The (unnamed) ghost writer has been selected to write a memoir for Dorothy Gibson. Dorothy had just completed her election run for President of the United States. In an all too real scenario the election did not end in Dorothy’s favor.

As Dorothy is trying to get back to normal life she gets caught up in a murder investigation. Dorothy’s neighbor Vivian approaches her to commiserate the loss. The next day Vivian is murdered. As the investigation begins Dorothy and the ghost writer can’t stay away

Many thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for the eaudiobook!

The premise of this book really hooks you right away but unfortunately, at least for me, quickly becomes boring. The two characters - the unnamed ghostwriter and Dorothy make a weird detective duo team that I thought could be fun and interesting but I found them flat and boring. I wish I loved this more than I did.

The Busy Body is the first book in a stylish classic modern mystery series by Kemper Donovan. Released 23rd Jan 2024 by Kensington, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a first person classic-pattern mystery with a protagonist who remains anonymous throughout. She's a ghost writer, with a new dream assignment to shadow a Hillary Clinton-esque independent candidate (Dorothy) who has split the vote enough that a dark horse outsider (he who shall not be named) has successfully gained the presidency. When Dorothy's neigbor dies in odd circumstances, they decide to investigate on their own, to the chagrin of the local constabulary.

Although it's an odd (too clever?) twist to have the ghost writer remain anonymous, the prose is well crafted and it won't be problematic for most readers. Mr. Donovan manages to convey a female voice reasonably well, and the fact that the character wasn't continually referred to by name never made it feel like she was genderless or masculine.

The story culminates in a Poirot-gets-the-suspects-together denouement, and although many readers will be expecting the big reveal, it was well written and entertaining. Definitely plans for future volumes given the epilogue. It's not at all derivative, but fans of modern intellectual classic mysteries like those by Anthony Horowitz, Nita Prowse, and Richard Osman will find a lot to like.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 10 hours 6 minutes and is capably narrated by Eva Kaminsky. She has a slightly earthy alto voice with a neutral accent (east coast American but not distinctively regional) and does a good job of delineating the various characters of both sexes and a range of ages. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Four stars for both print and audiobook formats.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan was an outstanding read. Told from a first-person perspective, the story is that of an experience of a ghostwriter engaged to ghost write an autobiography for the latest failed presidential candidate. As a first-person narrative, it necessarily includes inner thoughts, observations, and barbs.
She chronicles her own adventures, misadventures and frankly, stupidity along with the actions of her co-sleuth, the failed presidential candidate.
The clues are woven into the story well. Some are detectible, some leave one thinking back and discovering the instance the clue came along. All the clues are there to be discovered by the characters and the reader.

At first, I did not appreciate the narrator. To be honest, the style is a bit of an acquired taste. However, once into the story, it lends itself to the overall feel of the story as her personal perspective.

Perhaps one of the most refreshing parts of the story was the entire lack of political messaging and nudging. The only agenda to the book was to solve the murder and for the ghostwriter to set her life on a path.

HIGHLY recommend.

I guess I’m in the minority here, but I totally enjoyed this one!
(As I’m reading some other reviews, it seems like they did not like it as much, but, to each his own…)

Dorothy Gibson is a former senator who just ran to be president, but was defeated. But, people come up to her throughout the book expressing their disappointment and just being in awe of her! 😮😉

She decides that she wants to write a memoir, and hires a ghost writer. And she asks that she move into her home while they work on this project.

Shortly after arriving, a neighbor is found dead in her home…and the former Senator gets involved, with her writer, to try to solve the mystery.

It’s frightening. It’s funny. And at times it’s hilarious!

But, the cops are NOT happy that these two are getting involved in the case AT ALL! Except, they are the only ones who seem to be making any progress!!

As it all seems to be wrapping up, there’s another twist… and then finally, the truth is revealed!

No, I never saw it coming!

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

#TheBusyBody by #KemperDonovan and beautifully (hilariously) narrated by #EvaKaminsky.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RecordedBooks for an ARC of the audiobook which was released on 1/23/24.

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As always, thanks for reading along with me! Happy Reading! 📚📖

For the ghostwriter, it's the assignment of a lifetime: writing a book with former presidential nominee Dorothy Gibson. Dorothy ran as an independent, and split the vote. And she is a strong, intelligent woman with an incredible work ethic. When one of her neighbors dies suddenly, she takes it upon herself to figure out whodunit. And she asks her ghostwriter to join her. Since her job is quite literally to shadow Dorothy for the book, the ghostwriter finds herself working together with the politician to solve a murder.

