An in demand ghost writer, who remains unnamed, is tasked with writing the memoir of former senator and presidential hopeful Dorothy Gibson not long after she loses the election. However, when a suicide occurs just down the road, something doesn't seem to add up so her and Dorothy stumble into an investigation to find out what really happened.
This is a classic whodunit with lots of twists and turns. I loved the characters especially Dorothy who seems inspired by some real-life politicians. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

Thank you to the author, publisher, narrator and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio version of this title in exchange for my review.

**This book is NOT a contemporary Agatha Christie!** This book has so much unnecessary filler and so many useless details, comparing it to any Golden Age Detective novel, let along Agatha Christie, is wrong, bad, and makes me mad.

I rarely enjoy newer mysteries or thrillers, but the description of this one sounded ok, and I made the mistake of believing it was written similar to my beloved GAD novels. I thought it would be ok. It was not.

The details of "the female politician who lost" was beyond irritating. The "ghostwriter" narrator seemed more of a sidekick than a ghost writer, and was long winded and boring. I hated every single aside we had to hear from her brain. And for the number of times the narrator tells us that she's "not going to go into that" I felt like I ended the book with an unbelievable number of details about this mostly unnamed person.

I really can't think of one single good thing to report about this book. The mystery was not thought out, the character developments made me hate them, and the descriptions of the surroundings made me want to scream. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone I know - would, in fact, urge them *not* to waste the time in reading this one.

1 star for 'hated it' and I wish I could rate lower.

A very enjoyable gossipy plot. Great surprise ending! Narration well done - loved all the nuances of each character.
Dorothy is a delightful character - wise, humble, strong and very in love with herself.
A talented ghost writer is hired to assist with Dorothy's memoir. After the murder of a neighboring socialite, their plans take a turn.
I enjoyed the humor immensely - dark, funny and very enjoyable.

Many thanks to the author Kemper Donovan, RB Media, and Netgalley for providing me access to the ALC in exchange for my honest review. This title will be released on January 23, 2024.

Our unnamed narrator is a professional busybody—a ghostwriter. She heads to Oregon to pry into her latest client’s life, that of Senator Dorothy Gibson. A neighbor turns up dead. Although the death is declared suicide, the the busybody and the politician take it upon themselves to try to catch a killer.

The Busy Body falls solidly into the mystery genre with a sedate pace. The inciting incident doesn’t occur until about 15%. Thereafter, the amateur investigation aspect of the plot consists of little action—just a lot of prying conversations. Strangely enough, the mystery has no community component; that is to say, that the amateur investigators just snoop their way into random interviews with strangers. Sense of place remains weak throughout the story. Additionally, mundane details often bogs down the story's flow. I held on and was eventually rewarded by the interesting tidbits revealed in the latter half of the book.

The unnamed narrator does provide some amusing commentary, but it leans more toward witty or slightly quirky than outright humorous. I enjoyed unusual dynamic between the narrator and Sen. Dorothy, which falls somewhere between strangers, co-conspirators, boss-employee, and friends. However, I needed them as individual characters to pop off the page. I wanted more of their backstories. Sadly, neither main character stood out as particularly enigmatic or unique. Given that the setup is a ghostwriter coming to learn about her next subject, I found it odd that we never really get to know who either character was under the surface.

The prose is competent. The Busy Body a fine read for someone who wants a bare-bones, low-key mystery. Just know that it's not cozy, action-packed, comedic, or atmospheric.

NARRATION: Excellent. Eva Kaminsky manages to convey in the performance the protagonist’s professional expertise and energy, as well has the opinionated narrative voice that sometimes veers toward sharp and judgment. This is where the prose married with the narration really shines. Kaminsky also does an entertaining voice for the Senator.

I read a lot of mysteries, from the gritty, disturbing ones to the light, cozy style. While The Busy Body fell more on the side of the light mysteries, it was super entertaining and enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed how different, but well-developed the characters were, and I loved the way they related to each other. I am a huge Agatha Christie fan, and I understand the comparisons between this novel and works by the Mystery Queen, without clearly copying her plotlines and style. All in all, a super fun read!

