Tag: Sulari Gentill

Five Found Dead by Sulari Gentill (Mystery)

Crime Fiction writer Joe Penvale and his sister Meredith board the famed Orient Express as both a celebration of Joe’s (barely) surviving cancer and a hope that the luxury train would stimulate his writing follicles. A whole host of diverting characters board with them — a retired French policeman, a Jamaica born Detective Inspector, a Duchess, a travel writer, a pair of octogenarian bounty hunters, a Welshman with a background in international terrorism, and a member of Scotland Yard. A pair of young podcasters — focused on the mystery genre with a strong dose of social indignance thrown in — complete the dramatis personae. Things are off to a great start but then … a mysterious illness leads to a partial quarantine and the stranger in the next cabin disappears, leaving a great quantity of blood behind. Now things get exciting.

Very good writing with lots of sentences to highlight while laughing or having my thoughts provoked. Unpredictable plot twists, including plenty of clever metafictional commentary and provocative ruminations on ones own mortality. I liked the multi-layer literary references to the Golden Age of Detective fiction, including to the notable Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” Very entertaining, difficult to put down, and brilliantly executed in every respect.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 19th, 2025.

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill (Mystery)

Theodosia Benton abandons law school and her Australian home to focus on her unfinished novel, moving in with her brother in Lawrence, Kansas. A meeting with a successful author leads to mentorship, a free flow of ideas, and maybe something more … until he shows up dead one day, brutally murdered. Weird things keep happening and none of them are very good for our heroine, her brother Gus, and his investigator friend, Mac. Every time the author had a chance to go down the obvious path she instead takes evasive action and veers off onto a path I would never expect. Between the action and the backstories of her (very) relatable characters, we are treated to a twisted, entertaining, self-referential mystery blending writing techniques, reader psychology, conspiracy sites, preppers, and Tasmanian hippies (yes, you read that right). The situation does sometimes veer into regions of (to me) unrealistic evil corporate overlord action, but all of the other characters are believable and interesting — I particularly liked all the writerly discussions which focussed more on how to engage with a reader rather than dry (to the non writer) techniques. Be warned: a bit of a creepy feeling pervades the whole book, and I did feel that Theo should have figured some things out a little sooner than she did, but then I was in a comfy, stress-free space, so perhaps I wouldn’t have figured out very much more had I been in her position 🙂

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 19th, 2024.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill (Mystery)

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 5/5 Characters: 4/5

A three-layer nested story merging a murder mystery, the evolution of friendships, and some fascinating insight into a writer’s process.

Australian Hannah Tigon is a writer, and in a semi-epistolary shell to the novel, she writes a chapter which is followed by detailed feedback and comments from an e-colleague living in Boston where her story is set. These comments get stranger and stranger as the book evolves. In the story itself, Winifred Kincaid (Freddie) is also a writer — trying to get some work done in the Boston Library when a bloodcurdling scream is heard. She — and the three others nearby — form a friendship after the scream as they try to figure out what happened. In the third layer of the story, she bases her characters on these three new friends.

Twisted. Engaging. Quite well written in the spare, thoughtful style that I like. The story is told from Freddie’s first person perspective and her internal dialog is clever, colorful and full of insight into a writer’s thoughts. I found it interesting that she presented some un-PC perspectives such as a white author bemoaning the fact that he never got to benefit from white privilege (see quote) and took an interesting perspective on race — never telling us the race of the characters while simultaneously being harangued for same by the man sending her feedback.

A few interesting quotes:

“I open my mouth to explain, to assure him that I’m a writer, not a leering harasser, but of course this is the reading room, and one does not conduct a defense while people are trying to read. I do attempt to let him know I’m just interested in him as the physical catalyst for a character I’m creating, but that’s too complex to convey in mime.”

“But they all smile while they talk — that’s the difference I think, that’s what makes it American. Australians don’t seem to be able to smile and talk at the same time — unless they’re lying, of course.”

“I write her terror gently, allowing what is unsaid to carry the narrative, aware that overt emotion could well move the story into melodrama.”

“The reality is, I suppose, that I am a straight white man with no diversity disadvantage to offer as a salve for the fashionable collective guilt that rules publishing. I understand that popular correctness demands that men like me be denied to compensate for all the years in which we were given too much. I just wish I’d had a chance to enjoy a little of that privilege before it became a liability.”

“I’m not sure if they have more information or if it is simply an inevitable evolution of sensationalism.”

“Cain smiles at me, and the fact that he’s handsome is again very salient.”

“New, but already beloved, wrapped in the excited crush of friendship’s beginning, untarnished by the annoyances, disappointments, and minor betrayals which come with the passing of time.”

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 7th, 2022.