Though I hoped this book would be a fast paced, exciting thriller, I was disappointed by the slow pace. I found it hard to get into and found the main character to be a bit unlikable and tough to relate to. The premise of conspiracy theories sounded interesting but ultimately I just couldn’t get past the slow plot to get invested in the story. However, reviews are always subjective and other readers who enjoy a slow burn, cozy mystery type of story may be more drawn to this book.

Thank you to the author, Poisoned Pen Press, and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

"Despite the great many hours in conversations during which Theo felt she was laying her soul bare and confiding her greatest hopes and fears for her writing, Dan Murdoch was, about his current work in progress, evasive." - Sulari Gentill, The Mystery Writer
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Not too long ago, thanks to the publisher and Netgalley, I was able to dive into the second book I've read by Sulari Gentill. When I read The Woman In The Libary last spring and listened to the audio book, I was hooked, so I had no doubt that I would enjoy this one just as much.
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There is so much to say about this amazing book, but I don't want to spoil it because it is coming out in a couple short months on March 19th, 2024! It has another lovely cover and is well done, a page turner, so relevant in so many ways, and the characters are fascinating and show so much development for the amount that the reader is given about them.
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Many books focus too heavily on backgrounds of characters and past events, or that go in a million directions. In The Mystery Writer there is a complementary blend of setting the scenes and chapters, introducing each character, giving relevant pieces of their backgrounds as needed, and tying in more realistic events such as brief mention of pandemic times, without any one single thing distracting from the plot line and outcome.
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In The Mystery Writer, we see Theodosia Benton, who goes by Theo, arrive from Australia after dropping out of law school. She shows up at her brother's house and while confused, he welcomes her there and they reunite after a long time. Theo also gets acquainted with Horse, her brother's dog.
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As the book progresses, we see Theo start writing in a bar in Lawrence, Kansas at her brother's suggestion of her needing an "office". Over a span of months, Theo grows close with a man significantly older than herself named Dan Murdoch who is also an author. But Dan is secretive and careful, and Theo is vulnerable, young, and unsuspecting. Dan's work in progress is a book that ties into an entire theory "fans" and conspirators have developed, but it turns out that the publisher he works with is behind everything that happens. Theo is swept up in one bad event after another after she meets Dan.
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Through the Rollercoaster ride of Theo being in the wrong place at the wrong time and growing attached to someone with a lot of secrets, she recruits the help of her brothers friend and colleague, Mac. We see a potential romance blossom between Mac and Theo as he grows increasingly protective of her. But Theo is determined to solve the murder of her good friend. Eventually, everything leads to Gus (Theos brother) ending up in the hospital, Mac getting into legal trouble, and Theo going missing.
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In the end, Gus and Mac end up piecing things together and figuring out where Theo is, but this is somewhere around 5 years later and in the future ahead of the readers time as well, which is interesting to discover. Theo does uncover the secrets Dan was holding onto, and she ends up publishing her book under a pen name, but this leads Mac and Gus to her because Mac had heard her ideas and picked up subtle hints. I was glad to see that there was a happy ending, or at least some happiness, for all of the main characters. Theo and Gus both live, Theo and Mac are free to be together, and Gus Is able to go back to his law career with his name cleared.
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Overall, this book was a whirlwind, but I loved the happy ending and unpredictability! I look forward to rereading both books again.

WOW!!! This is an amazing mystery. I tend to like a quirky plot, but I am definitely character driven. I thought Gus and Theo and Mac were great characters. Veronica gave me chills from the first time she was introduced, but I couldn't say why!! Great writing! The conspiracy theory part was fun for me. I tend to take them worth a grain of salt. BUT.......?

I'm not sure what this book was trying to be, or what market it's aiming for, but it was all over the place. A young Australian woman, Theo Benton, comes to the US to stay with her brother, Gus, who is a lawyer in Kansas. Theo has dropped out of law school and wants to be a writer. She spends her days in a coffee shop where she works on her book. Before long, she catches the eye of another writer, Dan Murdoch. Soon they begin a relationship but when Theo asks Dan, an established writer, if he'll submit her manuscript to his agent, he adamantly refuses. The next day she goes to his house to smooth things over, only to find he's been murdered.

