I want to say that I think my rating would be higher if this was a genre I usually like. For that reason I will not be sharing my feedback elsewhere. When I initially read the description it sounded like something else. I was really confused the first couple chapters but after everything untangled I started to enjoy it. I needed more from Theo to care about why I should root for her to become a writer. I wanted more back story. I really liked how there were screen chats, that was fun. I felt that the end came too quickly with jumping all over the place to tie up loose ends.

Theodosia does not want the life laid out for her in Australia. When she shows up on her brother’s doorstep in the United States, he helps her pursue her dreams of being a writer. Theo becomes determined to finish her book, going to a local bar everyday to write. While there, she meets another writer and they develop a close relationship. When Theo walks into his home and finds him dead, she finds herself in the middle of his murder, all while still trying to publish a book.

I really enjoyed this read. While I was able to predict a lot of things that happened in the book, this didn’t take away from the overall reading experience, and I still found myself invested in what would happen next. There are quite a few characters and plot lines in the book, but Gentill does an amazing job of giving each character a distinct voice to keep this manageable. I also appreciated the social commentary included within the book alongside commentary on the world of publication. My only complaint about this book is the blurb. It gives away something that doesn’t happen until 60% of the way through the book (I was able to check because I was using an e-reader). Overall, this is a great read, but I highly recommend going in blind!

I started out being really into this—published authors writing books about publishing is something I am greatly amused by, and the conceit of this writing-and-publishing-centered mystery/thriller was wonderfully wacky while also being dramatic and suspenseful. I was already pretty sure of the destination, but I was thoroughly along for the ride anyway. But then about 2/3 of the way through the journey, the wheels fell off! A major change in place, time, and character perspective right in the middle of the action caused the story to lose all momentum, and changed the back third from the thrilling conclusion I was expecting into a confused mess, ending with a series of contradictory, backward-looking summations.

⚠️ Conspiracy theories

I remember watching Lost and one of the characters was a big conspiracy nut and thinking I'm glad they are rare. But now half of the United States are conspiracy nuts. I tried going into this book with an open mind. The mystery of this book is convoluted. I listened to the audiobook and sometimes I would have to pause it and pull out the book and read what I just listened too. The book itself is confusing and full of conspiracies. Theo the main character is a young woman who trusts way too easily. I shook my head at her, most of the book. The cover drew me in and the book
itself did not.

Overall, I liked this book. It’s the story of 2 siblings Theo and Gus who get tangled up in a series of murders. Theo drops out of law school to pursue writing and moves in with her older brother, Gus. When a fellow writer gets murdered, Theo and Gus are looked at as possible suspects. A friend of Gus’, Mac, is recruited to help solve the murder as more people are found dead. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well developed. There was a little bit of a gap in the story for me when Theo disappeared and again toward the end of the story. When the rest of the book was filled with such great detail, it just threw me off a bit. This book wasn’t one of those twisty, gotcha stories, but it was suspenseful and kept me interested. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I've started reading more books in this genre and this one did not disappoint. It was the perfect blend of mystery and drama. Great characters and descriptions of everything throughout!

I'm tough to surprise when it comes to mysteries, but this book delighted me with its unexpected twists and turns. Highly recommend to anyone who feels like they can see endings coming a mile away when reading suspense fiction—I'm confident you won't see this story coming.

When an aspiring author's famous author boyfriend is murdered right as she gives him her manuscript the last thing she expects is to spiral down conspiracies, assassins, and finding out who exactly her boyfriend was and why someone murdered him. Theodosia Benton has just abandoned law school to pursue a career as an author. She's moved in with her brother and starts hanging out at a coffee shop... where she meets Dan, a famous author who she begins falling in love with. Yet when she gives him her manuscript and asks him to get in contact with his agents for her... and he rejects, the last thing she expects when she goes over to his place to apologize is to find him murdered. Theo wants to find out who did this and why, but Dan has left a trail of clues for her to follow and now with her brother Gus's help and a few new friends, Theo is definitely on a new path... but she'll have to find a way to find the killer without being killed herself. This one started off really interesting but ultimately lost me. I was interested in the mystery at first but found myself getting bored and struggling to want to finish the story. I adore fun mysteries but this one just didn't work for me unfortunately. I think if you enjoy mysteries with lots of twist maybe give this one a go. maybe you'll have a better time it than I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book was a bit slow for me in the very beginning, but that changed about the 20% mark! I love how smart the mystery is and how some characters are not what they seem. Just when you think you have it worked out, you realize how much you underestimate Gentill’s ability to craft a plot twist!

