The Woman in the Library

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Shocked, they end up striking up a quick and effortless friendship…only to find out soon after that the screaming woman was murdered. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill for review. This book appeals on all levels: the Boston Public Library, which the author describes in enticing detail, is now on my list of places I need to see BIKTB.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill - Publishers Weekly The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill - Publishers Weekly

If his long-distance efforts to encroach on her creative territory make you uneasy, they did me too!Hannah also names another character in the book, Freddie’s friend, neighbor and fellow scholar, Leo). In The Woman In The Library, the ending of Hannah’s novel and Freddie’s story felt a bit abrupt to me. I will admit it took me a while to get into the swaps back and forth, between the correspondence and the book draft and the secondary book draft. As the story progresses, the four of them become friends and find themselves embroiled in the mystery surrounding the death of the young woman and it is revealed that one of them is connected to the murder. Not only is there the risk that he’s not whom he pretends to be, as Marigold warns her, there’s also the inconvenient fact that the police are watching his every move.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill | Goodreads

Essentially, the author is having fun with all of the "tropes" and writing devices available to a professional story-teller. I had the privilege of having both the audiobook and e-book versions and enjoyed going back and forth between the two. Now, before I get into my review, I want to let you all know about the trigger warnings I found while reading. I liked the way the author (the real one that is - Gentill) included Covid as a sort of aside to the story rather than featuring it all the time.But they're bland at best and unlikable at worst, lacking that all-important appeal that makes character studies come alive.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill | Crime Fiction Lover The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill | Crime Fiction Lover

That is the point where I had to start really concentrating, and also when things started to become really tense and I had problems putting the book down just to make a cup of tea! It is absolutely riveting and picked my interest with its impactful ending of the first chapter: main character of the story: Winifred Kincaid a. He loves Marigold, especially as he realizes she was in the library because she stalks Whit, but he thinks Hannah should have more realistic detail about the crime. I loved the mystery novel wrapped in a mystery novel, the Boston locations, the characters, the whole thing, but I don’t understand the last pages and I don’t know what we readers were supposed to get from it! Each chapter of Hannah’s book, is followed by the latest correspondence from Leo, who becomes more and more invested in her novel, as Freddie’s story progresses.

The story starts with Aussie Winifred AKA Freddie, living in Boston on a scholarship, sitting at a library table with three strangers.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill, Paperback The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill, Paperback

Cain, Whit, and Marigold happen to be sitting at the same table when they hear the horrendous noise of a woman’s screams.

Because neither Freddie or Marigold noticed him right away in the elevator, it gave the impression he was purposely trying to blend in and stalk Freddie until he could have his twisted hero moment.