The Mystery Writer is more cozy mystery than fast paced thriller. If you enjoy this genre and like reading stories involving authors and writers then you will like this one. Even though there isn't a huge plot twist at the ending, it still does tie things up nicely. The story also has well developed characters. I prefer more thriller and fast paced so this was a 3 star for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Theo quits law school in Australia and moves to America to try to be a published author. She moves in with her brother and starts hanging out at a cafe where she makes friends and writes daily. When one of those friends is murdered, Theo is drawn into a world of online conspiracy theories and disinformation that puts her life and the life of all of her friends in danger. An interesting look at the conspiracy theorists, survivalists and American guns and how they are so different from the rest of the world.

This book will catch your attention from the first page. Full of suspense, a romance and multiple conspiracy theories. I wasn’t sure where it was going, even up til the end. This is definitely page turner and 5*. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

While I enjoyed the story and the conspiracy theory elements of this story, I thought it went on a little too long. There were certainly parts that could be trimmed to make the story tighter and the resolution was very neat. I found the timeline to be very difficult because current time was referenced as long past but nothing seemed particularly new. However, I would recommend this story to people interested in crimes and thrillers.

Theo and Gus Bentonwere brought up at a community called Harmony in Tasmania. Gus is a lawyer in Kansas. Theo has decided to give up Law School and moves to Kansas with Gus to become a writer. She finds Benders Bar, a coffee house where she sees others writing and meets Dan Murdock, a well known writer. He talks with Theo and they soon begin sitting at the same table. When she is beginning to get close to Dan, she finds him dead at his home. Then, the police think that she or her brother Gus may be the killer.

Gus has a friend, Mac, whose family is survivalist, lives in the woods and collects food and weapons. Mac is a detective and works for Gus' law firm often. When people begin attacking Gus' home, Gus and Theo move to Mac's home. When Gus is shot by the police, Theo falsely confesses to killing Dan and disappears. Mac and Gus want to find Theo, but it appears it would be very dangerous to do so.

This is a clever and exciting book, although I hope it isn't totally realistic! I thank Netgalley and Poisoned Pen for an ARC.

Thank you to #NetGalley for letting me read this ARC.

And thank you to my workplace crime reading group for introducing me to the absolutely wonderful world that is Sulari Gentill's books!

While this one doesn't have quite as much of a 'meta' aspect to the storytelling as some of her other books, it still has some of the same kind of intrigue. As a reader, there are so many things to misunderstand, to misinterpret, and to simply make guesses about that are completely up the wall. All this, while never feeling like the author is playing with us, or trying to show us up - it is simply that the situation that the main character finds herself in is so strange that we couldn't possibly be expected to follow.

The story has two storytellers: Theodosia Benton, who just moved in with her brother and is trying to write her first novel, and Theodosias brother Gus who is a successful lawyer.

This is all I'll say about this book, because part of Gentill's charm is that she isn't afraid of twists and turns - and who am I to ruin those for you?

Theodosia Benton,has reached a decision to drop out of law school and pursue a career as a
writer. She arrive's on the doorstep of her brother Gus who has followed his grandparents' wish and is
a lawyer. Theo forms a friendship with Dan Murdoch, a writer she met at a local café where they talk
about their current projects. When Theo drops by Dan's home with a dinner inviattion, she discovers his body.
She becomes a suspect along with her brother Gus. Does Dan's death have anything to do with the
consrpiacy theory group he was researching? Who killed him? Why are Theo and Gus in danger?
Mac Etheridge, private investigator and Gus's friend, comes from a family of conspiracy enthusiasts.
Are they involved with what's going on? Is Dan's literary agency Day Delos and Assiciates Management
involved? Page turner as more is learned about the agency and the impact they have on the lives of
Theo, Gus and Mac.
#TheMysteryWriter #NetGalley

Gentill writes the perfect cozy mystery once again! If you enjoyed The Woman in the Library, you'll love The Mystery Writer.

While this firmly fits in the cozy mystery genre, I did find it to be a bit more intense at times. While you might be able to guess at the generally plot, there are still a lot of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

But where Gentill excels most is her character development. I loved each and every character, even the naive Theo grew on me by the end.

A great read and quickly becoming a must read author for me.

This book kept me guessing the whole time. I have recommended it to many of my friends! Theo leaves college to come live with her brother in America. She is in the process of writing her first novel when she gets swept into the world of literary writers.