I cannot recall ever reading a book where we don’t find out the main character’s name! I’m going to refer to her as Narrator, for the sake of my review. What a unique spin to have, and it works perfectly, as Narrator’s name won’t be learned since it’s her job to stay secret. It was fun how she found herself in the middle of a murder investigation and her and Dorothy’s detective skills had me cracking up at times. “The Busy Body” is #1 in The Ghostwriter series, and I can’t wait to see what sort of adventures Narrator is going to get herself into next! If you enjoy cozy-type mysteries with a unique twist, pick this one up.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours, Kemper Donovan and RB Media for the ARC and ALC! “The Busy Body” releases February 2, 2024!

This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly.

This novel is a charming throwback to classic whodunits. Our amateur detective is Dorothy Gibson, a former senator who just lost a presidential election. Just like Hastings and Watson, the narrator here is the ghostwriter hired by Dorothy to write her biography. She is smart and independent. Her character is so well defined that I didn’t realize that she is never named. I really enjoyed the dialogues, as well as the fact that it doesn’t get into real life politics. But it was the plot that really made me enjoy this. In retrospect, I should have seen the big reveal coming, as it was something Dame Agatha used more than once. As it was, I was completely blindsided, even if all the clues were there and only the misdirection concealed the truth. Eva Kaminsky is a great choice for the narrator, as she nails the combination of cynic who yearns to be an idealist. I have to add that I thought the author was a woman, because Donovan really gets the female psychology right. For lovers of classic mysteries.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#RB Media, Recorded Books.

<i> The Busy Body </i> was a fun little mystery with lots of snarky quick witted commentary!

This was an immediate addition to my tbr pile after reading the Veep comparison. Veep is one of my all-time favorite shows, so I went into this book with some high expectations. I will say it didn't quite deliver the same level of wit and quick delivery as Veep, but it was close. And the Veep comparison really helped frame my imagination of the story itself.

Basically a ghostwriter is hired to tackle the story of a failed third party presidential run by Dorothy, a former senator. While writing Dorothy's story a murder occurs at a glass estate/resort (I imagined something like the glass onion in knives out). Dorothy and the ghostwriter take the investigation into their own hands, and twists and turns ensue!

The narrator did an excellent job. Dorothy's voice immediately made me think of the actress Kate Burton (Inventing Anna, Veep, Homeland, etc.). And the overall MC voice was fun to listen to with just the right amount of snark and sarcasm.

It did take me a minute to warm up to the storyline and the MC. But once the story got rolling it was a quick immersive read. It was fun and cute, would read more if the ghostwriter turns into a Hercule Poirot.

*Thank you to RBMedia, NetGalley, and Kemper Donovan for the audiobook. I am always happy to leave my honest opinion!*

This book was enjoyable from the first and last page. I loved all of the characters and what each of their personalities add to the story. I’ve truly never laughed so much while reading a thriller.
Former Senator Dorothy Gibson hires a ghostwriter who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. The entire time I pictured Dorothy as if she was played by Moira in Schitts Creek. I hope our ghostwriter finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation again!!
The narrator, Eva Kaminsky, was fantastic! She had the best voices for each character, delivered each line exactly the way the character would say it. It was such an entertaining listen and perfect for this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for an audio arc. It was great!

Pleasant listen. It’s a mystery along with a touch of politics, publishing, and a dead body. There’s a cast of colorful characters and a few twists and turns. The audiobook was well done.

Great murder mystery!

The best ghostwriter in the business is invited to write the biography of Senator Dorothy Gibson. Senator Gibson just lost the presidential elections and is 'hiding' in a grand house in Maine. But a murder happens right next door and both women set out to investigate the mystery, putting both of them in the path of trouble.

This is for lovers of Knives Out with a political twist. This book had me from the beginning, I loved how the book was narrated in first person and the narrator was soooo honest.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Listened to the audiobook for this one! I really enjoyed the narrator and how she gave a voice to each character. It gives you the feeling of listening to a movie which I always enjoy in an audiobook. It took me a while to get into it because the first probably 20% of the book is basically an info dump on all the characters but once the murder happens the story picks up a lot. To be truthful, I really enjoyed Dorothy much more than the ghost writer who narrates the story. The mystery was interesting and I did enjoy how it all played out!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a very quick, easy read. Eva Kaminsky's narration was great and got me into the first-person POV immediately. I initially thought the mashing of genres would be a little odd for me ("Veep" meets Agatha Christie?), but it worked much better than I anticipated. The story was a solid mystery with clever dialogue.

