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Episode 41: Crafting a Fair Play Mystery: Plot Lessons from The Woman in the Library
Welcome to Story Deep Dive!
In this episode, Dana Pittman and Rachel Arsenault break down the plot mechanics of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill.
Whether you’re a writer, reader, or story-obsessed strategist, you’ll pick up practical insights on how fair play mysteries escalate through layered information, how to design an amateur sleuthwho can believably solve a case, and how secrets, red herrings, and misdirection fuel momentum without relying on nonstop action.
You can also watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube!
Estimate Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome & What This Show Is
Dana frames the podcast’s mission: discussing books as writers to extract craft lessons, not just reader reactions. The month’s selection is Rachel’s pick, The Woman in the Library, and today’s focus is plot.
04:30 – Rachel’s Update: First-Draft Blitz & Second-Draft Strategy
Rachel shares takeaways from a month-long First Draft Blitz inside Story Cypher Academy. She talks perfectionism, embracing the “ugly” first draft, and using October as a breather to plan intentional second drafts. The second draft becomes the fun draft once you’ve “met your story.”
Key insights:
First drafts will never match the ideal in your head—ship it anyway.
Use the draft to diagnose; plan a more intentional second pass.
15:30 – Dana’s Update: Frameworks, Clients, and AI as a Creative Partner
Dana celebrates client wins and the success of her plug-and-play romance plotting template. She discusses AI as a tool that amplifies a writer’s clarity around structure, audience, and tone—and why the literary world shouldn’t miss this moment.
Key insights:
AI is only as good as your inputs: vision, structure, and standards.
Strong frameworks + ownership = a productive AI “critique partner.”
29:30 – Story Summary: The Woman in the Library
Rachel’s spoiler-light overview: Four strangers—Freddie, Marigold, Whit, and Cain—bond over a scream in the Boston Public Library. Friendship deepens, secrets surface, and suspicion narrows: one of them might be a killer.
31:00 – Plot Agenda: Layers, Sleuthing, Secrets
The day’s craft lens:
How peeling back character layers escalates stakes.
How to engineer an amateur sleuth to solve a case credibly.
The role of secrets, red herrings, and misdirection in maintaining tension.
Dana adds: the story’s container (book-within-a-book framing), deft pacing without thriller-style adrenaline, and how the author “wraps the plot.”
34:00 – What Is a “Fair Play” Mystery?
Rachel defines fair play: the author puts all necessary clues on the page; readers could solve it, but smart misdirection means they usually won’t. Here, the suspects are the friends, so every social beat doubles as case evidence. Stakes rise through deeper information, not a higher body count.
“The answer was right there—but you didn’t see it. That’s the fun.”
40:30 – Designing an Amateur Sleuth (Who Can Actually Solve It)
Amateur sleuths lack official access; the writer must build access into the premise. Gentill’s solution: make the friends the primary suspects so ordinary conversations deliver crucial data. Freddie’s writer-brain creates both insight and bias, which the story interrogates.
49:30 – Secrets as Plot Engine (Not Just Confessions)
Secrets—private, shameful, or simply not-first-meeting material—propel the narrative. Each reveal re-tilts suspicion, keeping the reader mentally engaged. The story mirrors real friendship: deeper intimacy, deeper truths… and new motives.
55:30 – Mystery Pacing: Mental vs. Visceral Stakes
Dana notes the story’s cerebral tension versus thriller “heartbeat” pacing. Rachel explains that mysteries escalate by complexity, not proximity to danger: more lies, murkier truths, and uglier possibilities. The dopamine hit comes from reframing clues, not chases.
1:02:00 – Innovation & Integration: Frame, Flavor, and a Meaningful Romance Subplot
The book-within-a-book frame modernizes classic whodunit DNA. Cultural textures (AUS/US differences, language, identity beats) add realism. The romance subplot matters to the investigation—it shapes decisions, trust, and interpretation, rather than sitting on the sidelines.
1:08:30 – How to Study This Book (Writer’s Homework)
Read once for pleasure, again for craft.
Track where clues are flagged vs. hidden in plain sight.
Watch how the case grows more complicated and ethically grayer.
Note the protagonist’s true obstacle: ignorance—who these people are, what this place is, and which truths matter.
About the Book
Ned Kelly award winning author Sulari Gentill sets this mystery-within-a-mystery in motion with a deceptively simple, Dear Hannah, What are you writing? pulling us into theornate reading room at the Boston Public Library.
In every person’s story, there is something to hide...
The tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning―it just happens that one is a murderer.
Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.
Where to Find the Book
The Woman at the Library by Sulari Gentill is available in several formats. It’s also widely available in libraries and online retailers. Details on Amazon.
Next Episode:
Next week, Dana and Rachel dig into Character Design in The Woman in the Library: how Gentill builds an ensemble that can carry suspicion, withstand scrutiny, and still feel like a believable friend group. Don’t miss it!
Join the Conversation:
Like what you heard? Subscribe, leave a review, and share your thoughts. Follow Story Deep Dive on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite platform. Connect with Dana and Rachel on Instagram or visit storydeepdive.com to keep the conversation going!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storydeepdive.substack.com
View all episodes
By Story Deep DiveWelcome to Story Deep Dive!
