The Woman in the Library

Leo Johnson (hereafter referred to as “Leo A”) writes to Hannah Tigone to give her “a nudge from a fan” (1) to start work on her next project. She just recently published The Implausible Country, and Leo tells her that the cover he saw in the bookstore where he purchased his copy looks great. He includes a photo of the book on the shelves. He sends his regrets that he missed her when she toured in New York the previous year. He hopes to come visit her soon, or maybe she can set her next work in the United States so they can meet. Until then, he will content himself with exchanging emails—not such a bad thing for “a friendship based on a common love of words” (1). He gives her an update on his own work. He writes in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library, much like many important American writers before him, but he continues to get “stood up by the muse” (1). He just stares at the ceiling. Although his own writing is stalled, he is glad to serve as a beta reader (the first person or persons who look at a text for a writer in the drafting stage), and he will be sure to give Hannah immediate feedback.

Winifred “Freddie” Kincaid, a writer in Boston on a fellowship, is sitting in the Boston Public Library Reading Room staring up at the ceiling and looking for inspiration when she observes a trio of interesting people—a tattooed psychology student, a man with a strong chin, and a handsome older man. She frequently writes by the seat of her pants—a process she compares to driving a bus with no idea of where passengers will enter and exit—so she incorporates these three people into her new novel as Freud Girl, Heroic Chin, and Handsome Man. Marigold Anastas, the psychology student, tells the other two people that Freddie is writing about them, which gets a laugh out of everyone. Whit Metters, an unwilling law student forced to study law by his parents, is Heroic Chin, while Handsome Man is Cain McLeod, a successful writer. The group bonds instantly when they overhear the urgent scream of a woman. Shaken by the scream, they leave to eat. Freddie notes in retrospect that she didn’t know it at the time, but she found friendship and had her “first coffee with a killer” (7).

Leo A writes to Hannah, author of the narrative about Freddie, that the line about eating with a killer is a great hook that most publishers will want to be the first line of the book. He points out some Australian idioms that are out of place in Freddie’s speech. He tells her that he has received his 10^th publisher rejection of his long manuscript. He admits to envying Hannah, who is past all that now as a successful, established writer.

Freddie bonds with her new friends over coffee in the Map Room Tea Room, a shop inside the library, and they agree to meet up at the Reading Room again. The scream spurs her to write, but she feels guilty about the actual death that may be behind it. She is Australian and lives in a nice apartment in Boston, courtesy of the Sinclair Foundation fellowship. While she is at the library, she bumps into Leo (hereafter Leo B to distinguish him from the Leo character in the frame narrative), an old friend with roots in the American South. Leo B says he was in the Map Room Tea Room but didn’t want to get in the way of her socializing.

In the email, Leo A congratulates Hannah on her cleverness in using the fellowship to make Freddie’s apartment more plausible for a struggling writer. He also indirectly suggests that maybe Leo B is the killer since he was in the library at the same time as the scream. He thanks her for agreeing to submit his manuscript to her publisher.

The four friends from the Reading Room decide to investigate what they now know to be a murder at the library. The victim is Caroline Palfrey, a Brahmin (a member of the elite class in Boston) who worked for a tabloid called The Rag. Whit admits he knew her slightly because he wrote for the tabloid briefly. The group talks about writing and careers. Cain shares the inspiration for his new manuscript—the death of Isaac Harmon, an unhoused man Cain met when Cain was a teenager in Boston. Someone murdered Isaac, and the police never caught the killer. Freddie learns more about Cain’s writing process. Unlike her, he is a plotter—he plans out themes, characters, and plot in meticulous detail before writing. She takes inspiration wherever she finds it, including from the dialogue among her new friends, who tease both Freddie and Cain about stealing dialogue from friendly conversations.

Leo A gives Hannah more feedback on Australian terms she has used in place of more common American ones. He also gives her pointers on distances between locations and modes of travel for people who live in Boston. He asks if she plans to come to Boston so they can meet. He shares the good news that a friend of his may be able to get him dinner with an important literary agent, Alexandra Gainsborough.

Freddie has been locked in her apartment for three days writing her novel, which is coming in big, spontaneous gushes. She feels worried that the manuscript has gotten out of hand or even implausible as she incorporates the events of the Reading Room and details about her newfound friends. Leo B checks on her but leaves her alone to write. Freddie interrupts her work to meet one-on-one with Cain. She and Cain meet at a place by Copley Place, near the library. Cane tells Freddie more about Isaac, but his story is interrupted when Marigold and Whit show up. The four of them discover more about Caroline Palfrey’s murder. According to news stories, searchers didn’t find her the first time they went through the library, and where she was between the first and second search is a mystery.