Really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what she turns out next!

This book had lovely characters and a dark mystery that sucked me in. In addition, there is a group of conspiracy theorists that keep stirring the pot of the plot, which made things even more interesting. I could not rest until I found out who the murderer was and once I did, I was shocked! The author slowly revealed hints that end up being very important in solving the crime, and it was done in such a unique way. This book rivals the author’s first as a quality mystery done in a unique way, by reaching out to booklovers. Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was not your cozy mystery type, so much better! It was a full on mystery with a big dash of conspiracy theory which was a bit much for me to handle because I dislike all that it stands for but did find myself deeply intrigued in this book and to find out where I was going to end up on this journey with Gus and Mac to find Theo. It was a real page turner, especially to see if Theo was even still alive. It kept me wanting more and still more until the end. I would like to thank the following for allowing me to read/review early I have supplied my own honest opinions and yes I highly recommend this book
#NetGalley
#PoisonedPenPress
#SulariGentill
#TheMysteryWriter
Publication Date: March 19, 2024
Go out and buy your copy to read yourself

Much thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC of "The Mystery Writer" in exchange for an honest review.
I guess it's official now......QAnon Krazies have become fair game for mystery-thriller authors. This is the second or third book I've come across populated with those Tinfoil Hat, conspiracy theory imbeciles who feed off the toxic river of disinformation flowing out of social media....and current political discourse. Given that they're both dumb and proven dangerous, it's no wonder they're starting to also infest popular fiction......
These internet whack-a=doodles and their ludicrous tweets serve as the connecting glue holding together the two separate genres that this book unfolds. The first 60 percent sets up a multiple murder thriller set in an American town (Lawrence, Kansas).
But then, for the remaining 40 percent, the story takes a hairpin swerve into some kind of breathless, international action-adventure, with two of the three lead characters hunting down what happened to the other one who disappeared.
I found the Lawrence portion infinitely more gripping and entertaining then the abrupt excursion into a wild, incredibly far-fetched Robert Ludlum-esque whoop-de-doo. The final reveal of what the villainy's all about came close (at least for me) to very wry spoofery.. It really made me wonder if author Sulari Gentill was for real or maybe doing an elaborate send-up of......well, my lips must seal before any spoilers emerge from them.
Yet with all these flaws, I still had a pretty good time with "The Mystery Writer".....I could never resist stories centered around writers,...... those established and famous and those young novices struggling to find their creative voice along with a publisher. Throw in bodies piling up and a baffling disappearance, then you've got me hooked.
Overall, it's a bumpy, lumpy goulash of those two genres I mentioned but I couldn't help but stay for the whole thrill ride. But I'm not comfortable with using the QAnon asylum inmates as window dressing (at and times, comedy relief). I find the mere thought of them as depressing......and given current events, more than little frightening.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press, for the advance reading copy!

Clever, well written and suspenseful!

The writing is slow to start with but it picks up towards the second half.

Gentill expertly keeps you on the edge of your seat as she immerses you in the enigmatic world of a famous author's whodunit mystery, with a cadre of eccentric doomsday conspiracy theorists lurking in the shadows.

Theodosia leaves her university where she is studying law because she feels that being a lawyer isn’t the right fit for her and she wants to be a writer instead but when her mentor, who is a successful author, is murdered Theodosia is determined to find the killer. Unfortunately, the police believe that the killer may be her brother, Gus.

While I think the characters are well-crafted, I didn’t particularly like Theo (found her pretty naïve) but did enjoy the character of Gus. However, I don’t enjoy books that contain conspiracy theories and therefore this book just wasn’t a good fit for me and I DNF’d it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Press for a review copy.

