The Woman in the Library, a mystery published in 2022, is the story of Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid, Cain McLeod, Marigold Anastas, and Whit Metters. Freddie and Cain are novelists. Marigold and Whit are students, her of psychology and him of law.
Freddie is our narrator. She’s at the Boston Public Library trying to write. At the same table are Cain, Marigold, and Whit. All supposed strangers. When a woman screams and everyone is told to stay put, the four begin talking.
The scream during the day turns up nothing, but a woman is found murdered in the library later that night. The four become friends while trying to figure out who killed the woman. We, the readers, know the killer is either Cain, Marigold, or Whit because Freddie foreshadows this fact in the first chapter.
Cain has a criminal past, and his missing phone is used to harass the others with pictures of their front doors. Whit is stabbed but survives. The police think Cain is the culprit, both of the stabbing and the murder. Eventually, Marigold and Whit also begin to believe Cain is guilty. Freddie doesn’t. But who is correct? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
The Woman in the Library isn’t all serious, though. Whit, for example, is kind of a hoot. He’s in law school but is intentionally trying to flunk out because he has no interest in becoming a lawyer. Furthermore, Whit’s favorite donut shop is a trendy bakery called Around the Hole, which serves up all kinds of bizarre donut flavor combinations. Examples include lavender and truffle, cream cheese and fried onion, and quinoa and licorice. While Whit is in the hospital recovering from his stab wound, Marigold, Freddie, and Cain go to Around the Hole to buy him donuts. Marigold is all about the trendiness of the place. However, Freddie and Cain find it amusing. Freddie wants a chocolate donut, and Cain prefers a simple jelly. Marigold buys them a dark chocolate donut with jalapeno jelly. Neither of them touches it, but Whit digs into whatever donut he can get his hands on as soon as Marigold delivers them to him.
I have one gripe about The Woman in the Library, though. Whit’s mother is a lawyer. At one point, she is attacked and blatantly lies to the police about the identity of her attacker in an attempt to set this person up to go to jail. Yet, when the truth comes out, the police do not charge her with filing a false police report. There are no consequences for her behavior. In fact, she’s shown representing a client who is being questioned by the same police officers who know her to be a liar. To me, the scenario was completely unrealistic. I know it’s par for the course for lawyers to lie without consequence, but this type of lie would get any lawyer in trouble. Nevertheless, The Woman in the Library is a satisfying mystery with lots of red herrings.
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