I enjoyed this book overall but I expected the twist. It was entertaining and moved smoothly through to the end. There is some cursing but overall it was a clean mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook early.

This book was just ok. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Overall, I just found it lacking. The characters were forgettable, the comedic sections were not especially funny, and the plot/pace tended to drag in places. The audiobook was well narrated and was probably why I enjoyed this more than if I had just read it. I probably will not think about this story or the characters again.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RBMedia for the book #TheBusyBody by #KemperDonovan. This book was kind of like the game Clue. It had many twists and turns till the final ending plot reveal.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐+⭐
The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan, an audiobook narrated by Eva Kaminsky was so yummy! Can I refer to the book as yummy? I don't know but it was delicious!
This is an excellent example where the author and narrator together create a masterpiece. I absolutely loved the writing style it was so light, refreshing, and easy, sometimes nicely funny, and Eva Kaminsky made it sound so playful and real! I absolutely could imagine Emilia Clarke playing the role of ghostwriter.
I think it's clear that I LOVED IT!
This is the first book, a murd£r mystery in The Ghostwriter series, cleverly tight together and delivered in a kind of Angela Lansbury way. I believe that I enjoyed the writing and narration more than the storyline, at the end of the day, murd£r mystery is a murd£r mystery, there always is the same formula.
I am hoping that the next book by Kemper Donovan will be narrated by Eva Kaminsky because they must stick together!

The ghostwriter specialising in biography writing is invited to stay with former Senator Dorothy Gibson and this is a dream come true for every biography writer. Dorothy Gibson is a well-known and well-respected politician and this could be a turning point in everyone's career. Things get complicated when a neighbor dies in suspicious circumstances and Dorothy Gibson decides to take the investigation in her hands!

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone not just fans of murd£r mysteries!

I am so grateful to #NetGalley, #RBMedia, and #RecordedBooks for a copy of #TheBusyBody.

1 stars

This is my first major disappointment of the year. The main detective duo in this book were extraordinarily bland and could have come from any book/mystery. Their “witty” banter really didn’t rise above the usual stuff you read in cosy mysteries. I also never really understood why they got along so well. The romance had zero chemistry and zero development other than the romance interest being described as attractive.

I also disliked the writing style. It was overly descriptive of surroundings and the main character's inner monologue was rambly and pointless. I was forgiving of all this because I found the main mystery engaging, unfortunately I hated the final solution.

The way fat characters were displayed seemed insensitive for a book released in 2024. I definitely suggest you avoid this book if that bothers you.

I received this book from NetGalley.

This felt like a self-insert fanfiction as in, imagine you were solving mysteries with Hillary Clinton? A cozy murder mystery with The Losing Woman Candidate For President serving as the unexpected Miss Marple and her ghostwriter as her sidekick, it made me laugh out loud at points especially with the constant refrains of “well—maybe he won’t be so bad, will he?”

It is listed as part of a series and I look forward to reading more, this is my first book by this author but certainly not the last!

As a long time Hilary Clinton fan, I absolutely adored Dorothy, a former Senator who has just lost a major presidential election. A murder takes place next door to Dorothy’s home, and Dorothy gets to work solving problems and helping people. I ate it up, I would be thrilled to see Dorothy start solving murders! The novel is written from the point of view of a ghost writer who has come to help Dorothy write her memoir. The ghost writer serves as the narrator and has a minor side plot I did not enjoy. More Dorothy!!

I should have loved this book. It was an Agatha Christie (my all time favorite) mystery set in present day with a really cool female politician that was robbed of the presidency. It has me written all over it, I should have loved it. But I don't know that I even liked it.

I think it might be the narrator. I hate that she doesn't have a name. I know it's part of the ghostwriter thing, I get it, but writing a review is really frustrating when I don't have a name. She was, for lack of a better word, cringey. She had me actually feeling second hand embarrassment sometimes (like the terrible romance) and I didn't find myself rooting for her at all.

I liked Dorothy, but the whole thing just seemed a little too far fetched. She didn't really exude "politician" energy, if that makes any sense.

After all that, I really hated the ending. The conclusion of the mystery was cool, but the very last chapter left a bad taste in my mouth.

