The Woman in the Library
Listen to the perfect playlist while reading:
Genre: Mystery; Thriller
Publication Date: 2022
Number of Pages: 267
Geographical Setting: Boston, Massachusetts
Time Period: 21st century
Plot Summary: When the Australian fellowship writer Winnifred "Freddie" Kincaid enters the Boston Public Library one day to get a start on her novel, she hardly expects a woman to die in the same building. Impossible, even, for one of her three new friends to be the murderer. But for such a puzzling mystery, anything is possible. The story's fictional author, Hannah, leads you through the weeds to the striking conclusion.
Subject Headings: Boston Public Library -- Fiction.
Friendship -- Fiction.
Murder -- Fiction.
Boston (Mass.) -- Fiction.
Appeals
Storyline: Intricately plotted
An almost necessary aspect of the mystery genre, Gentill utilizes the engine of "spotting, following, and weighing each clue", choosing to "focus on the intricacies of the puzzle itself" (pg. 53). Gentill uses her gang of four characters (and Hannah's pen pal Leo) to figure out where the story is going.
Pace: Intensifying
While pacing "is often less important in Mysteries" with a wide variety from different authors, the intensifying pace of The Woman in the Library brings the willing reader from a sad and shocking turn of events to a thrill of a ride as Freddie, the reader, and Leo all try to figure out who the murderer is among Freddie's new friends (pg. 57). As readers will experience in the beginning of the book, "the investigative details of Mysteries necessarily slow the story" so that the reader can get acquainted with all the characters in question and the clues found along the way (pg. 57).
Tone: Darkly humorous
Wyatt assures us that "Mysteries infused with humor, such as the black humor of John Burdett and the puns and wordplay of Marshall Karp" do exist (pg. 56). Gentill utilizes a mix of both. The four friends of The Woman in the Library accidentally and purposefully joke about their shared event (Caroline's murder) and make accidental puns about death. While some readers may be put off by Gentill's choice, it offers a bit of lightness in an otherwise gloomy story.
3 terms that best describe this book: Suspenseful; Witty; Book about a book (metafiction)
Read-Alikes:
Liesl Weiss, a regular university employee, discovers one day that one of the librarians has gone missing-- along with a priceless, rare book from their collection. As she follows the clues for herself, Liesl becomes entangled in the pages of her very own mystery.
Similarities: Readers who enjoyed the literary base, engaging storyline, and intricate plot of Woman will find the mysterious Department just as thrilling.
First published in 1901, this novel conjures up an evening at a gentleman's club in London, where an American diplomat shares a startling tale of a double murder he witnessed four years ago. As the men listen, others begin to share what they know of the prominent victims and what may have happened that night.
Similarities: Like Woman, Fog intricately plots a suspenseful tale of friends solving a murder together, featuring elements of metafiction.
Detective Daniel Hawthorne enlists the help of his assistant, author Anthony Horowitz, in solving the murder of a rich old woman who had just finished planning her own funeral.
Similarities: Like Woman, Word utilizes metafiction to draw the reader into the story with an engaging and intricately plotted story.
Looking to write your own page-turner like Hannah?
With excellent reviews from aspiring and seasoned authors alike, Hallie Ephron's how-to guide on writing for the mystery genre provides an interactive look into every step of the process.
No stranger to the world of writing or the world of writing advice, author and blogger Chuck Wendig's latest how-to guide on writing assists writers at any step of their career to solidify their skills in the art of storytelling.
Highly praised and regarded as the best book on writing anyone can ever get, the King of Horror combines true advice to new and old writers with tales of his life, both before and after he became an author. I would be remiss not to recommend this one.
Wyatt, N. (2007). The readers' advisory guide to nonfiction. American Library Association.
Oh this sounds interesting! Your annotation made me think of the movie Clue and how there's only so many suspects and you absolutely know its one of them. I'll have to add it to my list.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love that you made a playlist for this!! I'm terrible at creating playlists LOL
OMG I love Clue! The correlation between my love for that movie and my love for this book may be a red herring, though... And thank you! I loved making playlists for all my book choices. It was fun!
DeleteThis sounds like such a fun mystery and I think I actually already have it on my TBR! I am the type of person who can appreciate a potentially dark joke in an uncomfortable situation so the darkly humorous tone would definitely be a draw for me. Great annotation!
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