A Most Novel Revenge

January 30, 2017
Larkin’s rather high-pitched, upper-class British voice is sometimes scratchy and a bit stuffy, but it’s entirely appropriate for Amory Ames, the free-spirited, feminist amateur detective in Weaver’s series. The novel, the second in the series, mimics both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers: in other words, everyone is stuck in an elaborate countryside estate where murder did and does occur, and the characters, as well as the detective, are very upper-crust. Larkin handles nicely the book’s balance of horror and humor, including the jousting between Amory and her husband Milo and the fears and follies of the disparate characters in the party. She makes this an easy and fun listen. A Minotaur hardcover.

July 11, 2016
Edgar-finalist Weaver’s captivating third mystery set in 1930s England (after 2015’s Death Wears a Mask) takes socialite Amory Ames and her newly reformed playboy husband, Milo, to Lyonsgate, a country estate, where a death occurred one evening years earlier. The guests from that tragic evening—plus Amory and Milo—have been reassembled by Isobel Van Allen, a magnetic woman who scandalized society with a novel, The Dead of Winter, closely based on drug- and alcohol-fueled events that led up to the discovery of the body. The book ended with an accusation of murder against a fellow partygoer, but Isobel found herself ousted by society when the real-life model for the accused committed suicide. Isobel’s dramatic announcement of a sequel during the current fraught reunion leads to outrage and her murder. To catch a killer, Amory sorts through the murky past with the reluctant aid of Milo; their charged relationship adds narrative tension. Fascinating and stylish characters fill out a finely tuned traditional mystery. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary Agency.