This book was a journey! I really loved the idea of this book and how it started. I love anything and everything involving preppers, conspiracy theories, and corrupt companies. However about 75% through it lost its luster and felt very rushed. It felt like there were time jumps and big chunks of time and information that were missed and left out. I still really enjoyed this and would recommend it. There were just a few parts that I wanted more!

Not just a book about books, the Mystery Writer is a thriller, whodunit, and conspiracy all in one! Throw in some fun and quirky characters, and you’ll be sucked into this one just like I was!

Although I appreciate that this is a well thought out mystery, it was hard for me to read a book that puts social media and conspiracy theorists front and center. Theo leaves law school in Australia, to become a writer. Theo goes to her brother, Gus’ in Lawrence, Kansas, to restart. When Theo’s involvement with an author ends up with his murder, Theo’s and Gus’ lives become nightmares. I can’t recommend this book because it is not for me, but I can see how it would have an interested reader. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The book had big shoes to fill coming on the heels of The Woman in the Library, and I think it did a pretty good job. Theo Benton is an aspiring writer in her early 20s who leaves college and moves in with her brother to pursue her writing career. By chance she meets and becomes close with a very famous writer. Then she finds his corpse. Then she finds another corpse. Then she becomes seriously tied up in both the murder investigation AND in the murderplot badguysituation.

There were some really interesting characters in this book and the plot was intricate and detailed. I don't remember too many big surprises or twists but the fast pace and intricacy kept me engaged and eager to know what would be next.

THE MYSTERY WRITER by Sulari Gentill did not quite come up to the high standard Gentill set with The Woman in the Library, but this is an enjoyable mystery which I am happy to recommend. The main character, Theo Benton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas to live with her older brother, Gus, after she abandons plans to obtain a law degree in Australia. Theo wants to write instead and has an amazingly easy time of crafting a novel, with some guidance from an older, more established writer, Dan Murdoch. Things shift rapidly when Theo (and later her brother) are suspected of murder and even hounded by conspiracy theorists ("We Know What We Know"). Fortunately, Theo and Gus have a private detective friend (who is conveniently very rich) named Mac and his survivalist family to help in solving the puzzle of multiple murders and disappearances. The villains were fairly obvious, but the mystery here was more the "why" and the "how" rather than the "who." In fact, in a section titled "Conversation with the Author" Gentill states that "THE MYSTERY WRITER is about the writer's place in society and the power of the story to influence behavior." This title was a LibraryReads March 2024 selection and a Reading Group Guide is also appended for interested book groups.

Unfortunately, this book is a flop for me. I enjoyed The Woman in the Library by this author, but this book is so convoluted and chaotic that I found myself frustrated while reading it, especially in the last 25% of the book.

The book centers on Theo, a budding author, who becomes entangled in a murder investigation when she discovers Dan, her writer friend and lover, dead in his home. As the synopsis tells us, Theo ends up being forced to flee when the investigation focuses on her and her brother, Gus.

To start with, the synopsis on the book gives away the first 75% of the story. The book spends a large amount of time setting up the murders and the investigation and then rushes through the events involving Theo's disappearance and Gus's search for her. Then, once she disappears, the story rushes to a conclusion by skipping years of time. It felt very chaotic and undeveloped.

Theo as a main character is frustrating, also. She is so naïve and reckless even though she knows she needs to be careful. She never follows the sensible advice of her brother and friends. She constantly puts herself and others in danger.

There is honestly just too much going on in this plot. We encounter murders, conspiracy theories, doomsday preppers, communes, evil corporations, and crazy fans. It is all too distracting, and much of it is unnecessary. I just couldn't figure out what story the author is trying to tell.

The one positive thing I found in this book is the relationships between Theo and Gus and between Gus and his friend Mac. Gentill is actually quite good at building these relationships. I wish she had kept the focus on them instead of the plot events in the end.

This book is just not it for me. I hate to give low ratings, but I ended this reading experience feeling annoyed. I will not be recommending this book.