Death Wears a Mask (Amory Ames Series #2)

by Ashley Weaver

Overview

Edgar Award-shortlisted author Ashley Weaver returns with Death Wears a Mask, the witty and stylish next installment in the delightful 1930s Amory Ames mystery series

“Amory Ames and her rakish husband Milo might just be the new Nick and Nora Charles.” —Deborah Crombie

It was amazing, really, what murder had done for my marriage . . .

Following the murderous events at the Brightwell Hotel, Amory Ames is looking forward to a tranquil period of reconnecting with her reformed playboy husband, Milo. She hopes a quiet stay at their London flat will help mend their relationship. However, Amory soon finds herself drawn into another investigation when an old friend of her mother’s asks her to look into the disappearance of valuable jewelry snatched at a dinner party.

Amory agrees to help lay a trap to catch the culprit at a lavish masked ball. But when one of the illustrious party guests is murdered, she is pulled back into the world of detection, caught up in both a mystery and a set of romantic entanglements where nothing is as it seems.

Also out now in the Amory Ames mysteries: Murder at the Brightwell and A Most Novel Revenge

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250096128
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/13/2016
Series:	Amory Ames Series , #2
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	470,672
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 lives in Oakdale, Louisiana. She is the author of Murder at the Brightwell.

Editorial Reviews

Absolutely irresistible. From page one this delightful mystery is clever, droll, and effortlessly chic. Fans of Nick and Nora Charles will swoon—I certainly did!” —Hank Phillippi Ryan

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

“Weaver has followed up her debut novel with another engaging closed-house mystery sure to appeal to Agatha Christie devotees.” —Booklist

“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

From the Publisher

07/27/2015
Set in London in 1932, Weaver’s delightful second mystery featuring British socialite Amory Ames (after 2014’s Murder at the Brightwell) finds Amory reluctantly agreeing to investigate a jewel theft for Serena Barrington, a friend of her mother’s. Possible thieves include dashing and disreputable Lord Dunmore, a charming but sinister tennis player, and a pair of impecunious sisters. When Mrs. Barrington’s hapless nephew is murdered at Dunmore’s masked ball and stolen jewels are discovered in his lordship’s pockets, Detective Inspector Jones asks for Amory’s help in gathering information from upper-crust suspects. Meanwhile, she fends off advances from Dunmore and copes with her devil-may-care husband Milo’s tabloid-fodder relationship with a French actress. Weaver peoples the novel with entertaining secondary characters, but a lack of backstory leaves questions about Amory’s relationship with Milo unanswered, and the resolution to their marital difficulties seems hasty and unconvincing. Still, readers will hope to see a lot more of the sophisticated, elegant Amory. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary Agency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2015
A few months after the events that took place at the Brightwell Hotel (recounted in Murder at the Brightwell), Amory is dining with the Barringtons and several other society types in London when Serena Barrington asks her to help catch who is stealing Serena's jewels. The two women concoct a scheme to catch the thief at Lord Dunmore's masked ball, but their plans go awry when Serena's nephew is murdered. Meanwhile, Amory and Milo, her husband, are still feeling their way back to a comfortable relationship amid rumors of infidelity on his part. VERDICT Librarian Weaver, whose series debut was tapped by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Reading List as the best mystery of 2015, has whipped up a delicious confection of a mystery set in 1930s England. It sparkles with personality and an appealing plot. Devotees of golden age authors such as Agatha Christie as well as contemporary writers such as Rhys Bowen and Barbara Cleverly will settle down in their cozy armchairs for a pleasurable read. [See Prepub Alert, 4/11/15; library marketing.]

Library Journal

2015-07-30
A second murder investigation is in the cards for a 1930s society couple. Now that the Ames' rocky relationship has been further strained by Armory's having suspected her husband, Milo, of murder (Murder at Brightwell, 2014), the couple has gone home to London, where things have improved for them. When they attend a dinner party at the home of the Barringtons, they meet a diverse group of people who suddenly intrude into their lives as suspects in several robberies. Mrs. Barrington confides in Armory that she believes one of her guests has been stealing her jewelry and comes up with a plan to trap the thief at a masked ball Lord Dunmore will be throwing the following night. The trap is baited with a paste sapphire bracelet, but disaster strikes when James Harker, Mr. Barrington's nephew, is found shot dead with some of the jewels in his pocket. Unfortunately, Milo, who begged off attending the ball with his wife in order to buy a horse, turns up with a French actress, and a picture of them kissing shows up in a scandal magazine. Armory is determined to solve the mystery even before the police, in the form of an inspector she met in the Brightwell case, ask for her help. Despite remaining deeply in love with Milo, who insists that the latest episode is all a misunderstanding, she also contemplates divorce. Clearly, this dangerous adventure will either bring them closer or put paid to their marriage. 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