The Mystery Writer: A Novel
2024 Mary Higgins Clark Edgar Award Nominee
"A mischievous twist on mystery novels and the people who write them." -- Benjamin Stevenson, author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone and Everyone on the Train is a Suspect
There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory--until it turns out to be true
From 2023 Edgar Award nominee and bestselling author Sulari Gentill comes a literary thriller about an aspiring writer who meets and falls in love with her literary idol--only to find him murdered the day after she gave him her manuscript to read.
When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?
What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die.
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Community Reviews
Theo wants to pursue a writing career. Gus is delighted to see his little sister and has her live with him and his dog named horse.
Theo settles into her daily writing sessions at a nearby coffee shop, where other writers do the same. Theo meets a well-known writer, Dan Murdoch. He comes her mentor and eventually they start a relationship. Theo invites Dan over for dinner to meet Gus, when she arrives at Dan’s she stumbles upon Dan’s murder. Now Theo is the number one suspect. With Gus and his coworkers fighting for Theo's innocence, and then all of a sudden Theo goes missing. Is she on the run or has something more sinister happened to her?
The book still kept me entertained and even though I had an idea what had happened, it still made me question myself if I was mistaken.
My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, The Author, Sulari Gentill as well as NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The Mystery Writer.
I really enjoyed the premise and the mix of conspiracy theory forums with different third person perspectives throughout the book. The main characters were all likable and I liked that the background of the characters wasn’t homogenous (even if some of them were a little outlandish, it didn’t feel unbelievable).
My only qualms are that it felt like it resolved too quickly and neatly vs how slow it was in the beginning (I.e. pacing issues) and some of the details felt a bit unnecessary to the overall story. If some of these details were moved it could have improved the pacing if the climax wasn’t squeezed right at the end.
Overall, the reading experience had me on the edge of my seat so it’s a 4/5 for the minor issues mentioned above.
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