I mostly just had some issues with the pacing throughout and certain character choices at the end. The choices may have worked better for me if I knew more about our main character/narrator. I have to hope that more details will come in a future book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this audiobook!

A murder, a ghost writer and a powerful, curious woman with too much time on her hands all converge in this Agatha Christy-ish murder mystery where nothing is really as it seems. Full of clever, funny and witty banter this story is sure to please any mystery lover. There are also a lot of references to current cultural events and icons which helps bring the humor meter up even higher. The narrator was excellent and did a great job with all the characters, each was very distinctive. Definitely a fun read. Recommended.

Many thanks to Net Galley for the ARC audio version of this enjoyable book.

Finlay Donovan meets Agatha Christie in this new mystery from Kemper Donovan. The story follows a ghost writer hired to work for this year's most recent presidential candidate hot off the tails of her unsuccessful campaign. They quickly get involved in attempting to solve the murder of her neighbor, completely forgetting that they are supposed to be writing a memoir. I thought this book was an extremely quick read. While the mystery wasn't incredibly hard to figure out, the easy-going nature of the characters and flow of the story made it a great read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook!

This was a fun read. A ghostwriter is hired to write the memoirs of a US Senator who's just completed an unsuccessful run for president. When she goes to Maine to meet with the senator they find out that a neighbor has been found dead - first thought to be a suicide, later ruled a suspected murder. The ghostwriter goes along with the senator, whose inherent curiosity leads her to investigate the incident despite the objections of the local authorities.
Kemper Donovan has a podcast about Agatha Christie, so it's no surprise that there are elements of Christie's books here, but with modern sensibilities. The ghostwriter (who is never named) narrates in first person, and I enjoyed her (occasional snarky) commentaries and asides about life and people and herself. I listened to the audiobook, and as usual, I really enjoyed Eva Kaminsky's narration. By the end I was hoping this would be the start of a series and sure enough, I found out that it is indeed meant to be the first book of the Ghostwriter series. I'll definitely be looking out for the next one.
Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for providing a digital copy of the audiobook for an unbiased review.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The narrator played all the characters in this story perfectly! She seamlessly transitions and I always was able to know who was speaking. The story kind of felt drawn out for me at times but I’m glad I stuck with it because the conclusion was well worth the wait! I definitely didn’t see all the twists coming and look forward to future books in this series! If you like mysteries be sure to check this book out!

This was a classic whodunnit with a twist of humor. I was hooked from the very beginning and fully entertained. Eva Kaminsky is a phenomenal narrator! When I tell you that she had me laughing throughout the story. She truly embodied each characters’ voice and personality perfectly. This narration is definitely in my top 5 narrations to date.

Thank you NetGalley, RB Media, and Kemper Donovan for this ALC.

THE BUSYBODY by Kemper Donovan is perfectly narrated by Eva Kaminski and published January 23rd!

I had so much fun with story! I listened to this at work today and wrote down so many quotes, cultural references, and a couple wonky moments that I loved! And I left it at work. I'll wing it.

The Ghostwriter is the woman who tells this tale of her exploits with Senator Dorothy Gibson who lost the presidential election just months before. When a neighbor of Dorothy's ends up dead, and suicide is said to be the cause, Dorothy enlists her collaborator to find out the truth. The political powerhouse and a writer who knows how to be invisible proves to be a formidable combination, and not without a high level of snark and humor!

Why did I not bookmark all the hilarity?! I seriously loved the audio version of this story. Kaminsky nailed the Ghostwriter and her snark. I was absolutely enthralled with all the references that started with iocane powder! I will have to give a shout in my stories with all of this, because it was just so fun!

The mystery of the dead body did have some fun twists and red herrings, but I did kinda figure it out before I wished I had! I don't think it took anything from my enjoyment, however. It had such sharp, snappy dialog that I can't wait to read again!

Thank you so much to @recordedbooks for @kensingtonbooks & @netgalley for for sharing this delightful mystery.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel and I thought the reader did an excellent job of bringing the characters and story to life. A ghostwriter is sent to the Maine home of a former female senator to team up to write a book. Instead they team up to solve a murder. Witty, clever and entertaining.