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The Woman in the Library is a mystery novel that brings four strangers together when they hear a woman scream in a Boston library. Unknown to three of them, the fourth happens to be a murderer.

The four strangers include Freddie (the narrator), Cain, Marigold, and Whit. When they hear the scream, the four are sitting at the same table at the library, surreptitiously studying each other. In Freddie’s case, she is trying to get ideas for characters for a mystery novel she’s writing.

The scream gets all of them talking, and they stay in touch afterward, meeting for coffee, etc. Things start getting weird when Freddie receives strange calls and messages from Cain’s phone, which he claims to have lost. And then Whit is attacked, and they find Cain has a secret past.

All signs point to Cain as the culprit (the woman who screamed in the library was found dead), and he goes on the run. Is he guilty, or just trying to clear his name?

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The Woman in the Library is a story within a story. Along with the main story, the writer of the novel is getting feedback from a mysterious man named Leo. Leo has been reading the author’s in-progress novel and provides feedback on each major section that grows progressively creepier.

So, here’s what I thought about The Woman in the Library. It’s a middle of the road mystery – neither really good nor really bad. The character development was strong, however the insta-love between Cain and Freddie was a little hard to buy. The author did a nice job building suspense and making you doubt certain characters. And I didn’t guess the identity of the murderer, which usually wins me over. However, in this case, the motive was a little weak, so it was hard to get excited about the surprise.

As for the audio part of the experience, the reader was very strong. I was very impressed by her command of accents, which ranged from Australian to perky American to Southern drawl. Her pace and volume consistency were spot-on, and she built excitement at the right times.

If you’ve read or listened to The Woman in the Library, I’d love to hear your opinion. It received very high ratings on Amazon, so maybe I’m missing something?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!