Theodosia "Theo" Benton is a 22 year old who dropped out of law school in Australia, and flown to the US, Lawrence where his lawyer brother works. She has a dream, a dream where she becomes a bestselling author.
Her brother, Gus, is very happy that his little sister decided to pursue her dreams of becoming an author and he's warmly welcoming her to his... humble? neighbourhood. The only warning he has is that americans shouldn't be trusted easily, and of course that they might shoot you.
While Theo slowly starts to embrace her new life as a young-author-to-be, she makes various friends, one of them being a famous author himself.
What starts as a friendship turns into an innocent relationship and eventually that turns into a murder. While Theo tries to understand why someone would murder a writer; we're faced with tragic pasts, conspiracy theories and at the end, the danger of getting murdered itself.
°°°
When I first requested this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. I hadn't even read anything by Sulari Gentill herself but now i know.
Throughout the story, I wondered where Gentill was taking us with this really complicated story. At some point, I was sure that at the end there'd be some plot holes because of the amount of events and details the story literally threw at us. But, and i'm still in shock, there were none. Looking back at everything and also thinking about everything, i feel satisfied.
The middle for me was a little bit slow, infuriating even because it felt like we were going nowhere with the case. However, at some point everything started to progress and make sense. I can't tell you how many times i gasped and couldn't put the book down!! Even though Theo got on my nerve, the story was enough intriguing that I kept going and going.
My favorite aspects were definitely the connection with the conspiracy theories and how a strong story could influence the behavior of hundreds of people. Also, Mac (a private-eye) caught my eye from the first encounter and he just had my heart. Gus and Theo's Australian humour were also a breath of fresh air!!
The ending was genious, and surely Sulari Gentill knew what to do to keep us on edge. I can't wait to read more of the Gentill.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy of The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill for review.

Sulari Gentill’s has done it again! A mystery novel with enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages and asking yourself, what just happened!? This is her third stand-alone novel that explores some aspect of the writer’s life. The Mystery Writer takes a closer look at writers and their relationships with their agents as well as the drive to be a published, successful writer. All this is wrapped up in a murder mystery with multiple murders connecting Theodosia to each crime. Throw in an over-protective brother with a private detective best friend, a dog named Horse, and conspiracy theorists and doomsday preppers around each corner and you get quite the read! An added bonus is Theo and Gus’ Australian perspectives on America. What a fun ride!

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC.

I wish I could say that this thriller was thrilling but, sadly, I found it to be too absurd for me to comfortably suspend my disbelief. What's worse, about two-thirds of the way through the novel, I got the sense that the author grew bored with the narrative, too, as they seemed to stop weaving a story and started reciting it. There was an abrupt and uncomfortable shift in the tone of the novel where it felt like a summarization of events, rather than a depiction of them. Still, I stuck with the novel to the end. I just wish I had more good things to say about it.

Positives: I liked the main characters - Theo, Mac, and Gus well enough.

Negatives: I don't mind being asked to suspend my disbelief and sometimes it works. John Grisham's The Firm, for example, has a ludicrous plot but it's pulled off through some deft writing. The Mystery Writer's plot, unfortunately, limps to the finish with one absurdity after enough, making it difficult to enjoy the novel. That said, my edition was an ARC copy, so there's a chance that some additional revisions will be made before the book is published, so perhaps some of the weaknesses can be resolved.

Lawyer Theodosia Benton decides leave her law career and try her hand at writing arriving at the home of Gus, her unsuspecting brother. One day she goes to Benders, a local coffee shop where she meets and grows close to Dan Murdoch, a successful writer. Their friendship evolves and she finds out that Dan is represented by Agent Veronica Cole and ask that he read her manuscript and if he likes it to submit it to Veronica. He likes her book but refuses her request to have Veronica read it.

The plot thickens when Dan is murdered and Theo finds that Dan was keen to escape his dark past and keep her out of harms way. What happens next is a twisted conspiracy tale that is astonishingly fascinating and delightfully original.

So, fasten your seat belts because you are in for an exciting treat of a thrill ride with this one.

This was a good read - I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

This book had a different way of plot the storyline and it worked great for it. Kinda thriller mixed conspiracy theories. There were tons of times I would think about the chapter I just read and could see it playing out in a movie.
I can’t wait to recommend it to my friends and family.

“Becoming a writer is one thing, staying one is entirely another beast.”

The premise of this book has so much potential, especially for those who are into conspiracy theories.

Brief Summary
A young writer with great potential, Theo Benton, befriends a fellow writer – and successful author – Dan Murdoch, who turns up dead. Theo is thrust into the “suspect category” by the police as others around her are killed off.

If Theo isn’t the murderer, then how is she connected to their deaths? How will this change the course of her life & the lives of those she cares about?

How far would you go over a conspiracy theory you wholeheartedly believe in?

Read if you like:
• Evil corporations
• Conspiracy theories
• Doomsday Preppers
• Police & Government Agencies who are way-too-eager to arrest & questions suspects based on a hunch and no other leads.