In this episode, Dana Pittman and Rachel Arsenault break down the plot mechanics of The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill.
Whether you’re a writer, reader, or story-obsessed strategist, you’ll pick up practical insights on how fair play mysteries escalate through layered information, how to design an amateur sleuthwho can believably solve a case, and how secrets, red herrings, and misdirection fuel momentum without relying on nonstop action.
You can also watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube!
Estimate Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome & What This Show Is
Dana frames the podcast’s mission: discussing books as writers to extract craft lessons, not just reader reactions. The month’s selection is Rachel’s pick, The Woman in the Library, and today’s focus is plot.
04:30 – Rachel’s Update: First-Draft Blitz & Second-Draft Strategy
Rachel shares takeaways from a month-long First Draft Blitz inside Story Cypher Academy. She talks perfectionism, embracing the “ugly” first draft, and using October as a breather to plan intentional second drafts. The second draft becomes the fun draft once you’ve “met your story.”
Key insights:
First drafts will never match the ideal in your head—ship it anyway.
Use the draft to diagnose; plan a more intentional second pass.
15:30 – Dana’s Update: Frameworks, Clients, and AI as a Creative Partner
Dana celebrates client wins and the success of her plug-and-play romance plotting template. She discusses AI as a tool that amplifies a writer’s clarity around structure, audience, and tone—and why the literary world shouldn’t miss this moment.
Key insights:
AI is only as good as your inputs: vision, structure, and standards.
Strong frameworks + ownership = a productive AI “critique partner.”
29:30 – Story Summary: The Woman in the Library
Rachel’s spoiler-light overview: Four strangers—Freddie, Marigold, Whit, and Cain—bond over a scream in the Boston Public Library. Friendship deepens, secrets surface, and suspicion narrows: one of them might be a killer.
31:00 – Plot Agenda: Layers, Sleuthing, Secrets
The day’s craft lens:
How peeling back character layers escalates stakes.
How to engineer an amateur sleuth to solve a case credibly.
The role of secrets, red herrings, and misdirection in maintaining tension.
Dana adds: the story’s container (book-within-a-book framing), deft pacing without thriller-style adrenaline, and how the author “wraps the plot.”
34:00 – What Is a “Fair Play” Mystery?
Rachel defines fair play: the author puts all necessary clues on the page; readers could solve it, but smart misdirection means they usually won’t. Here, the suspects are the friends, so every social beat doubles as case evidence. Stakes rise through deeper information, not a higher body count.
“The answer was right there—but you didn’t see it. That’s the fun.”
40:30 – Designing an Amateur Sleuth (Who Can Actually Solve It)
Amateur sleuths lack official access; the writer must build access into the premise. Gentill’s solution: make the friends the primary suspects so ordinary conversations deliver crucial data. Freddie’s writer-brain creates both insight and bias, which the story interrogates.
49:30 – Secrets as Plot Engine (Not Just Confessions)
Secrets—private, shameful, or simply not-first-meeting material—propel the narrative. Each reveal re-tilts suspicion, keeping the reader mentally engaged. The story mirrors real friendship: deeper intimacy, deeper truths… and new motives.
55:30 – Mystery Pacing: Mental vs. Visceral Stakes
Dana notes the story’s cerebral tension versus thriller “heartbeat” pacing. Rachel explains that mysteries escalate by complexity, not proximity to danger: more lies, murkier truths, and uglier possibilities. The dopamine hit comes from reframing clues, not chases.
1:02:00 – Innovation & Integration: Frame, Flavor, and a Meaningful Romance Subplot
The book-within-a-book frame modernizes classic whodunit DNA. Cultural textures (AUS/US differences, language, identity beats) add realism. The romance subplot matters to the investigation—it shapes decisions, trust, and interpretation, rather than sitting on the sidelines.
1:08:30 – How to Study This Book (Writer’s Homework)
Read once for pleasure, again for craft.
Track where clues are flagged vs. hidden in plain sight.
Watch how the case grows more complicated and ethically grayer.
Note the protagonist’s true obstacle: ignorance—who these people are, what this place is, and which truths matter.
About the Book
Ned Kelly award winning author Sulari Gentill sets this mystery-within-a-mystery in motion with a deceptively simple, Dear Hannah, What are you writing? pulling us into theornate reading room at the Boston Public Library.
In every person’s story, there is something to hide...
The tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning―it just happens that one is a murderer.
Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.
Where to Find the Book
The Woman at the Library by Sulari Gentill is available in several formats. It’s also widely available in libraries and online retailers. Details on Amazon.
Next Episode:
Next week, Dana and Rachel dig into Character Design in The Woman in the Library: how Gentill builds an ensemble that can carry suspicion, withstand scrutiny, and still feel like a believable friend group. Don’t miss it!
Join the Conversation:
Like what you heard? Subscribe, leave a review, and share your thoughts. Follow Story Deep Dive on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite platform. Connect with Dana and Rachel on Instagram or visit storydeepdive.com to keep the conversation going!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storydeepdive.substack.com