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A deception at Thornecrest /

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Weaver, Ashley. Amory Ames mystery ; Publisher: New York : Minotaur Books, 2020Edition: First editionDescription: 275 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781250159793
  • 1250159792
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 813/.6 23
LOC classification:
  • PS3623.E3828 D45 2020
Summary: Amory Ames is alone at her country house Thornecrest, enjoying her last few weeks of peace and quiet as she prepares for the imminent arrival of her baby. Her husband, Milo, is in London on business, and Amory is content to catch up on her correspondence, organize the nursery, and avoid the well-meaning if rather overbearing company of the ladies in the village as they prepare for the Springtide Festival. But then a woman appears on her doorstep, also claiming to be Mrs. Ames, Milo's wife. Amory's marriage has had its ups and downs in the past, but her faith in her husband has been restored, and Milo has been nothing but thrilled about becoming a father. Though the supposed second Mrs. Ames seems earnest, Amory is convinced she must be mistaken, a belief that Milo confirms upon his homecoming. However, when a second unexpected visitor arrives at Thornecrest, secret identities and whirlwind romances appear to be becoming par for the course. It's not until the day of the festival, when Milo's stable hand Bertie is found dead, that the strange characters appearing in town begin to seem more sinister, and Amory is determined to uncover the killer in the crowd.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Standard Loan Coeur d'Alene Library Adult Fiction Coeur d'Alene Library Book WEAVER (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 50610022740455
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The stylish, charming next novel in Ashley Weaver's Edgar-nominated Amory Ames mystery series, set in 1930s England, A Deception at Thornecrest.

"Thornecrest looked beautiful in the evening light. One would never imagine the turmoil that had just occurred within its walls."

Amory Ames is alone at her country house Thornecrest, enjoying her last few weeks of peace and quiet as she prepares for the imminent arrival of her baby. Her husband, Milo, is in London on business, and Amory is content to catch up on her correspondence, organize the nursery, and avoid the well-meaning if rather overbearing company of the ladies in the village as they prepare for the Springtide Festival. But then a woman appears on her doorstep, claiming to be another Mrs. Ames, Milo's wife.

Amory's marriage has had its ups and downs in the past, but her faith in her husband has been restored, and Milo has been nothing but thrilled about becoming a father. Though the alleged second Mrs. Ames seems earnest, Amory is convinced she must be mistaken, a belief that Milo confirms upon his homecoming. However, when another unexpected visitor arrives at Thornecrest, secret identities and whirlwind romances appear to be becoming par for the course.

It's not until the day of the festival, when Milo's stable hand Bertie is found dead, that the strange characters appearing in town begin to seem more sinister, and Amory is determined to uncover the killer in the crowd.

Amory Ames is alone at her country house Thornecrest, enjoying her last few weeks of peace and quiet as she prepares for the imminent arrival of her baby. Her husband, Milo, is in London on business, and Amory is content to catch up on her correspondence, organize the nursery, and avoid the well-meaning if rather overbearing company of the ladies in the village as they prepare for the Springtide Festival. But then a woman appears on her doorstep, also claiming to be Mrs. Ames, Milo's wife. Amory's marriage has had its ups and downs in the past, but her faith in her husband has been restored, and Milo has been nothing but thrilled about becoming a father. Though the supposed second Mrs. Ames seems earnest, Amory is convinced she must be mistaken, a belief that Milo confirms upon his homecoming. However, when a second unexpected visitor arrives at Thornecrest, secret identities and whirlwind romances appear to be becoming par for the course. It's not until the day of the festival, when Milo's stable hand Bertie is found dead, that the strange characters appearing in town begin to seem more sinister, and Amory is determined to uncover the killer in the crowd.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In the next entry in the Edgar-nominated series from Weaver, technical services coordinator at the Allen Parish Libraries in Oberlin, LA, Amory Ames contentedly awaits the birth of her child at her country estate, Thornecrest, when a stranger drops in claiming to be the second Mrs. Ames. Amory's husband, Milo, quickly puts paid to that idea, but more issues of confused identity arrive with a second visitor--and suddenly a stable hand is dead. With a 35,000-copy first printing.

Publishers Weekly Review

Set in 1934, Weaver's sprightly seventh outing for Amory Ames (after 2019's A Dangerous Engagement) finds the heavily pregnant Amory at Thornecrest, the Ames family's country home in Kent. One morning, while Amory is applying herself to her correspondence, the butler announces an unexpected visitor: a young woman claiming to be the wife of her husband, Milo, who's away on business. The woman introduces herself as Imogen Prescott, and says she married Milo three months earlier. Amory maintains her aristocratic sangfroid, and assures Imogen that everything will be explained once Milo returns home. No sooner does Milo do so than another unexpected visitor turns up on their doorstep, and it becomes clear how Imogen was deceived. A murder amid the annual village Springtide Festival complicates matters further. The lively give-and-take between Amory and Milo makes up for the minimal sleuthing. Those who enjoy escaping into make-believe English villages in the company of pleasant vicars, mildly eccentric aristocrats, and wily village folk will be satisfied. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary. (Sept.)

Kirkus Book Review

A dashing detective duo in 1930s England is in for some unpleasant surprises. Amory Ames has had her share of rocky times in her marriage to Milo, but never before has a young woman turned up claiming to be his wife. Milo is naturally annoyed that his heavily pregnant wife has to deal with this false accusation against him, but all is explained when the next shock arrives on their doorstep in the form of Darien Ames, the illegitimate half brother he never knew existed. Darien, a dead ringer who shares Milo's looks and some of his wilder proclivities, used Milo's name while seducing then declining to marry Imogen Prescott, who's stayed in town to confront him. Darien has evidently moved on to Marena Hodges, who, unable to get along with her own mother, has become almost a daughter to the local vicar and his wife. Marena's discarded beau, Bertie Phipps, punches Darien after a war of words, and when he's found dead in a field, Darien is arrested for his murder. At first it looks as if Bertie, a splendid horseman, was thrown and hit his head, but an autopsy shows he was murdered. Milo insists that Amory leave the investigation to the authorities, but the inveterate sleuth, determined to clear Darien, continues to ask probing questions and uncovers many hidden secrets that may be motives for murder. A splendid resurrection of a formula popular in the 1930s combining romance and glamour with a tricky case of murder. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

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 six previous Amory Ames mysteries: Murder at the Brightwell , Death Wears a Mask , A Most Novel Revenge , The Essence of Malice, An Act of Villainy , and A Dangerous Engagement .

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