boring, boring.
I gave it my best shot but couldn't stick with it,
The synopsis makes it sound glamorous and fast paced, It moved like a snail,
four as rated in classass martinis, darling
I was given an advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ashley Weaver, you evil genius, Giving out free “ARCs” of the first book in your deliciously bingeable series to get us all hooked Brilliant! Murder at the Brightwell was so much fun! I love “locked door” style period mysteries and this one was absolutely delightful.
Not to mention, classy af, The story is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie or Jaqueline Winspear and, as a fan of both, I just adored it,
Ashley Weavers writing is gorgeous, And I found the mystery to be fantastic, It accomplished everything I seek from this genre without getting overly convoluted, The conclusion came as a surprise to me a big win and I really didnt know who to believe until all was revealed at the end.
As for the love triangle, siiiiigh. I did not want Amory to end up with , But nor did I feel that her relationship arc with was satisfying enough for her to I needed more discussion about what happened between them prior to this story in order to give their love a legitimate second shot.
That being said, I am genuinely looking forward to book, I am hoping for the MAJOR redemption story of in the second book because without that I am going to be MAD! I mean, he has a lot to make up for.
. . A LOT.
Content Warnings for this book: murder and attempted murder, infidelity, attempted suicide, drowning, dysfunctional relationship, toxic relationship, emotional abuse, bullying, manipulation.
/.stars
This first book in series was a delicious introduction to the Amory Ames mystery series by talented author, Ashley Weaver, There is depth to her very human characters, each one a bit flawed in their own special way, The interplay among characters is quite believable, as emotions run high throughout the story, One gets a strong sense of time, place, and the glitz and glamour of the Bristish aristocracy on holiday at the seaside, It doesn't take long for a corpse to appear on scene, Then it's off to the races to figure out who had it in for the poor soul,
England, Summer of
Amory Ames, is a delightful young aristocrat whose errant husband of five years, Milo Ames, has caused pure embarrassment to her and brought shame to their marriage.
In her frustration and sorrow, she is at a crossroad in her life, She tires of hearing the tawdry gossip concerning Milo and his playboy exploits all over the continent, Shortly after he returns home to Kent, Amory is visited by Gilmore Trent, the fiancé she jilted when swept up into the vortex of Milo's exhilarating and thrilling existence.
Gil seeks out Amory on the pretense that he needs her assistance in shepherding his sister, Emmeline, away from a disastrous engagement to Rupert Howe.
Would she please consider joining them at the seaside and advise Emmeline away from a marriage which would probably become too much like her own.
Sure, why not get away and head for the seaside What's good for the gander is surely good for the goose, And off they go, leaving Milo behind, or did they
That first night at the Brightwell, dinner was awkward and a bit stiff with all the posh friends of Gil's and Emmeline's.
It didn't take Amory long to size up the members of the group and determine who was friend and who should be avoided at all costs.
By the next morning, it appeared that one of their party had taken a spill over the hotel balcony and wouldn't be joining them for breakfast or any subsequent meals.
As it was Amory who spotted the body, she decides to take on the sleuthing work to figure out who really is friend and who is foe.
Then enter stage right, Milo Ames, just to stir things up and provide fodder for the gossip rags,
This was a fun story with a bit more depth than most cozy mysteries, This seems to be the way of most historically set mysteries, With six books already out in this series, it would appear that this reader has some catching up to do and they're looking forward to it.
I am grateful to author Ashley Weaver and her publsiher, Thomas Minotaur Books for having provided a free uncorrected digital galley of this book through NetGalley.
Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review the words of which are mine alone, You know, this may be a modern American writing about about times gone by in the SW of England but nonetheless it is still a good book.
The writing is excellent and it is a great detective story, I will certainly read more in this series,
It is not an Agatha Christie, but believe me, it is not far short, I would like to read this part romance, part cozy mystery, part period piece, which was recommended by Old Latin Teacher on Amazon, And yet maybe I'm just too cheap but I am not inclined to fork over,for an unknown author's debut novel,
Edited to addJan: Now,at the Amazon US Kindle store, This is basically the book that would have resulted if Noël Coward and Mary Stewart had teamed up to cowrite an Agatha Christie mystery and it is DELICIOUSLY fun! It really saved me on a tired and frustrated day I just sank into it and loved every minute.