Up until this part, things were going along well, setting the scene for a traditional mystery, but now things fly off the rails. Theo and her brother Gus are harassed by the police, even though there is no evidence against them. Gus works closely with a private investigator, Mac, who is somehow insanely rich. Mac's family are all bizarre characters -- "preppers" who believe the government is spying/out to get them while working on a plan to reanimate dead people (?). They are all constantly armed, even inside the house, only removing their guns to say grace before eating. As soon as the meal is finished, they stand up and strap the guns on again (this made me wonder if the target audience for this book is Australia or the UK, since the Americans are quite cartoonish). As outlandish as that is, well, wouldn't you know it, soon Mac is arrested by "the feds" and held without charge for months and his assets (wherever they came from) are seized. I'm still not sure what that was about. Then there are more murders and Theo disappears and time passes and . . . I just don't even know. I'm sure it was a formatting issue, but at the end there was complete chaos and confusion as people in one location were doing something and then suddenly in the next paragraph someone in a different location appeared. It was extremely hard to follow. And at the end there were threats of people being charged with "perverting the course of justice." I'm sorry, is that even a thing in the US? I've only ever heard that terminology in a UK crime show!

Just a mess from all directions. Evil corporations, conspiracy theorists, police and government agencies arresting people for no reason and with no evidence, over the top preppers, oh, and a seeming attempt at some coziness with quite a lot of emphasis and attention paid to the dog in the story. Maybe this would make more sense as a TV series, but as a reading experience it was trying to do too much all at once and not really succeeding at anything.

The Mystery Writer is a mystery/suspense novel with a big dash of conspiracies thrown in for good measure. Theo wants to be a writer and gives up on law school and her inheritance to pursue her dream. Her brother, a lawyer, provides her a place to stay and helps to win her a settlement from her inheritance so she can write. Theo hangs out in a bar writing where she meets a fairly famous author. They share ideas and soon a bed. But then Theo’s friend is murdered and she’s seen as a suspect. The story keeps spiraling in predictable pattern and I quickly knew who the bad guys. The ending had a few twists but nothing jaw dropping. The characters are likable enough but the story almost had me sitting the book down 3/4 of the way through. This book was just an okay read for me. My voluntary, unbiased, and non mandatory review is based upon a free review copy from NetGalley.

What I loved most about this novel was that it contained murder and mystery without the gore, which I sometimes appreciate. This is more along the lines of a cozy mystery involving authors and writers.

The story starts off slow but the reader will soon be sucked into Sulari Gentill’s web of deception. The writing was skillful and well plotted.

I am a huge fan of the author since I read The Woman in the Library, and this book was another wonderful read indeed.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Theodosia Benton leaves law school behind in order to pursue a career as a writer to complete her unfinished novel. Surrounded by uncertainty, and the fact that she may not be talented enough to become a successful writer, she moves in with her brother Gus in the hope that he will support her. She fears that if she tells her parents they will insist she return to school and complete her law degree.
In the midst of the turmoil in her life, Theo finds comfort in an accomplished author, who becomes her mentor and encourages her to finish her book. When her mentor is brutally murdered her brother Gus becomes the prime suspect and Theo becomes heavily involved in the investigation in order to protect him and prove him innocent. Gus is able to dodge the police to get involved in the investigation in order to prove his innocence. In the midst of his search for the truth he finds out that the author has left a labyrinth in the form of a story and Theo suddenly disappears. When Gus breaks the code behind the labyrinth he finds that Theo, and everyone associated with her must die.

I don't think this book was really for me. It started out very interesting with a mysterious plot and a murder. It ground to a halt and dragged about 50% of the way through and didn't recover. My biggest issue was that Theo felt like a stand in for the reader rather than a character. Her role was to be a woman that things happened to, which she would then wring her hands over, and diminish her responses or the situation. I was expecting she'd be an intelligent woman who was able to make it into law school, but she never seemed to demonstrate much talent or personality outside of how she related to the male characters. I also disliked that Mac seemed to always have a solution, more like a convenient plothole cover, than an independent character who is fully explained. Because if you explained him it suddenly wouldn't make sense.

I think people who are looking for a mystery novel with a conspiracy plot will like this. If they aren't reading very deeply it probably won't even be noticed.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

I unfortunately did not finish this book before my time with it expired.
Honestly, this one felt very difficult to get into. The whole beginning just confused me and I never quite felt connected with the characters or with the story. It ended up being put on the back burner and it simply expired. So my star review should not be used to reflect the status of the entire book, it just simply wasn’t for my taste.

I tried. I really, really tried to get into this book. No matter how many times, at different months, I tried, I could not. I found these characters supremely boring from the get go and I could not grow to love them. I tried. I tried too hard, probably, but I did.