Although this was a great fun story to listen to and I would definitely try another book by Kemper Donovan, I felt the side plot of the love interest did not add much to the story other than draw it out. Loved the main characters and how the confession came out. A couple more edits and this could have been a 5 star book, I do look forward to the next book I try by Kemper Donovan as I love the depth and personality in his books.

A failed female presidential candidate and Former Senator, Dorothy Gibson, teams with her memoir ghostwriter to solve a dangerous murder. Smart, hilarious, and perfect for lovers of contemporary mysteries with the gloss of Golden Age whodunits. Penned by the All About Agatha podcast host. My only nitpicky issue is that the narrator was not named and since this seems to be the beginning of a series (YAY!), I'd like her to be known as someone other than the ghostwriter. But otherwise, I loved this mystery and it will definitely keep you guessing.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and RB Digital for this audio e-arc.*

Thank you to RB media for the review audiobook of The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan. This was more of a cozy than I was expecting, cozy isn't my go to genre but I still enjoyed this (my liking a genre more or less isn't relevant to a fair review).
As this is clearly the start of a fun series, it took a bit to get into the story as characters and contexts/relationships need to be established so readers should give it time to get going. I personally enjoyed the style with the main character, the ghostwriter, giving some asides/little extra commentary (though a bit confusing via audiobook at first) and the sassy Dorothy Gibson (who is to me clearly a fictional sleuthy former female presidential candidate). For a cozy mystery with the usual body count and amateur sleuth vibes, this was fun, engaging, and had a strong ending.

one note, I didn't love the narrator's voice/style, not enough to not try another in this series but I just wanted a little more inflection/style, something to denote the asides/dialogue more.
3.5 stars

4.4⭐️ The ghostwriter (no name given so let’s call her Ghost), gets a new assignment- writing a memoir for the recently unsuccessful senator running for presidency (think Hilary Clinton). Ghost is witty, intelligent, shares all her thoughts and feelings and can’t wait to work for Dorothy

I loved all Ghost’s little asides, which were often humorous and occasionally I had to pause-to-lol 🤣

Audiobook narrator Eva does a fantastic job, especially with Dorothy’s (Hilary Clinton’s) intonations - hilarious and warmed me to her even more. Days later and I’m still mimicking her “hmmmm hmmmm”!

This is the first of a series, so there was the expected exposition which only took some time. When a murder occurs, Ghost and Hilary (sorry, Dorothy) put the memoir aside and morphe into Poirot and Hastings, Sherlock and Watson - and I kinda loved it!

Actually, it felt more like Lorelai and Rory from Gilmore Girls!

It did feel a little far fetched with Dorothy more or less hijacking the investigation , but it was such fun I moved passed that

The reveal, set up exactly as Poirot would do, was surprising and I applaud the author for a fabulous, (dare I say unrealistic) reveal

I appreciated the end and the fact that no one walked off into the sunset, especially as I could sense that we’ll be seeing Ghost again soon (also Goodreads says it’s the first in the series)

I do want (need) to know Ghost. A well written, witty, twisty plot does not a 5⭐️ rating make (not for me anyway) but we got close and I’m very much looking forward to learning more about Ghost (like her name! And also what happened at aged 17!)

Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review

First book in a series I will continue to read. A fun plot line with a ghost writer and politician. Both characters bring unique perspectives to solving the mystery.

Five Reasons To Read The Busy Body By Kemper Donovan.

https://www.novellives.com/2024/01/14/the-busy-body-by-kemper-donovan-review/

The Busy Body is a wonderful cozy mystery. Our protagonist and narrator is known as only as the ghostwriter. She is excited for the amazing opportunity of helping write a memoir for Senator Dorothy Gibson, who just lost the presidential election she was expected to win. Our ghostwriter moves in with the Senator to get a feel for her life. While there, a nearby neighbor that they had a chance meeting with, suddenly dies a mysterious death. The Dorothy and the ghostwriter decide to investigate. This book kept me guessing, and was filled with many intriguing characters.
Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced listener copy. Eva Kamisky is an exceptional narrator for this audiobook. Her voice acting for Dorothy was amazing, you could really feel Dorothy's intelligence and compassion. Overall I really enjoyed this book and give it 4.5 stars.