A little too farfetched! It was hard to believe Theo was so smart but yet so dumb! Readers who enjoy conspiracy theories and Doomsday preppers will most likely be entertained with this tale. A little too crazy.

Overall, I did enjoy this mystery! 🔍However, there were a few things that kept me from rating this higher! 👀

For the most part I enjoyed the characters; that FMC though… 🙄 I mean, I’m sensitive but I don’t cry over every little thing like this girl does. She comes across as very weak, with no backbone, and so gullible - it’s unfortunate. I also felt the ending was a bit far-fetched and rushed to a degree. 🫣

Still would recommend if you like a mystery involving the publishing world and conspiracy theories! 🤓

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review! ❤️

I had high hopes for this book as it sounded very intriguing, but starting this had me sooo confused from the very beginning. I don’t understand what’s happening and I just can’t get with the writing style, or the long chapters. Unfortunately I will not be finishing this book. I would like to thank the publisher, netgalley, and the author for the chance to receive this arc but I will not be able to review this any further.

I won’t speak about it on my socials since I’m sure it’s perfect for someone else, just not for me.

Started off a little slow, even after some bodies started to drop. But then becomes kind of fun, in a “everything is falling apart” kind of way.

I had my suspicions about what was happening and I was proved correct on all fronts. But I never mind guessing the “twists” as long as they’re fun to puzzle out along the way.

The reveals that come could seem outlandish.. except, nothing would surprise me these days. It makes enough kind of sense where I wouldn’t be surprised if stuff like this does eventually happen. (I’m being intentionally vague about the stuff to not spoil it).

The Mystery Writer is a whodunit that is center around a killing of a famous author. So when Theo digs deeper, she discovers layers of secrets and unexpected connections.
This is a great whodunit that will keep you guessing.
If you enjoy Agatha Christie’s works and appreciate unexpected plot twists, you’ll find this books for you.
I thoroughly enjoy this.

A mystery involving a would-be lawyer, an almost-published book, mysterious disappearances, and conspiracy theories should be highly intriguing and action-packed. This book was not.

The writing never managed to catch my attention. The characters were not easy to connect with, and I struggled to care about their stories.

I kept reading, waiting for the story to pick up, but more unnecessary characters were added and the storyline kept getting far-fetched. Overall, I’d skip this one.

This was a really nice, cosy mystery read which kept me guessing.

The narrative follows Theo, an attorney who decides to become a writer. She finds herself in a sticky situation after her mentor is brutally murdered and her brother becomes a suspect. The book's premise was something new to me and this made me want to delve in pretty quickly. I felt that the characters were warmed up a significant amount and this really allowed me to picture scenarios clearly in my head, something I tend to struggle to do.

This narrative kept me guessing until the very last minute and it honestly had me thinking every theory in the book was legitimate.

I was immediately drawn into this story about Theo, a young woman who leaves law school in Australia and travels to Kansas to be near her older brother Gus and get his support in her decision to abandon law school to become a writer.

Gus welcomes her into his home but soon finds Theo isn’t focused on writing because she is cleaning his home. He suggests Theo find a coffee shop or bar to make her “office” and Theo soon finds a nearby pub in which to write.

It is there that she meets Dan, a local writer who turns out to be her mentor and also a writer she has loved for years. She has read every book he ever wrote. They eventually become friends and the relationship soon becomes more. But almost immediately after Theo is intimate with Dan, he is found dead.

Theo’s life soon becomes a game of cat and mouse and I was completely into the story until the point where everything seemed to come to a standstill. Years go by and the mystery of Dan’s death is till a mystery. The time lapse caused the story to lose momentum for me, so that when things finally were resolved it just didn’t seem to have the climax I was expecting.

Not to mention that there were still a few things left up in the air, which leads me to believe a sequel might be in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to offer my honest review and recommend this to mystery readers.

I enjoyed reading Gentill’s The Woman In The Library, and I was looking forward to reading The Mystery Writer. However, it was a disappointing read for me.
Overall, the pacing of the book was uneven. The first half/two-thirds of the book was slow, but the ending was rushed, confusing, and disappointing after the buildup in the earlier chapters.
Characters
I didn’t really connect with any of them—so many of them. The main character is Theodosia (Theo) Benton, a former Australian law student who has dropped out of school without telling her parents (there is a backstory here that is quite different). She shows up on her brother Gus’s doorstep in Lawrence, Kansas, with a story she wants to write. Gus is her older brother with a protective streak when it comes to Theo. Mac, of dubious ethics, works for Gus, and comes from a family of hardcore (and wealthy) preppers/conspiracy theorists.
Thoughts
I’m still not sure what to make of this book. I think it tried to accomplish too much. I loved the premise: What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die. But the book doesn’t fulfil this until the end, and then it happens so fast it was a bit confusing.
I wasn’t a fan of the conspiracy theorists. That was too close to reality for me.
Overall, this wasn’t the book for me, but it may be for you.