Freddie remarks that if this were a murder mystery, the story would be a locked room mystery (a victim is discovered dead in a locked room, with no explanation for who killed them or how the killer got in or out). One of the conventions of the murder mystery genre is that there are no coincidences; perhaps the late discovery of Caroline’s body is meaningful instead of a coincidence. Freddie notes that some coincidences are simply not plausible in a book. For example, if her life were a novel, it would be completely implausible for Whit and Marigold to just show up by chance where Cain and Freddie are meeting. Later, Freddie muses about the background stories and motivations of her characters and new friends. She believes Marigold/Freud Girl is the emotional center of both the story she is writing and real life.

Leo A writes Hannah to say that he really likes the new chapter but hasn’t had a chance to read it to give her feedback. His dinner with the agent went well, and he is very happy about that.

The whole gang meets up at Freddie’s place. They all get slightly drunk and share more about themselves. Marigold takes off her shirt to show them all the tattoos she has. Because they are all too tipsy to drive, Freddie allows all three to sleep at her place. Marigold asks Freddie if there is something going on between Freddie and Cain. Freddie denies this, but Marigold doesn’t believe her.

The gang also learns that Whit’s family law firm, Metters and Putnam, is representing Caroline’s parents. From his family firm, Whit picks up that Caroline was hidden under a buffet table, which is why she wasn’t found sooner. They speculate about why she was found under the buffet table and who might’ve killed her.

Leo A asks for a more detailed physical description of Marigold. He commiserates with Hannah, whom he imagines writing as the wildfires currently ripping through the Australian outback are at her back. Boston has a snowstorm. So far, Leo A hasn’t heard from the agent, but he holds out hope that he will. He gives Hannah more details about what the weather is like in Boston so her writing will be realistic. He really loves Marigold as a character and asks why Cain is interested in Freddie instead.

Cain sends a gift basket of groceries to Freddie since their sleepover cleaned out her cupboards. She sends a heartfelt, overwrought voicemail to thank him, but he doesn’t respond. She sits down for a writing jag and gets even more interested in developing Freud Girl/Marigold, whom she has now transformed into a ballerina. Several days pass with her writing. Cain calls her by video to find out if she got the basket. He didn’t receive her message because he lost his phone. They apologize to each other. Over his shoulder, she sees his detailed writing plan—what she jokingly calls an “incident room” (38) and is intrigued. He tells her that he thinks she is brave for writing by the seat of her pants. Later, she gets a call—a recording of Caroline Palfrey’s scream, she is sure.

Leo A writes that he is sad to hear that Hannah’s research trip to the United States has been canceled because of the wildfires grounding all flights in Australia. He gives Hannah feedback on her manuscript, especially the implausibility of Freddie recognizing Caroline’s scream. He said he’s fine continuing to feed her important details to make her manuscript more realistic. He used to know someone else who rigorously plotted out his novels, but the man “was a control freak…planned everything, left nothing to chance. His name was Wil Saunders” (40), and he never finished his book—both the reader and Hannah are unaware at this point that Leo A is Wil Saunders. If that’s what Cain is like, he must be a dubious character. Leo A asks if Cain is the murderer.

Freddie is so upset by the crank call that she asks Marigold to come over. Marigold comforts her and then asks to see her cell phone. What they discover is that the caller identification lists Cain. The two women videocall Cain to see if he knows how someone managed to bypass his security to make the call. He tells them his phone is only protected by facial ID and not a password, so it’s conceivable that someone is going through his contacts to call all of his friends and using a photo of him to open the phone. When Freddie calls the number back, the only sound is the thank you message she sent to Cain. They all decide to meet for breakfast the next morning. Freddie talks to a Boston Police detective, but the detective doesn’t share her concern about the call of the scream. Freddie feels embarrassed for having bothered them.

In the email, Leo A offers Hannah some advice on making Marigold’s dialogue sound more American, and he also tells Hannah that the fact that Cain’s phone was used to make the call makes it seem like he may be the person who is behind the calls or even the murderer. Leo A has seen people reading Hannah’s book on the subway and sends pictures to prove it.