A Most Novel Revenge (Amory Ames Series #3)

by Ashley Weaver

Overview

Edgar Award-shortlisted author Ashley Weaver returns with A Most Novel Revenge, the charming next instalment in the delightful 1930s Amory Ames mystery series

“A pleasant reminder of Golden Age mysteries that keep you guessing until the denouement.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Fascinating and stylish characters fill out a finely tuned traditional mystery.” —Publishers Weekly

“Well, darling, who do you suppose will turn up dead this time?”

With two murder investigations behind them and their marriage at last on steady ground, Amory and Milo Ames intend to winter quietly in Italy. The couple finds their plans derailed, however, when Amory receives an urgent summons to the English countryside from her cousin Laurel. At Lyonsgate, the country house of Laurel’s friend Reginald Lyons, Amory and Milo are surprised to discover an eccentric and distinguished group of guests have also been invited, led by the notorious socialite Isobel Van Allen.

After years of social exile, Isobel has returned to England to write a sequel to her scandalous first book, the thinly fictionalized account of a high society murder at the very country house to which the Ameses have been called. Her second incriminating volume, she warns the house’s occupants—all of whom were present when one of their companions was killed years ago—will tell everything that really happened that fateful night. But some secrets are meant to stay buried, and when a desperate person turns to murder, it’s up to Amory and Milo to sort through a web of scandal and lies to uncover the truth, and the identity of a killer.

Also out now in the Amory Ames mysteries: Murder at the Brightwell and Death Wears a Mask

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250112446
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/05/2017
Series:	Amory Ames Series , #3
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	384,353
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

ASHLEY WEAVER is the technical services coordinator at the Allen Parish Libraries in Oberlin, Louisiana. Weaver has worked in libraries since she was fourteen; she was a page and then a clerk before obtaining her MLIS from Louisiana State University. She is the author of two previous Amory Ames mysteries, Murder at the Brightwell and Death Wears a Mask.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for A Most Novel Revenge

"Captivating.... Fascinating and stylish characters fill out a finely tuned traditional mystery." —Publishers Weekly

"A pleasant reminder of golden-Age mysteries that keep you guessing until the denouement." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Amory Ames Mysteries

“Ashley Weaver takes Golden Age mystery elements and makes them her own with charm and wit.” —Fresh Fiction

“Fans with fond memories of Georgette Heyer’s mysteries set in the same period will be delighted with the gallery of suspects and the edgy romance.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Sure to appeal to Agatha Christie devotees.” —Booklist

“It's all very Downton Abbey.... [Weaver] channels the ambience and spirit of British society during the post? World War I years.” —Associated Press

“With a profound nod to the Golden Age of the British whodunit, Weaver creates a classic mystery, complete with a fashionable setting, a cast of upper-crust Brits, and witty prose.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

From the Publisher

07/11/2016
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. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

05/01/2016
When she's not acting as technical services coordinator at the Allen Parish Libraries in Oberlin, LA, Weaver writes the frothy traditionals in the 1930s England-set "Amory Ames" series. In this third title, Amory and suave husband Milo are invited to a country-house gathering presided over by scandalous socialite Isobel Van Allen, who's about to follow her thinly veiled novel of a murder at that very house with a second novel said to reveal all. Not surprisingly, someone objects rather bloodily.

Library Journal

2016-07-20
A cousin’s call for help seriously complicates a wealthy society sleuth’s holiday.Amory Ames and her husband, Milo (Death Wears a Mask, 2015, etc.), have had a rocky relationship, perhaps because Milo’s so handsome and charming that Amory’s never sure if his flirting is a cover for something deeper. Though things have recently improved, Milo’s not pleased that they’ve accepted an invitation to a cold country house instead of the trip to Italy he’d planned. Amory’s cousin Laurel was unfortunate enough to have been a guest at Lyonsgate when the mysterious death of Edwin Green caused a scandal that was vastly overblown after another guest, Isobel Van Allen, wrote a thinly veiled novel based on the incident. Now Isobel’s come home from Kenya and insists that everyone who was there that night return as well. Since Edwin Green can’t attend and the man Isobel hinted murdered him has committed suicide, Isobel fills out the party by adding her secretary, her current lover, and the Ameses. Isobel claims she’s writing a new novel that will reveal much more about the event—so when Amory stumbles over her bloody body, the police have plenty of suspects. Chief among them are members of the Lyons family: Reggie, who was in love with Isobel; his sister, Beatrice, the object of both the dead men’s affections; and his much younger half sister, Lucinda, who’s quickly fallen for Milo. Also visiting at the time of Green’s death were Amory’s old school friend, her husband, and an artist who’d given up painting until he met Amory. Despite Milo’s every effort to curb her sleuthing instincts, Amory can’t help but look for clues, especially after another murder. A pleasant reminder of golden-age mysteries that keep you guessing until the denouement.

Kirkus Reviews