The Woman Who Lied

Emilia, a successful mystery author, is completing the final book in the series featuring her detective, Miranda. She has a happy second marriage, two kids, and a good life with close, supportive friends. Her pleasant world is shaken, though, when threatening objects start to be left near her house, objects that had been elements in several of her Miranda Moody books. She fears a stalker is threatening her and her family, and the renewed activity of a serial killer, whose crimes inspired the outline of her final Miranda book, convinces Emilia that she is in danger, that the serial killer is actually someone she knows. The ball of suspicion bounces around, hitting everyone in her life, but in the final chapters, the identity of a murderer emerges. Quite a twisty, well-written tale.

I absolutely love this book just when you think you figure it out another twist that you never saw coming unravels! Highly recommend

I gave The Woman Who Lied a solid 3 stars. This book was not bad, it just didn't capture me. I figured out a lot of the plot pretty early on, but the final plot twist was definitely a surprise to me. Emilia is married to her husband Eliott, and they have 2 kids (her daughter Jasmine from her first marriage and their son Wilfie). Emilia is also a pretty famous author who writes crime novels about her character DI Miranda Woody. But just after Emilia turns her 10th book in to the publisher, things start happening to her and her family that are similar to things from her books. Emilia thinks it just some weird fan, until things start happening from her most recent book, which is being edited and not available to the public yet. Emilia goes through some major ups and downs while trying to figure out who is involved in the things happening to her, and she knows that, unfortunately, it is someone close to her. Either family or friend. The plot was good, but I just was a little bored until about 65%. I think a lot of it had to do with it being in 3rd person because sometimes that makes it harder for me to get in to the book. I do not think this book was written badly or a bad book; I thought it was good. I just did not connect with it until almost the end.

A good paced novel about an author who is being stalked. This is a page turner, with many twists and turns.

So good!! Dont wait just read it. Cant wait to read the next book by this author.....Claire Douglas is amazing.

This book is about an author who writes her final book in her murder mystery series and then starts having someone act out scenes from her book around her, going as far as to mimic the killer in her series. Throughout this book there are several friends, family members, and colleagues in the storyline to keep you guessing until the end. I liked this one as the storyline was believable and the characters were likeable. The novel was fast paced and kept moving right until the end. I thought the storyline had just enough twist to keep the main characters credible and didn’t have too much of a dramatic ending. I would recommend this one. I know I have Local Girl Missing by this author also somewhere on my TBR. One day. ★ ★★★

I first learned about "The Woman Who Lied" by Clair Douglas in a feature article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, in a section introducing best-selling books in various cities around the world. When I learned that it was a novel within a novel, I immediately thought of Anthony Horowitz's "Magpie Murders," but the plot and feel of this book were completely different from "Magpie Murders." This work is structured around A-axis, which is told in the third person about the life of writer Emilia and the misfortunes that befall her; B-axis, which is made up of excerpts from Emilia's latest work, "Her Last Chapter"; and C-axis, which is a monologue by DI Janine Murray, who leads the case to resolution. These three axes run parallel to one another and intertwine. It requires patience to untangle the confusing perspectives, but the book is sure to leave you feeling satisfied after reading. It is a complex work. Although the setting is similar to that of children's literature, where "what you write comes true," it is a horror work. The main background of the story is the mysterious events that occur one after another around the writer Emilia Ward, which lead her to distrust the people around her and become mentally ill as a result. Many of the characters have had multiple marriages, and continue to interact with their past partners as friends even after breaking up, so I wrote out a relationship chart as I read to better understand the story. Louise Greene, a friend of Emilia's who works at the Criminal Investigation Department in London, is murdered. A praying mantis head is found on her ankle, which makes it seem as though her murder was committed by a serial killer. Louise's mother was taken by a serial killer when Louise was a child. It could be said that she joined the police to catch the killer. Why did she become a victim of a serial killer? And why did Louise become Emilia's friend in the first place? The truth is revealed at the end of the story in the form of a confession letter from the killer. The background to the incident was the killer's sad past. The contents of this confession letter also became the title of this book. This is a perfect book for readers who want to take their time to solve a mystery. Compare your own solving of the mystery with the killer's confession and check the answer.

if there’s one thing I gravitate to in thrillers, it’s a dual timeline POV - and this one worked out so perfectly! when a crime writer starts to notice events happening around her that are straight out of her books, she immediately goes into panic mode (and tbh, who wouldn’t) on who is out for her 😳 as the story escalates, the reader is treated to excerpts of the book within a book, occurring at the same time as the real events!! in theory, this would be a fantastic twist and fast paced story. in actuality, the sheer amount of characters that were introduced once by a single sentence and promptly had no effect on the plot whatsoever was astonishing. I immediately lost track of every single person as the characterization was bare minimal except for the main character. the writing itself, when there was characterization, was so simple and juvenile it made my heart hurt - a clear example of telling rather than showing. my brain physically was spinning in circles when I read this one 😵‍💫 like I couldn’t wrap my head around one topic before it bounced to another one… I think with a little more trimming and editing, it could achieve the same purpose without a ton of confusion on the readers’ end all in all, the bones of the story were excellent and unique, but sadly, it fell victim to too many stories and characters happening at the same time to feel any sort of impact.

Claire Douglas deserves praise for this book. It is captivating, gripping and just when you think you have solved the mystery, there is a twist and you’re forced to rethink.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I have done with all of Claire Douglas books I have read so far. I was crying by the end of this. If you have children it will pull at your heartstrings at times. Incredible storytelling with such depth to all of the characters, you really feel like you know them. I would tell myself I’ll read for an hour a night which always turned into two or three because I just couldn’t put it down and I finished the book almost instantly. Thank you Claire for the good time I had with this! This is a 1000% would recommend.

So far its an interesting read.

Descubrí a Claire Douglas porque buscaba un libro de intriga que fuera fácil de leer en inglés. Y este ya es el tercer libro que compro. Un libro dinámico, en el que hasta el último momento no descubres toda la trama. Y esto es lo que más me gusta, te mantiene en vilo durante todo el relato. Sin duda, una de mis escritoras preferidas.

女性同志の人間関係の複雑さ、過去と現在の時制の違い、そしてなにより主人公の過去の著作と現在の出来事の相似性、などが絡み合って、フォローしづらい面があった。ミステリーなのか ホラーなのか 両面性も感じた。しかし本書を手放せないことは紛れもない事実だった。 YY