Thoughts
• I wanted to enjoy this book <i> so much </i> but so many parts fell flat.
• The majority of the book follows Theo Benton – until it doesn’t. It’s a very choppy transition into Gus & Mac’s POVs and it doesn’t translate well at first.
• The conspiracy theories were utterly outrageous and ridiculous to even believe that someone could fall into the conspiracy theory trap.
• Can we talk about the conspiracy theory “plot point” of the book? Other than <i>how</i> we find out about how the conspiracy theories are tied in at the very end, they play no point in the overall plot/story arch. I would’ve like to see more emphasis on the importance of the conspiracy theories.
• The pacing was a mess. The bulk of the book sets up the story for the action & the mystery – just for the action and the mystery to be rushed through with little sense. There’s tons of “time jumps” that don’t read well initially.
• With the author being Australian, I do like the tie-in to the main characters also being Australians who are living in America. (The computer password being “Vegemite” seemed too “on the nose, obviously Australian” for my taste. But hey, that’s just an opinion.)
• In one of the early chapters, she begins three of the first four paragraphs as “Caleb did this, Caleb did that, Caleb was doing this.” It would’ve been more interesting for the author to <i>show us</i> what Caleb was doing rather than telling us.
• The major conspiracy theory, “The Frankenstein Project”, was never really fleshed out or deemed worthy of being more than a simple plot device to move the story along. (Seriously, what was the conspiracy theory supposed to be & why was the Minotaur important?)
• Not surprised that there’s an unnecessary amount of details over the bar that Theo frequents. I didn’t need that much detail of the sinister backstory, let alone that much detail about the sinister backstory.
• Theo is bland, utterly clueless, and easy to push over. Which I guess works for the purpose of this story, but doesn’t really work well overall.
• The writing could’ve been more developed into a more mysterious book. The author chooses all the wrong moments/details to give detailed accounts of. It makes it very hard to be attached to the story. Rather than showing the reader all the gritty details & actions, the writing is very “Point-blank, this is what happened.”
• Not surprised by the “whodunnit” ending, but Caleb definitely deserved more “screen time” within the book.
• So many typos, grammatical errors, and paragraphs that were underwhelming to the storyline.

I've enjoyed Sulari Gentill's other novels, so I only half-read the description and didn't realize a large portion of this book is based on conspiracy theories. Although, the big reveal at the end is so far out there I could almost believe it's actually true! There's a ton of action in this one as things ramp up to the conclusion. The characters were a lot of fun to follow, but I didn't particularly care about any of them. The mystery at the heart of the story is way more farfetched than a normal whodunnit. Think something along the lines of a pretty good Netflix thriller movie. It wasn't for me, necessarily, but if action and preppers and conspiracies and shadow organizations is your thing, you'll probably enjoy this. Gentill's a great writer and, while not what I expected, her story didn't disappoint this reader.

Theodosia Benton shows up at her brother's house with an unfinished novel. Her mentor, a successful author, is murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. The police begin looking at her brother as their #1 suspect and Theo has to protect him.. But the writer has left a trail. Her brother finds the trail and follows in in order to save his sister.

"The Mystery Writer" is a book that is soon to be published. Theo is studying to be a lawyer until something happens and she packs up and goes to live with her brother, who is also a lawyer. He welcomes her into his home and encourages her in her dream of becoming a writer. Theo befriends a successful author while writing her novel. However, one day he is found dead. The police have no other suspects but Theo and her brother, and she is ready to do anything not to ruin his life.

The blurb sounded promising, and the cover was quite captivating. I have to admit that the book got off to a rough start for me. I did not particularly like the author's writing style. I was wondering if I should read it at all, but when the murder happened, the action picked up and became quite interesting. Theo, her brother and his friend Mac, who is a kind of private-eye, try to find out who is behind the murder, and the bodies keep piling up. Although I couldn't fully sympathize with any of the main characters, I found their dynamics and relationships interesting. I liked Mac the best.

I found the conspiracy theory part pretty weird. It wasn't something I liked overall, but a lot of things became clear as the story progressed. I had fun with Mac's crazy family and would definitely read another book with them at the center of events. It was interesting to try to connect the clues and look for the culprits. I can't say I fully support Theo's reasoning for what she did, but I kind of understand her. I liked that there was a love thread, but it was shown quite subtly and didn't intrude on the story. In general, I liked the plot, I read the second half of the book in one sitting.

The Mystery Writer grabs you right from the beginning. It was incredibly fast paced and there were so many misdirection's, that any time I thought I had an idea what was going on, I was completely and utterly wrong. It was very hard to put the story down, I wanted to know what was going to happen next.