Amory Ames is a wealthy young woman who regrets her marriage to her notoriously charming playboy husband, Milo. Looking for a change, she accepts a request for help from her former fiance, Gil Trent, not knowing that she’ll soon become embroiled in a murder investigation that will test not only her friendship with Gil, but will upset the status quo with her husband.Amory accompanies Gil to the … accompanies Gil to the Brightwell Hotel in an attempt to circumvent the marriage of his sister, Emmeline, to Rupert Howe, a disreputable ladies’ man. Amory sees in the situation a grim reflection of her own floundering marriage. There is more than her happiness at stake, however, when Rupert is murdered and Gil is arrested for the crime. Amory is determined to prove his innocence and find the real killer, despite attempted dissuasion from the disapproving police inspector on the case. Matters are further complicated by Milo’s unexpected arrival, and the two form an uneasy alliance as Amory enlists his reluctant aid in clearing Gil’s name. As the stakes grow higher and the line between friend and foe becomes less clear, Amory must decide where her heart lies and catch the killer before she, too, becomes a victim.
Ashley Weaver’s Murder at the Brightwell is a delicious mystery in which murder invades polite society and romance springs in unexpected places.
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It was entertaining and fun. Enjoyed the description of the clothes and life style of the era.
Just plain fun, and it’s clever enough to keep you guessing.
A fun cozy mystery with engaging characters.
Good, not great, but kept me reading.
I enjoyed this book, but then I like books full of quirky British characters. It’s a murder mystery, nothing too great but a nice light read.
Well, I must say that Amory Ames certainly seems to find herself in some accidental predicaments alongside with her too handsome of a husband. Her husband always seems to bungle his relationship with his wife. This makes an altogether humorous accounting of how things can certainly go wrong when Amory is around.
It seems that marriage has not been easy for the pair being in the spotlight of society. So as the pair travel from one luxurious place to another, money being no object for them, things get out of hand quickly, followed by murder, being in the wrong place and always coming to logger heads with the law.
When you roll all this up in a neat package, it makes for excited reading.
One of the better cozy mysteries.
I love the glamor associated with this time period. The author ties this in with the mystery associated with the book.
I loved this book!
I loved the characters and also loved learning about the different sites they visited
Loved the time period.
A cross between PG Wodehouse and Dorothy Sayers. A nice historical who done it; well written and imaginitive.
It is a very nice period piece mystery. Well-written but could have used more editing — it was just too long for this kind of story.
I liked the time period. Good characters. I couldn’t guess who did it.
The book is interesting, more because of the setting and period details than because of the characters, who are a bit stereotypical. The plot is intricate, perhaps a little contrived. Overall, it’s a good reading experience.
Ashley Weaver is very adept at making one love or hate a character immediately. Another reviewer accused her of attempting a poor ripoff of Agatha Christie, but I found Weaver’s dialogue far more witty than Christie’s. The protagonist, Amory and her husband, Milo have all of the charm of Nick and Nora Charles. The series is fun and while the first in the mix may have a few bogs in plotting and pace, it is an enjoyable read.
I just couldn’t stay in the story… It started really well, and kept going for a little bit but then just started to slow down. Then it would pick up again, then slow down again. After several rounds of this, I was almost 100 pages in and realized I honestly didn’t care if a Amory figured the mystery or not, didn’t care what Max did with their relationship, didn’t care if I find out anyone’s secrets, and didn’t even care who the murderer was… That’s when I closed it for good. It was trying to be a Christie – and failing. The book was at it’s best when it stopped trying – as in the beginning, with the interplay between Amory and Milo. Once the scene shifted to the eponymous Brightwell, it just started reading like a knock off of Evil Under the Sun – and not a very well disguised one at that – and it lost me…