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.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sulari Gentill for providing this twisty murder mystery for my honest review. This is the second book I have read by this author and it won’t be my last! I loved every minute of this book. Very little surprises me anymore after having read so many mysteries, but this one did! I love how twisty and entertaining this book is all the way throughout. And, of course, I love books about writers! Thank you again for allowing me to review this book. I can’t wait for the next one by this author!

The mystery writer is an action-packed thriller by author Sulari Gentill that kept me interested from beginning to end.

It starts with our protagonist, Theodosia Benton, arriving at Lawrence, Kansas, after leaving Law School in Australia to become a writer. She lives with her brother Gus and his dog Horse, and starts working on her novel at a nearby café.

She then meets a famous writer who becomes her confident and mentor, and the story takes its breathtaking development. Theo will witness murders, corporation deals and all sorts of plot twists in her own trajectory.

The mystery writer is the kind of thriller that fascinates the reader with the combination of the literary world and police investigation, manuscripts and murders, associated to a bit of conspiracy theories and paranoia. A perfect combination for the fans of the genre.

Really…3.5 stars.

Well. That was a wild ride. Let me start with… I did not read the description of this book first. I requested it due to having read another book by the author.. Conspiracy theories come to life indeed. If you’re into conspiracy theories and want to see what happens when a literary agency goes wrong, really wrong… this is for sure your book. I did enjoy it. My biggest issue with it was one of the main characters. Specifically, Theo. I just didn’t like her and wanted to reach through and give her a smack like Gibbs does in NCIS. I found her to be whiney and although her paranoia was justified, she just did things that made me cringe too much to relate to her and her plight. I won’t lie, it also irritated me that guys seem to fall over themselves for her… she shows up on her brother’s doorstep and doesn’t have/make a lot of friends but the two non-related to her guys that she regularly interacts with both get romantically involved with her? I feel like maybe it wouldn’t annoy me so much if she wasn’t such a plot device… a normal person would have had a few more friends/non-romantic relationships which would have made her seem like a more well rounded and relatable character.

Overall though, not a bad read. I would recommend it to people that are into this type of fast paced not super realistic fiction.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC copy to review.

This book took such a turn from the expected. One of the reading group questions was about how you thought the book was going to go from the first portion. Having read one of her previous books I had an idea that a first-time reader might not have. Let's just say the other person would have been more correct. This review will have slight spoilers as I have to about some issues.

The bulk of our story takes place in Lawerence, Kansas. With the majority being in a café/bar, which is an interesting business idea, due to this, we don't get much detail about the location itself. A few things that did stick out and made me need to Google though. First, there were so many cafés with writers in them, sure it’s a college town but is it big enough to support that? Next, her lawyer brother's firm would have that many dealings with New York or the proposed flight time between Kansas and New York. The answer to both is probably not in the real world. Either way, moving on.

In this novel, we follow Theo and Gus Benton. For the most part, we are with Theo as she arrives in the US after having dropped out of law school to become a novelist. Theo believes in her dream of creating a story, and that she is a bright person. However, throughout the book, she makes dumb decisions. Some of the actions are slightly what we see in mystery novels and other times things don't add up at all. Then there is Gus Benton, a partner at his law firm, and supportive older brother. The Benton siblings had an interesting childhood growing up with hippies in Australia (apparently they call them ferals). Then late in the story, we start to see from Mac Ethridge. He is a longtime friend and somewhat colleague of Gus. Mac is a very easygoing person who takes all the craziness happening quite calmly.

After a stint of manic cleaning and doing minor house repairs Gus loving tells Theo to get out of the house and write. This is how she meets the man that will become her mentor. After months of discussing the craft of writing and working on her manuscript, Theo gives him the finished draft. Only to find him dead the next day. What transpires is a series of horrors all with Theo at the center. Can the Bentons prove their innocence before being targeted by the real killer or arrested?

Much like her other novel(s?) each chapter begins with an excerpt of something else. In this book's case, it is chat room messages. In the beginning, I had thought this must be from one of the novels being written. Quickly though it proved to be something that was supposed to be taking place in real time with our characters. This gave the book an interesting vibe to be sure because of what these were based upon. In this one, we are focusing on conspiracy theories. It was interesting to see one of the chat room participants enter into the story itself. Also highly amusing that his particular theories were considered the strange ones out of the rest of his family.

I'm not sure it would be considered the pacing but possibly it would, something felt off with the timeline. I do understand fast-forwarding through the months she is writing her novel and only showing snippets. However, due to that decision, I didn't feel any of the chemistry Theo was supposed to have had with her romance (or even the second one really). Her first entanglement felt more like he took advantage of the mentor status more than anything else. It was an ick thing to happen and then the rest of the book she said she had loved him. As for the second one, it just seemed too soon after meeting Mac or the death of this guy she "loved". I get falling for Mac of the two of them, just wish it hadn't kept going about the "love" of the first person.

There was an odd POV change in Chapter 38 that may be fixed in the final printing. It just jumped back and forth rather suddenly. When it changed back to Gus and Mac they were in a car chase that felt like we were already supposed to know about; this made it feel like a scene was missing.

I still enjoyed how the novel went mostly because it was so very different. Sure, a lot of things made no sense even after the end was revealed. Or at least let's say they didn't make sense for a smart person like our characters or the police to do. The big end reveal was also so out there but that is somewhat the point of the book.

