Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Hanover Square Press, via edelweissplus, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own
An amateur autistic sleuth. A wry English detective. A murder case that thrusts them both into the wealthy, illicit world of the rare antiques trade...
Synopsis:
Jo Jones can't seem to catch a break. Trading in city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of North Yorkshire to take over her family estate should have been a chance for a "fresh start.” Instead, she's been driven further into the past than she thought possible -- and not just her own. The estate property is littered with traces of ancestors that Jo never knew existed, including the mysterious woman in a half-destroyed painting – and hints about Jo's late uncle, who may hold the key to her cryptic family history. Then there’s the gossipy town politics Jo must constantly navigate as a neurodivergent transplanted American… And of course, the whole murder business.
When prickly town detective James MacAdams discovers a body in the moors with coincidental ties to Jo Jones, they're forced to team up on the case. The clues will lead them into the wealthiest locales of Yorkshire, from sparkling glass hotels to luxury property sites to elite country clubs. But below the glittering surfaces, Jo and MacAdams discover darker schemes brewing. Local teens, many of them international refugees, are disappearing left and right, and each case is somehow linked to a shady architectural firm -- which also happened to employ the dead man from the moor-side ditch.
What begins as bizarre murder case quickly plunges them both into the blackmarket world of rare artifacts and antique trading... and a murderer who will do anything to cover it up.
Review:
This is actually a sequel to The Framed Women of Ardemore House, which I had NOT read, so I didn't have the background from the previous book. But the author works bits and pieces in, so a new reader doesn't feel lost. Jo has turned her home into an air bnb in order to raise funds and to support herself, as well as the big manor house she has inherited. Only her first guest ends up dead. Not an auspicious start to any new business! Add in some chick lit budding romance between her and Detective MacAdams, and red herring twists every few chapters, and you have a mystery that will keep you turning pages long into the afternoon/evening! Jo is a great character- blunt, witty and ultimately too smart for herself, which while allowing her to solve the mystery, gets her in some tricky situations. Another smart read that will get you reading all in the series, it's another one not to miss!
About the Author:
BRANDY SCHILLACE is an autistic author, historian, mystery novelist, and editor. Having grown up in an underground house (next to a graveyard, in abandoned coal lands, with a pet raccoon) she spent her childhood reading about diseases and going to a lot of funerals. This led to an abiding interest in dead stuff, a PhD, and a career in science history--a likely thing to happen when one spends their formative years in a cemetery. Brandy writes at the intersections of history, mystery, and the weird.
She is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher. She is the creator of the Peculiar Bookclub, a twice-monthly live-streamed YouTube Show and podcast bringing best-selling authors together with their readers. A former professor of English and gothic literature, she has an abiding love of mystery. She writes about gender politics and history, medical mystery, and neurodiversity for outlets such as Scientific American, Wired, CrimeReads, and Medium. She is also autistic, though has not (to her knowledge) been a suspect in a murder investigation.
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