I’ve seen Theo referred to as a Damsel In Distress in many reviews, and I couldn’t agree more. One must grow up and take responsibility for their actions at some point in life, and Theo is past that point. The author presents the reader with a lot of time jumps to “wrap everything up” but it really only feels jarring, further detaching me from the read.

Overall, this is not a good that I can recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This was a fascinating story and I enjoyed the basic plot very much. Some editing was needed where words were missing, which created some difficulty in staying immersed in the story (but of course, it was an advanced copy, so I give a lot of leeway here). There were twists and turns that I was absolutely not expecting, and I was delightfully surprised by the way the story unraveled. That being said, although great ideas underpinned the plot, some was such a stretch from reality that I couldn't go higher than three stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Sulari Gentill for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the conspiracy theory aspect of this book (I’m a sucker for a whacky conspiracy theory) but I ultimately found I *really* had to suspend reality for this one to be remotely believable.

I know, I know. It’s fiction. But it just really went off the rails about 80% in for me. The ending also felt kind of rushed in comparison with the buildup of the rest of the book.

Ultimately I really enjoy this author so won’t hesitate to read her next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"In Afterlife the dead are afraid of the living."

This book had a slow start for me, however, once the story began to unfold I was caught in it. All the characters had character development. The book's plot was simple, yet it captured my attention with all the building plot twists. It had some slow-pacing moments but quickly recovered and picked up the pace more easily. The author creates this ground of reliance between the reader and the characters, only to tear it down later in the story.

Overall, even though this is a book I wouldn't normally choose, it was still a great read.

Despite my general opinion, don't let my review discourage you from picking it up!

This book was incredibly captivating. It reminded me of a John Grisham legal thriller, which are definitely some of my favorites. The story was the perfect amount of convoluted and streamlined: it confuses you with one hand and then slaps you over the head with the plot.

I thought the character work here was excellent. I’m always wary of bringing current & contemporary elements into stories because it can come across as trying to capitalize on trends but the inclusion of the Qanon / doomsday peepers (and humanizing them?? Can we do that??) was really entertaining.

Overall this was a great thriller and I look forward to more of Gentill’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sulari Gentill, and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a slow start to me, but once it got going, I enjoyed it. The best way to describe this book is a web of deception. The reader can tell by the end of this book how well the author plotted out this book. This book has so many twists and turns, but the reader is able to easily follow along. Prepare to be fully engrossed (after the slow start) until you finish as this book will keep your attention until the last page! My only big complaint was the book description gave away too much of the story.

This book was absolutely incredible. The writing was captivating. There were so many twists that I was on the edge of my seat until the end. Nothing about this plot was predictable. The complexity of each character was also fascinating. My favourite part was that it felt like Theo had a degree of sense in a way other books don't. What I mean by this is that she would say "I should go to the police about this" and would do it, where as in other books I feel like characters can be dumb and find reasons to not tell the police things. I enjoyed how cooperative she was. Absolutely a 5-star read, and that's coming from someone who rarely reads/enjoys mysteries or thrillers!

As an avid thriller/mystery reader, I thoroughly enjoyed The Mystery Writer and would highly recommend it. From moment one the reader is questioning reality in this often twisted tale, being led further down the rabbit hole of truth. I particularly loved the prescient ties-ins to online culture, conspiracy theories, and the dynamics between the main character, Theo, and her brother Gus. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments peppered throughout to help breakup the tension, lending itself to a delightful story.

I was really excited about this novel, as I enjoyed the author's previous book, The Woman in the Library however this title was a disappointment. The character development meant thin, and I wasn't drawn to any of the main characters or their storylines. Theo and her brother, Gus, have a murky past that does eventually become more clear but the other main character, Mac, never fully forms. His family's "prepper" tendencies are never really explained, and his brothers' involvement with Murdoch's death is never really clear. The book also makes massive, not well-explained, time leaps in the last quarter which concludes with a fairly believable, if not altogether satisfying ending.

I really loved "The Woman in the Library," but this didn't capture me quite as much. The ending seemed very rushed and some of the plot points were rather far-fetched. Also, I usually expect DRCs to have some typos, but this one was chock-full of them it seemed like. I will continue to recommend "The Woman in the Library," and I would even recommend "The Mystery Writer" to those who just enjoy reading mystery because it was kind of a different take on that genre, but overall I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to. I found myself interested and wanted to keep reading, but once I was down to like 30 pages, there was really nothing new to learn, just wrapping up all the hints that had been given throughout.

I stopped after chapter 2 (7%). The prose is rather lovely, and I can see it being three to four stars for the target audience, five for the right readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.