortunately.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Sulari Gentill's The Woman in the Library blew me away when I read it in 2022 so I was thrilled to receive an advanced review copy of her latest and requested without even reading the summary.

I loved the set up of this. Theo is an interesting main character and while I never really bought into her relationship with her "mentor" it made sense given the circumstances that she would be involved in solving the mystery of his murder. I liked the tension and was happily along for the ride... until the ending. This book is on the longer end for a mystery novel yet the last 20% uses so many time jumps that the ending felt rushed and left me unsatisfied. While ultimately I think the logic was there, the change in pace made it feel unbelievable because it moved so quickly.

I liked what the author was trying to do by exploring conspiracy theorists and relating the believability of certain conspiracies to fandom around certain books and the parasocial relationship some readers get with their favorite authors in the age of social media. Ultimately though none of that was explored as in depth as I wanted it to and I'm not sure if it's because the ending felt rushed or because of other reasons.

While this ultimately didn't work as well for me as I wanted it to, I still really like Gentill's prose and am interested in seeing what she writes next.

I'm a little late with this due to unexpected life things but im here and that's all that matters😭 right? right?!?

I feel like I read The Mystery Writer at exactly the right time. It's funny that John Grisham is mentioned somewhere in here because that was literally a reoccurring thought as I read the book is that it reminded me of a classic mystery novel and John Grisham specifically came to mind! I love Surali's prose which is usually very important to me because otherwise I don't really connect to the story. Aside from references of recent world happenings you don't really know when this book is set which I love. It is definitely has promise to join the ranks of mystery classics. One thing that ruffled my little feathers though was Theo's naivete for most of the book. Granted she is just coming into adulthood though, ill give it a little bit of a pass. In conclusion, Mac Etheridge marry me pls.

'The Mystery Writer’ by Christina Estes
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication: March 26, 2024
Special thanks to Netgalley and Poison Pen Press for the Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

MC Theodosia Benton has just left law school and shows up on the doorstep of her brother, Gus, announcing she wants to become a writer. Gus welcomes Theo into his house and we can instantly see the loving relationship they have with each other. Gus encourages Theo to get out of the house and write so she stumbles into local coffeehouse/bar ‘Benders’ and realizes she isn’t the only writer here. After watching from afar she finally meets acclaimed author Dan Murdoch with whom she develops a friendship/mentorship/romance. When Theo goes to Dan’s house to invite him to dinner she finds him murdered and this sets off a large cascade of events.
Soon a second body is found outside Theo and Gus’ house and the police grow more and more suspicious of her as bodies continue to pile up.

Overall it was a very intriguing book that did a good job of pulling me into the story and had wonderful character development and relationships.
Taking stars off because I found the character of Theo extremely naiive and also because the time jumps throughout the story become a little hard to follow.

In the latest of the Sulari Gentill's appealing crime novels featuring mystery writers, Theo Benton ditches law school and decides to write a novel, so she leaves Australia and shows up at her brother Gus's house in the US. She spends her days writing in a bar/coffee place, where she meets and befriends a famous writer. Of course, real-life murder ensues, and Theo tries to figure out what is going on without getting herself—or her brother—killed. So far, so good: a smart heroine, writers, controlling publishers, murder, and a sense of continuing danger. Conveniently, Gus’s friend Mac has certain skills, not to mention family connections, that come in handy during the increasingly complicated investigation. The twists are fun, though things get a little nutty and farfetched in the second half of the book, with doomsday preppers (!) helping Theo out of a jam.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital advance review copy.

If you're looking for a unique and twisty mystery, this is the one for you! Gentill is fantastic at building out her characters, and making you really care about them. I also really enjoyed the conspiracy aspect, it added unique spin on the typical mystery genre.

The synopsis of the book didn't really match the content or vibe of the book as per my expectation. Sorry I DNFed this book, I am not into conspiracy theories.it might be a better fit for someone who is into conspiracy theories.

Thank you to the piblishers and Netgalley for my eARC.

3.5 stars.

I had mixed feelings about this one. If you like a novel about crime, books, writers, and publishing, this one is for you. I loved the beginning, it pulled me right in. And even throughout, I wanted to finish it and know what happens. But somewhere toward the 3/4 of the book, the story shifted and I had trouble understanding why. The end also seemed rushed, despite having wonderful twists.

Theodosia seemed a bit naive to my taste, and with a background in law, I expected her to be a little more aware of some of the things going on. I only remembered she went to law school when she stated so, but none of her actions reminded me of it.

I loved the two other main characters, Gus and Mac. They were so alive! The author did an amazing job bringing them to life.

I've read other reviews where readers loved "The Woman in the Library" by the same author, I will definitely add it to my TBR list.

**Thank you, Sulari Gentill, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-ARC.**

When Theodosia Benton decides to abandon law school to pursue her dream of being an author of thrillers. She turns to her older brother who lives in the US. Her brother tries to support her dreams and encourages her to find a place to write outside the house. She finds a cafe to go to daily to write where she also meets and falls in love with her literary idol. The day after she gives him her finished manuscript she find him murdered in his home. When she and her brother are soon suspects of the murder, Theodosia must do everything she can to clear her brother.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were likable and believable. I like the relationship between Theodosia and her brother. I like how neither one of the siblings stopped believing or trying to help the other. The mystery is well-plotted and moves at a quick pace. There are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader in suspense on who was truly behind everything.
All thoughts and opinions are my own, I have not been influenced by anyone.

This was a unique perspective on mysteries and I really enjoyed the authorship aspect! Would recommend for a fun spring read

This book was a DNF for me. I kept going back to it but it did not grab me like I thought it would when I read the summary of the book. Thank you for offering it anyway.

Theo has dropped out of law school to pursue her dreams of being a writer and is taking refuge at her brother Gus’ apartment. Her routine of writing at local bars and coffee shops allows her to establish herself within the local writers’ community. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is found murdered, Gus becomes the number one suspect. Theo is forced to choose between her own success or Gus’ freedom. Gentill uses a time jump to progress the narrative and increase the tension of the unsolved crime, but the character arcs suffer from the fast-forward. The sibling relationship created by Gentill is endearing and realistic, and readers will root for the brother-sister duo.

I really enjoyed Sulari Gentill's "The Woman in the Library" so when I read the description of The Mystery Writer I knew I had to read it. It started off solid. When Theo ended up on her brother's doorstep in Lawrence, KS I became skeptical. I grew up in Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas and it's not often that you see a book set in this area that has also been well researched. Sulari Gentill has either visited Lawrence or did a good job researching the area.

There were a couple of things that dropped this from 4 or 5 stars down to 3. One was the main character. Theo drove me crazy! She was so whiny and naive. This alone would keep me from recommending this book to certain people. The other issue was the pacing of the story. It seemed that things were moving linearly and then all of a sudden it had been more than a year. Then towards the end all of a sudden it had been months then YEARS! How did that happen.

The idea was great and I did enjoy it, but the end was a bit hurry we need to wrap this up!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

This was a fun, well-plotted story. I do feel like there was a lot going on, with some elements and themes that didn't quite fully come together, but solidified Gentill as a writer I can assume will deliver a good, entertaining story!

This novel was fine and okay, but I didn't care for the main character, Theo, who just seemed to not be able to take care of herself. She came across as weak. Another issue is the plot was strange and a little convoluted. The novel itself was a great idea and a nice structure...it just wasn't for me and I'm not sure if I can recommend this one.

First, I wanted to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

A writer finds a dead body and is inspired to continue to try and solve the crime. Her own brother is a suspect and it is her love that is found murdered. I truly enjoyed this read but the ended fell a little flat for me.