I received a complimentary ARC copy of The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill from Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press in order to read and give an honest review.

…An action packed, cleverly crafted, unique, and unexpectedly twisted whodunit filled with brilliantly quirky characters that keeps the reader flipping pages…

I loved author, Sulari Gentill’s previous book The Woman in The Library and was thrilled to recieve and opportunity to read and review her current book, The Mystery Writer and I certainley wasn’t disappointed.

In the Mystery Writer we meet twenty-something Theo Benton who quits law school in Australia, and relocates to the US, Lawrence, Kansas to be exact to pursue her dream of becoming a mystery author. Showing up on her older lawyer brother Gus’s doorstep, she is determined to make her dream come true and writes daily at a local coffee shop. At the coffee shop she befriends a local mystery author and her newly found mentor Dan Murdoch. Dan, who although famous, keeps a low profile due to having problems with overzealous fans whose paths he crossed researching conspiracy theories for his books. Theo and Dan spend months working together and Theo becomes more than friends with the much older author. Theo finally finishes her novel and is so proud, she instantly gives it to Dan to see if he will give it to his publisher. When Dan is reluctant, Theo is devastated, hurt and furious that for all his praise he didn’t believe in her work. When Dan doesn’t show up at the coffee shop the next day and she is unable to reach him she decides to pay a visit to his home. As she arrives at his house, she sees a gentleman quickly exiting and leaving the door open. As her eyes adjust to the darkness inside, she stumbles across the lifeless body of Dan, lying in a pool of blood, his throat slit. When the police arrive, Theo becomes the prime suspect and when her real reason for leaving law school is revealed the police are convinced, they’ve caught their murderer. When Dan’s overzealous fans get wind via a conspiracy theory chatroom, they descend in droves to Lawrence to get justice for Dan and place poor Theo and Gus under siege. Theo is desperate clear her name and get justice for the man who was not only her mentor but someone she was falling in love with. After an attempt on Theo’s life from the protestors camped outside Gus’s house his friend Mac, a private investigator and hacker, decides to play bodyguard while Gus has to attend to a work matter. When things go from bad to worse the three must investigate in order to find the murderer and save Theo. The more they investigate Dan’s death the more secrets come to light and Theo realizes that there is far more going on than she ever imagined.

Being an avid reader and aspiring mystery writer myself, I am captivated by stories featuring writers and I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. An action packed, cleverly crafted, unique, and unexpectedly twisted whodunit filled with brilliantly quirky characters that keep the reader flipping pages to a thrill a minute ending.

A clever mystery with some great twists and turns, I liked the book and thought Theo was a great protagonist. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Theodolite decides that she doesn’t want to be an attorney anymore so she goes to live at her brothers house. She is drawn into the literary world when her mentor, a well known author, is murdered. She needs to find the killer before her brother is arrested.

I am a huge fan of Sulari Gentill. I loved “Woman in the Library.”
I am conflicted over Mystery Writer. It just didn’t jell for me. So disappointed. Still I will return at a later date to re-read. I may just need to approach the story with a fresher mindset.

A Poisoned Pen ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Good book with some well done characters. I liked the story as a whole but there were several slow parts that slowed down the story.

I almost dnf this book. I was so lost and confused in the beginning. I'm glad I didn't. I adore Theo, Gus, and Mac! I hated to say goodbye at the end. Such a wild and original concept.

Title: The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill
Publication Date- 03/19/24
Publisher- Poisoned Pen Press
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Mystery Writer was my first book by this author. I have not gotten around to reading her previous, very popular work, The Woman in the Library. I struggled to settle on a final rating but decided that 3 stars felt most fair. I enjoyed a lot of the elements here, doomsday preppers, ultra conservative nationalism as an interesting plot device, and books as meta. Unfortunately, I felt that the synopsis was somewhat misleading. I went back and read it again several times after finishing and still feel that way.

In retrospect, I actually think the synopsis is very misleading and one sentence in particular just doesn’t happen in the story from my point of view. I can’t say what that is without spoiling the story but I don’t like to be misled as a reader. I don’t think this was intentional and maybe it came from how I interpreted the story and what was happening. I’m not sure but I would like to talk to other readers about this. This aspect made me want to give the story 2.5 stars but I didn’t. I’ll talk about those reasons next.

