Five years ago, Amory Ames had been engaged to Gilmore Trent
for a month. At a dinner
party they attend, she notices Milo. After dinner he asks her to dance. She
remembers
looking into his bright blue eyes and the strange sensation
she experiences that first moment in his arms. Milo is
dark, beyond handsome, reckless and exciting. She chooses
illusion over substance, breaks the engagement and marries
Milo. Reports of his gallivanting across Europe without
his wife, with "scoops" in the gossip columns that show him
with one beauty after another, are too numerous to ignore
any longer. It is time for Amory to patch their crumbling
marriage, or move on and stop thinking what if.
The butler announces Mrs. Ames has a visitor waiting to see
her. The visitor is Gil Trent, her former fiancé. He has come to
ask her for a favor. His sister Emmeline is engaged to marry
Rupert Howe. Gil detests him and calls him a gigolo. He
has tried everything to break them up but Emmeline is madly
in love with Rupert and insists on marrying him. Perhaps
if Amory can tell her about some of the pitfalls she is
facing in her own marriage, Emmeline will listen.
She will try her best and join Gil and their party at the
Hotel Brightwell. It is time for her to have an adventure!
After their train ride, Gil and Amory arrive at the lovely,
opulent Hotel Brightwell, unpack and join the party of
friends for tea. Emmeline and Rupert introduce their
group: Nelson and Larissa Hamilton; Anne and Edward
Rodgers; Lionel Blake, an actor; Veronica Carter; and
Olive Henderson, school chums of Emmeline. A perfect day
ends with a fabulous dinner followed by dancing, complete
with a full orchestra and early to bed. It's been a long, but peaceful
day.
However, murder is on the menu the next day. The body of
Rupert Howe is found on the beach after investigations show
he was hit in the face with a blunt object then thrown from
the upper patio. The murderer strikes again, drowning Nelson
Hamilton in his hotel bath tub while he was under the influence of
drugs. Olive Henderson initiates a fumbled suicide with a razor to
her wrists. Detective Inspector Jones works hard on the investigations,
aided by Amory and Milo. Two murders and one attempted
suicide is not the usual at the elegant hotel.
The smashing conclusion ties up all the loose ends.
MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL is the debut novel for Ashley
Weaver, and her storytelling is magical. Her descriptions
of the ultra-rich in the 1930's, with all the glitz and
glamour ,really sparkles. The clothes, locale, and the colorful
characters combine for a thriller. Amory, with her elegant fashions and her
inquisitive manner steals your heart. Milo is the most
romantic hero to come along in a while and he is delicious.
Hope they return, and soon. Five stars. Lovely!
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
fiancé, 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 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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