The unexpected reconciliation between Amory Ames and her reformed playboy husband Milo is still on a fragile footing when Amory is drawn into an investigation into the disappearance of valuable jewellery. Unable to say no to an old family friend, she agrees to help lay a trap to catch the culprit at a lavish masked ball. But when a guest is murdered, Amory is pulled even further into the enquiry.
While Death Wears A Mask may not be quite as accomplished as its predecessor, it still possesses charm and wit in abundance. If you enjoyed Amory and Milo’s first outing, there is plenty to enjoy here.
Read my full review at Mysteries Ahoy!
Disappointing.
The first book was captivating and fresh: a woman sick of her philandering runabout of a husband goes off on holiday on her own and stumbles into a murder mystery. The reader is left believing Amory's personal dramas are resolved by the end of the book. Which is why this book was so thoroughly disappointing: it's just more of the same.
Amory's husband is back to his philandering playboy ways - or is he? Frankly, I don't care. At all. As far as I'm concerned my husband lands himself on the scandal sheets with another woman, he's out. There aren't any set of circumstances where I'd find that acceptable, so I'm not the audience for this book. I purely wanted to smack Amory, repeatedly, for her constant mooning about over her sorry excuse for a spouse. Even when he was trying to be a good husband, he just came across as a cad. Kick 'im out I say - Amory is independently wealthy and they have 3 homes, I'm pretty sure she could make it work.
The mystery itself was pretty good though; too many characters launched at the reader all at once, but once they sort themselves out, it's not too shabby. Amory got a bit thick-headed towards the end, A man has had some recent financial setbacks; his wife's jewels are suddenly found to be paste and Amory is stumped as to how this could have happened. Really? This is a mystery?? but mostly, the plotting is respectable, if somewhat overly convoluted.
I don't know if I'll bother with a third book; Amory either needs to grow a spine and ditch the waste of wool she married, or Milo needs to grow up and man up. If either of those things happened, this could be a really excellent series. Somehow, I don't think either is likely, and that's a disappointment.
