The Impersonator--A Mystery

Starred review from July 15, 2013
Miley’s lively debut follows vaudeville actress Leah Randall as she takes on the most challenging role of her young life—impersonating an heiress, Jessie Carr, who went missing seven years earlier, in 1917. Jessie’s smarmy Uncle Oliver approaches Leah, currently unemployed and a dead ringer for his niece, with an irresistible offer: impersonate Jessie and share her $10 million inheritance with him in six months, when Jessie would have turned 21. Leah gets more than she bargained for, however, after she leaves for the Carrs’ estate on the coast of Oregon, Cliff House. There are two attempts on her life before she even arrives. The family’s Pinkerton investigators are excruciatingly thorough. And what about that bizarre series of local murders? The story is engrossing, the characters satisfyingly larger than life, and one can only hope for an encore from the smart, feisty, and talented heroine. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency.

August 15, 2013
In a mystery set during the Roaring '20s, an actress takes on the role of a lifetime--if someone doesn't kill her first. Actress Leah Randall has been on the stage for so long that she no longer has a fixed name. Now Leah has an offer of another name: Jessamyn Carr. Seven years after Jessie disappeared from her home in Dexter, Ore., her uncle Oliver Beckett proposes that Leah impersonate her and divert part of Jessie's considerable inheritance to him. When Leah agrees, she leaves the vaudevillian world of kiddie acts and cat circuses for a luxurious life in a seaside Dexter mansion with the Carr family. She finds little welcome, much hostility and murderous intent at Cliff House. As Leah weighs self-preservation against a spiritual connection to Jessie, she risks everything to learn the truth about Jessie and herself. Leah is presented as brave, appealing, self-sufficient and smart, but the story depends on her making stupid choices. A late-entry hero, an obligatory house of doom, plot devices like a lucky train ticket and an unlucky bee sting, and a penultimate revelation worthy of Tom Jones also work against plausibility, though not necessarily against enjoyment. Historian Miley, winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award, presents a colorfully detailed mystery that partially succeeds and a heroine whom readers will want to see succeed even more.

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September 1, 2013

In 1917, a young heiress went missing from her family's Oregon manor, and seven years later, her fortune will be distributed if she doesn't return soon to claim it. A con artist--Uncle Oliver--finds a charming vaudevillian actress willing to tackle the role of impersonating Jessie Carr; the deal is they will split the money. The new Jessie handles her part with aplomb, winning over most of the Carr family. But the orphan actress gradually realizes how much she likes this new lifestyle and family, and she finds the web of deceit a struggle. Unfortunately, the deadline looms, and someone sinister hasn't been fooled at all. That person doesn't plan to let "Jessie" act anymore, anywhere. VERDICT Miley's clever historical debut successfully portrays an intricate puzzle featuring multiple cons. Her protagonist dazzles us with her fearlessness. Inspired by Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, Miley's stand-alone is the winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
Talk about your challenging acting roles. In Miley's spirited debut (winner of the 2012 Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel competition), vaudeville starlet Leah Randall is hired to impersonate heiress Jessie Carr, who went missing seven years earlier, in 1917. Leah is granted the irresistible offer by Jessie's creepy uncle Oliver, who proposes to share his niece's $10-million inheritance in six months' time, when Jessie would have turned 21. Leah takes on the assignment (her primary vaudeville gig has been cancelled, and she certainly can use the funds), which proves daunting from the start. Ensconced in the Carr estate in Oregon, she must master every detail of Jessie's life in an effort to convince the Carr clan she is indeed the missing girl. (The Pinkerton detectives hired by the family are fastidious to a fault). Adding to Leah's anxiety are a series of local murders, in which the victims' heads are shaved in strange ways. Compelling characters, an engaging story line, and a heroine with lots of moxie make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)