Before I'd even finished this first book in the Amory Ames series, I'd already run back to the library to grab Booksandand honestly, now that I'mpages into Book, I am wishing that I'd taken the chance to grab Booksandat the same time! This is SUCH an addictive and fun mystery series and perfectly made for bingereading.
I'm loving the series so far and I loved this book so much that I plan to buy a copy to keep for rereading on future bad days.
This was probably really/. For much of the book it was hovering aroundbut I thought it perked up a bit at the end,
The author spent far too much time describing what her main character, Amory Ames, was wearing, Is Amory a common name Or perhaps it was supposed to be a family
name, It wasn't just that she changed into a gray suit but she had to describe all the facets about it, I gave some allowance to the author as it was her first book, But where was her editor
Not a house party but an engagement party at a hotel at the seashore, Then the bodies start falling,
A little too much about Amory being torn between her husband Milo and former boyfriend Gil, How did a normal name like Gil get mixed up with all these other strange names I have been known to turn down books simply because characters have strange first names.
Set at a luxury resort by the sea ins Britain, Murder at Brightwell has all the ingredients of a perfect diversionwell burnished prose, a captivating plot, witty dialog, elegant fashions, charming cads, upper class shenanigans, love gone wrong, secrets galore, an appealing main character, and murder.
What could be more fun than that I dashed through the story,
Five years ago Amory Ames married Milo, her far too charismatic playboy husband, and then regretted that choice almost immediately, Milo jaunts off to places like Monte Carlo to engage in gossip column worthy amusements far too often, leaving Amory all alone with the servants, so when her former fiancé knocks on the door one day Amory cant help wondering what might have been.
Amory has known Gil Trent since they were children and hes everything Milo is notsteady, dependable, and trustworthy, After years of no contact hes come to ask a favor that involves Amory accompanying him on a holiday by the sea, and Amory decides, why not Its a request and opportunity she cant resist, but then someone is murdered and Gil is accused and Milo of all people shows up making everything all the more confusing.
Amory investigates, of course, and a wonderful cast of characters make up the possible suspects, The romance and murder aspects of the story are finely balanced so that both threads kept me in suspense for most of the book.
Murder at Brightwell is author Ashley Weavers debut novel, and I will be eagerly awaiting her second,
This delightful murder mystery is set in, Amory Ames regrets her five year marriage to playboy Milo, who seems to spend his time holidaying without her and appearing in the gossip columns, when she is approached by her ex fiancé Gil Trent.
Gils sister, Emmeline, is planning to marry Rupert Howe a man who reminds Gil worryingly of Milo, Gil invites Amory to join a group of friends holidaying at the Brightwell Hotel, as Emmeline and Rupert will both be there, in the hope that she can warn her of the consequences of marrying in haste.
Amory is unsure of how she can help, but agrees to go, even though Milo has suddenly returned home,
This is a classic Golden Age scenario, A great cast of characters are assembled at the Brightwell when Amory arrives including actor Lionel Blake, Nelson Hamilton and his soft spoken wife Larissa, solicitor Edward Rodgers and his platinum blonde wife Anne, the flashy Veronica Carter and bankers daughter Olive Henderson.
There are lots of secrets, unrequited love and, before long, murder When Gil is a suspect, Amory decides she must help clear his name.
However, if she had conflicted feelings about Gil before, life is going to become even more complicated when Milo follows her to the Brightwell and becomes involved with her sleuthing.
I thought this was a charming book, with a great central character in Amory, aided by the deliciously handsome Milo, Set at a fashionable British seaside resort, the author has skilfully recreated the period between the wars, The depression is hinted at, but both Amory and Milo obviously come from backgrounds of both wealth and privilege, This will appeal to readers who enjoy books by authors such as Carola Dunn and Nicola Upson and I hope very much that this becomes a long running series, as I cant wait to read more adventures starring Amory Ames.
Clunky, absurd, and thoroughly unsatisfying, This is charming. The writing is overly deliberate, especially in the beginning, but its stiffness wears off, and the more casual formality that's left is perfectly fitting the setting and characters.
This is very much a setup novel Amory's marriage is too broadly sketched though oddly, her relationship with Gil is well done but it's excellent setup: I cannot wait to see how she and Milo work things out.