I may well be an unpopular outlier here, but I really did not enjoy this book and almost stopped reading it several times. Having read several books now by this author I had quite an expectation that I felt was not at all delivered.
Rather than recount the plot I will try to summarise why am left feeling this way. I could not relate to the characters in particular Theo (aka Theodosia) and her brother Gus, I didn't find them particularly likeable and was frustrated that they couldn't seem to see what seemed perfectly obvious to me. The conspiracy theories, which were more a strange aside that didn't ever really come to anything significant. The really poor light that is shone on publishing companies (was there a message in there?). The very prolonged storyline which seemed to diffuse any sense of urgency or danger. The lack of parental concern/input from Theo and Gus's parents.
Suffice to say, I didn't feel I could give this a good review, however I am still looking forward to future books by this author and I hope I am in a minority with my opinion on this particular book.
Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Publishing for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

Book Review: The Mystery Writer
Stars: 4 X 5
Author: Sulari Gentill @sularigentill
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press @sourcebooks and DreamScape Media @dreamscape
A big thank you to @netgalley for both the book and audio version of the ARC

Young 22 year old Theodosia Benton arrives at her brother Gus’ door. She came from Canberra Australia to Lawrence Kansas. Gus is a partner at a law firm and Theo has come to the US after leaving Law School. She wants to be a writer.
Gus agrees to Theo living with him and attempting to write her book. Theo ends up heading to Benders a coffee shop/bar to write during the day. It is here that she ends up meeting fellow writing Dan Murdock. Dan has authored many books and is writing a new book himself. Dan and Theo befriend each with Dan acting as her mentor. They become close friends. Theo finishes her manuscript and she fantastic. Theo and Dan have become extremely close and she ask Gus if it is ok to invite Dan to the house to celebrate. Gus is good with this and when Theo is unable to get hold of Dan by phone she goes to his house to invite him. When Theo gets to Dan’s house the front door is ajar and she enters assuming Dan left it open by accident. Theo enters the house looking for Dan and ends up finding his body in the kitchen and he has been murdered. As the police investigate Dan’s death, Theo’s life is turned upside down as she becomes a suspect. This not only affects her life but also Gus’, his coworker and fellow lawyer Jackie and best friend/investigator Mac. Theo decides to try to find out why Dan was murdered. She also believes that this online conspiracy forum Dan was involved in may have been involved. As time goes on and the four of them now delve into the circumstances of Dan’s death it become perfectly clear that their lives are in jeopardy. They must do anything to survive and find Dan’s killer.

The beginning of the book was a bit slow which is to be expected as the author was setting the backstory of all these characters. But I will say once you get through it is an amazing read/listen. I ended up just reading the last third of the book and could no put it down . I will just tell you the ending is amazing. This a great book to read or Listen to. The Audio Narrators do a fantastic job with the audio version too.

2.5 stars. I enjoyed the Woman in the Library, and I was excited to get an early copy of Gentill's latest. Unfortunately, this one was just not nearly as good. There are so many plot points scattered throughout the book (Theo's history, Gus' history, the preppers, Mac's history, Theo's love interests, the agency, the expectations of the agency, and more) that the author attempts to bring together at the very end, but there was little cohesiveness to all of it, and I felt like there were still so many questions at the end. Also, I had a huge issue with the way the author tried to portray the characters as healing from trauma when they really have done nothing to heal from that trauma. The character development is also subpar. Theo's character is portrayed as hugely immature and naive, and her cluelessness is PAINFUL at times (especially because the author was often pretty obvious about the direction the book was heading). Gus and Mac are overly masculine characters who show zero regard for Theo and her capabilities. Since this one is not part of a series, I would recommend passing on it in favor of other more engaging and well developed books.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really loved this authors other books so I was excited to read this one.

However, this book was definitely not for me. I did not finish it. I found the conspiracy theories throughout really distracting and confusing. I was confused most of the book and I just couldn’t get into the story. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the plot just wasn’t making sense to me.

I hope others love this book and I will continue to check out more of this authors work. This one just didn’t work for me.

This is a thrilling novel that I could not put down. The characters were all intriguing and engaging. The plot was interesting and I genuinely did not know where the story would go. It was pleasant to be surprised by a story that could have been formulaic. I look forward to reading everything else this author has to offer.

I very much enjoyed the first 70% of this book. I think the story line is very good. There are quite a few typos and grammatical errors throughout the book.

The last 30% of the book seems very rushed and thrown together. Starting at chapter 27 where Mac and Theo are talking with Laura about Benders. From there, it feels rushed. It does continue to follow the story line very well, but I feel like the timeline of events that happen are so far spread out with no indication of when they actually take place that it gets confusing.
Chapter 38 jumps around a lot, like it originally was 2 separate chapters and got accidentally combined into one or a glitch happened and a piece accidentally was inserted into the chapter and it shouldn’t have been. There was no breaks in it to indicate that it was jumping from Gus to Theo and back again.

Altogether, the book was a good read. The story line was great and I can honestly see something like the plot in this book, taking place in our world today.
Thank you to the publisher, the author, and to NetGalley for the ARC of The Mystery Writer.

This is the second book I have read by Sulari Gentill, and I think she just made it to my automatic tbr list.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were so many times where I thought I had it figured out, just to be thrown for another loop. It kept me engaged from the very first chapter.

I was not invested at all in the plot, it was oddly put together and felt very random and far fetched. I couldn’t bring myself to finish this one even though I was 78% done.