Aspects that I found really enjoyable in the story were the characters that were conspiracy theorists and doomsday preppers. This is just something I find so interesting in society so that kept me reading and wanting to know more. At times this did feel disjointed like the book was trying to do too many things at once. That leads me back to thinking about the cover and what it is trying to do. I believe this really should be a cover with some sort of doomsday prepper or nationalism theme because the book isn’t really about authors and writing and uncovering a mysterious story. I mean it is and it isn’t. This is where I think readers will really differ. Some will align with what I’m saying, others will disagree. This fact really irritated me as you can see I’m trying to write about the positives of the novel and I come back to feeling misled and frustrated.

At this point I still don’t think this book deserves less than 3 stars. It’s a quick, popcorn read that I think others should try. I am interested to hear the conversations that will come afterward. Even taking a step back and coming back to this review, in my gut I feel that this was a 5 star reading experience until about half way then it quickly went to a 2 star. Factoring in both of those things I think it remains fair that I leave this with a very conflicted 3 star overall rating.

The world on conspiracy theories is fascinating to me, and I'll be the first to admit that I can fall down a rabbit hole when things feel a little ~too~ real (I am looking at you, Kate Middleton picture!!!). So a murder mystery centered around an author who might have cracked a conspiracy theory? Sign me up!

Theodosia Benton has decided to radically change career paths from attorney to author, and as she works on her debut novel from a coffee shop, she finds herself becoming closer to Dan Murdoch. Dan is also writing from the shop, and the two connect over their stories and writing. But when Theo finds Dan murdered in her own home, she is pulled into a web of conspiracy theories and evil associated with his latest work based on the "Frankenstein Project." And when her own brother is accused of his murder, she must do the unthinkable to save his name - and herself.

I loved the way so many elements were woven together to create this story - the creepy online commentary, Theo's story, the disappearance of many related to the case, the ultimate justice served and the web untangled.

I will say the chaos of tracking down what exactly happened to Dan Murdoch had me feeling a bit burnt out by the end. While the first 75% of the story is easy to track, when Theo disappears I found myself having to go back and read entire sections because I wasn't sure what was going on anymore.

That being said, this was a really great book and I thoroughly enjoyed the mysterious elements here. All of the confusion is worth it for the way the writer ties every seemingly small detail together by the end!

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sulari Gentill for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Theodosia Benton abandons her career as an attorney and shows up on her brother’s doorstep. She now wants to be a novelist. Her mentor is brutally murdered. The police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect. Gus finds a thread of the murder and follows it. Theo Benton is now missing and everyone looking for her will have to die. This is a rollercoaster ride of a book. It’s a literary thriller that Theo Benton will have to endure. The ending of the book was a complete shock as the truth finally came out. Read this book and discover who people are trying to protect. If you like stories that turn things upside down then you will love this book.

Another stand alone book from this Australian author which is great (but I still miss the Rowland Sinclair series)

In The Mystery Writer the main character, Theodosia Benton (Theo), leaves her university course in Sydney and moves to the U.S. determined to be a writer. She moves in with her brother Gus and begins to spend her days writing at a coffee shop. There she meets Dan who turns out to be a published author who becomes her mentor. When he is murdered it stirs up an ants nest of mystery and danger for Theo, Gus and Mac who is a friend of Gus and a private agent.

There follows more murders, shootings, several visits to hospital, and an introduction to the lives of doomsday preppers in the form of Mac's family. Conspiracy theories abound on the internet and it is scarily realistic how easily people can be led to believe in almost anything. Especially when so many of them have guns.

The story began at a steady but unremarkable pace, by the middle it was speeding up, and then it went for broke in the last third. By that point I was having trouble putting the book down at all. I enjoyed it all very much and am going to give it five stars.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC of this book. This book starts out great but then kind of drops off. Theodosia Benton moves from Tasmania to Lawrence Kansas. So far so good. Her brother is a partner at a law firm and she has decided that she doesn’t want to study law anymore but instead write a novel. Theo spends time at the local coffee shop/bar and meets a fellow writer. He’s Dan Murdoch. He’s famous. They sleep together and the next thing, he is dead. A couple of other people end up dead. There are too many holes in this book for me. There’s an online conspiracy group, Theo’s potential publisher is odd, her brother’s friend’s family lives on a reinforced farm. Then a couple of years skip and her brother, Gabe, and his friend Max read a book and decide she is alive and they need to save her. Just not believable. Read something else on your list.