Death Wears a Mask

July 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.

January 25, 2016
Like Weaver’s Edgar-nominated debut mystery, Murder at the Brightwell (2014), this follow-up is narrated by Amory Ames, a British socialite who, with her husband, Milo, leads a charmed life in 1930s London. Here, Amory is asked by a family friend, Serena Barrington, to identify a jewel thief—a favor that eventually leads to murder as well as her and Milo’s near brushes with adultery. Reader Larkin’s use of a flippant, above-the-fray Mayfair accent for Amory flattens the characters. And Milo, though thoughtful and vaguely amused by his wife, sounds a bit too condescending, even for the 1930s. Despite being filtered through Amory’s off-putting air of constant frivolity, the novel’s murder plot and its solution make the book worth the listen. A Minotaur hardcover.

August 15, 2015
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.

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September 15, 2015
Milo and Amory Ames have tried to put the murder at the Brightwell Hotel behind them; working to rebuild their marriage, they have plunged into the London social scene of the 1930s. Invited to a dinner party with 10 others at the home of Serena and Lloyd Barrington, friends of Amory's mother, they have no thoughts that they might be regarded as amateur sleuthsuntil Serena asks Amory to find out who is stealing her jewels. A piece goes missing, she claims, every time they have this particular group to dinner. Serena and Amory plan a trap at an upcoming masquerade ball hosted by one of the guests, the noted roue Lord Dunmore, but Serena's nephew is murdered instead. The event is reported in all the scandal sheets, and DI Jones, from Murder at the Brightwell (2014), is on the scene, having been transferred to Scotland Yard. This time he actively involves Amory, asking her to discover the connections among the party guests during a seemingly innocent round of social calls. Weaver has followed up her debut novel with another engaging closed-house mystery sure to appeal to Agatha Christie devotees.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

October 1, 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.]

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015

When she's not working as technical services coordinator at the Allen Parish Libraries in Oberlin, LA, Weaver writes mysteries, debuting last year with Murder at the Brightwell, a LibraryReads pick set in 1930s England. In this follow-up, Amory Ames hopes to catch a jewel thief at a decidedly extravagant masked ball, but then a guest is murdered, even as rumors cast suddenly agreeable husband Milo as a faithless spouse--again.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.