THE MYTHMAKERS, by Keziah WeirWhat navel-gazers we writers of fiction are! It’s an attribute few of us would deny, but while it most often evokes autobiography, even those of us who tend not to mine our “lived experience” are still drawn back ceaselessly into the great and fascinating murk that is … writing about writing fiction. Some of us — myself included (see: “The Plot”) — have an insatiable appetite for stories that grapple with these issues. I am happy to report that Keziah Weir’s assured first novel, “The Mythmakers,” is a laudable addition to a reading list that already includes such standouts as Meg Wolitzer’s “The Wife,” Karen Dukess’s “The Last Book Party,” Andrew Lipstein’s “Last Resort” and R.F. Kuang’s new novel, “Yellowface.” In “The Mythmakers,” most of the relevant offenses surround a recently deceased novelist named Martin Keller as a young journalist sets out to investigate a simple act of appropriation and finds something far more complex and — for any writer — infinitely more shameful.

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Persons: Keziah Weir, Weir’s, Meg Wolitzer’s “, ” Karen Dukess’s “, ” Andrew Lipstein’s, Martin Keller