Review: 'Just Another Dead Author' (Berit Gardner #2) by Katarina Bivald, trans. by ?
Pub. Date: 12/08/2025
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; Sourcebooks
The pen is mightier than the sword—but both are deadly in the wrong hands
When mystery author Berit Gardner agrees to attend a writer's conference in the idyllic French countryside, she dreams of basking in the sun and nurturing budding talent. But her vacation takes a dark turn when the keynote speaker—a notorious literary titan known for his biting critiques—drops dead at the end of her lecture. As whispers of foul play swirl, Berit quickly realizes she's stepped into a tangled web of jealousy, betrayal, and long-held grudges.
Enter the French commissaire, who is less than thrilled to have a curious author meddling in her investigation. But as the suspects pile up—each with their own motive for wanting the egotistical writer dead—she reluctantly recognizes Berit's sharp instincts could crack the case wide open. With a colorful cast of authors, agents, and aspiring writers all hiding secrets, the stakes rise higher with every clue uncovered.
To make matters worse, a tenacious young journalist vows to outsmart Berit and solve the mystery first, placing herself in the killer's sights. Now, Berit must navigate a maze of deceit and danger while trying to keep the ambitious reporter safe. With time running out and the killer lurking in the shadows, can Berit unravel the truth before her own story ends in tragedy?
Writers are amongst the weirdest people in the world. Whether it is an extensive knowledge of poisons available in the nineteenth century or a complete obsession with replicating historical details of the specific year 1652, writers have their special interests and get stuck in them. So, naturally, with this attention to detail and obsessional nature, writers make for an excellent cast in a detective novel. They also make for excellent detectives themselves, or at least, in fiction they do. I enjoy novels that take the publishing industry and the writing process itself as the backdrop for the plot, especially when the plot is thrillery. Most recently, I had excellent fun with The Labyrinth House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (trans. by Ho-Ling Wong) and How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold, who both use this to great effect. In Just Another Dead Author we have the same fun, except that it is a little more grounded than either of the above, being neither as claustrophobic as the first, nor as gory as the second. However, the dynamics largely align, the figure of The Great Author ™, the ingenue, the flashy agent, the strict editor, and adding the wise older female author. I really enjoy dabbling in this sub-genre of mystery/suspense/detective novels and like seeing how it is slightly adjusted by each author. I had read a previous book by Katarina Bivald, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, translated by Alice Menzies, which I really enjoyed. I also interviewed her as part of the blog tour.
Berit Gardner is taking part in a writers' retreat, organised by her friend Emma, which is taking place in the beautiful French coutryside. It is crucial that this retreat is a success for Emma and all seems (mostly) well, aside from some tension between the star guest, John Wright, and some other guests. Unfortunately, this tension quickly boils over and John ends up dead. Berit has some experience solving crimes, aided by her writerly attention to detail and character, so she can't help but get involved. Unfortunately, all the other guests are also very keyed in to this chance to see a crime investigation up close. Commissaire Roche has seen plenty of crimes, but being surrounded by authors who can't decide between being scared they're next and being excited about all the inspiration is something new to her. A somewhat uncertain alliance forms between Berit and Roche as confusing clues and various motives are uncovered. I really like Berit as a main character, but that is because I have a fondness for mature women solving crimes. She is a very observant person, but she also isn't someone who wouldn't put her own morals and beliefs before solving a crime, and that creates a nice kind of tension. I also really liked Sally, her editor, who is a nice side-character, as well as Commissaire Roche, who is a nice twist on the usual dark and grim detective-trope.
I had no idea Just Another Dead Author was a second in a series, mainly because I didn't look up the book on Goodreads or StoryGraph before requesting. But this didn't prove to be an issue because important elements of the previous story get recapped or addressed so that I never felt like I was missing out on anything major. The novel is told through an omniscient third-person narrator, who mostly focuses on Berit but also jumps into the minds of the other characters where relevant or interesting. This is interspersed with small chapters from the killer, which serve to make everyone seem suspicious but also to ratchet up some of the tension. There's weren't necessarily my favourite bits, because they seemed a bit cliche at times (i.e., isn't it freeing to kill someone), but they did add to the overall experience. The writing style is, in many ways, very straightforward and doesn't focus on the more sensationalist angles of crime and suspense novels. It very much read like a Cozy Thriller to me, in that sense, and I had a fun time with it, even if maybe I could have used a little more tension and darkness. One very frustrating thing is that I couldn't find any information on the translator either in the book itself or online. It was initially published in Swedish as Döden på Château des Livres. There is a Q&A with Bivald at the end in which the translation process is addressed, so I think it's super odd the translator isn't credited in the general copyright info at the beginning? It could be that I have utterly misunderstood the Q&A, but I ended up emailing the publisher and I'll update if they get back to me. The cover design by Sandra Chiu is delightful though!
I give this novel...
4 Universes!
Just Another Dead Author is a fun time in the French sun. While technically the stakes are deadly, it is definitely a cozier book with a lot of fun asides about authors being weirdos.
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