I will be very annoyed if Milo becomes your standard tortured hero cliche, The narrator for this audiobook was absolutely horrid , But the other books in this series have a different narrator so I'm hoping they will be better, . . Unfortunately, I cannot find any ebooks at my library for this series, I really enjoyed the characters but I couldn't enjoy the story fully because of the audiobook, This mystery, selected by a book group here on Goodreads, which is how I happened to read it, is the debut mystery by a young writer who gets a “nice try, but.
” Ashley Weaver builds her adequate but no more than that story around a goodly helping of mystery cliches,
This first person mystery starts with the classic country house in this case a seaside hotel, but same difference where a group of friends gathers for a few days, offering the traditional limited group of potential victims and murderers.
Her protagonist, Amory Ames, is a semioutsider to the group, having been invited by one of the group a former fiancé who was rejected when a more alluring prospect came along but who still carries a flame for her to use the occasion to wrest his sister from the embraces of a perceived cad who has become engaged to her.
I say semioutsider because most of the other guests, friends of each other, are previously unknown to her, So in another mystery cliche we get to meet the potential victims and subjects through their gradual introductions to her as they appear at tea or dinner.
Amory Ames is, of course, a feisty, independent, intelligent young woman, Thats de rigueur. Naturally her husband, who she wavers between loving and hating, who has spent the past five years in Monte Carlo paying no attention to her, shows up without warning or notice a few hours before her departure for the hotel, adding a complication to the situation which tests the credulity of the reader.
Mrs. Ames, again of course, is the one who finds the body, The murdered man is, no surprise, the cad, and her friend, of course, is suspected and arrested, She, of course, is convinced of his innocence she KNOWS him, he could NEVER murder anybody, and so, also as expected, decides for no discernibly adequate reason to distrust the police and go about playing amateur detective.
And in yet another reliably invoked cliche, the detective inspector who comes to investigate strikes up a highly unprofessional friendship with Mrs, Ames, sharing confidences with her and disregarding her potential as a murderer helping her friend rescue his sister from the clutches of the cad.
Cliche piles on cliche, The detective, seeing that the victim who tumbled down a cliff to his death has a bruise on his head, concludes that he was struck by a blunt instrument, and jumps to the unprofessional conclusion that it was murder, completely disregarding the possibilities that it was accident or manslaughter, but this is a murder mystery, so murder it must be.
Once the item with which he was struck is revealed its obvious that it could never have made an injury that could reasonably be described as being from a blunt instrument, but the cliche requires a blunt instrument, and so it becomes one.
We have, of course, the traditional demand that the members of the party must remain on site until the police are ready to let them depart, adding to the internal stresses and making sure that all prospective suspects remain available to interact with and be suspected and questioned by our amateur detective.
Meanwhile, we need to toss some unrelated complications in to the protagonists life, So the friend comes to her room to consult on the murder, gets drunk and spends the night innocently, as it turns out, but the appearance is sufficient.
The husband shows up at the hotel, again unexpectedly, and finds out about the incident, with the expected result, In order to complicate things, and for no apparent other reason, the husband lies and behaves otherwise in a manner which makes his wife suspect him of being the killer.
She dithers and wavers between the husband and the friend as to whether she regretted her decision to switch horses those several years ago and who she really loves, and so we have this completely unrelated tangle, the warp to the weft of the mystery, including an incident where the couple, having broken into guest rooms in search of clues, in another reliable cliche, when the guest shows up unexpectedly wind up hiding together in a closet while a second victim is being murdered a few feet away.
Eventually, of course, our protagonist breaks into yet another guests room in a search for clues not only is she trespassing, but the police could not have made this search without a warrant, but of course our protagonist is above the law, is found there, discovers who the murderer and the motive are, is threatened at gunpoint, manages to turn the tables and subdue the killer, during which the gun discharges without hitting anybody, when, no cliche being left unturned, the friend and detective burst into the room to find her standing over the now revealed murderer.
If there are any murder mystery cliches I have forgotten to mention, be assured that they are nonetheless present and accounted for.
The characterizations are adequate but not memorable, the setting adequately but not well developed, the motive barely sufficient to justify murder, and in general, the book, as I said at the beginning, a nice try, but.
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Ashley Weaver