A Dangerous Engagement: A stylishly evocative historical whodunnit (Amory Ames Mystery, #6)

by Ashley Weaver

Amory Ames is travelling to New York, excited to be a bridesmaid at her friend Tabitha's wedding, but with Prohibition in full swing, her husband Milo is less than enthused. When a member of the wedding party is found murdered on the front steps of the bride's home, the happy plans take a darker twist.

Amory discovers that the dead man has links to the notorious - and notoriously handsome - gangster Leon De Lora. While the police seem to think that New York's criminal underworld is at play, Amory feels they can't ignore the wedding guests either. Milo and Amory are drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of nightclubs and bootleggers. But as they draw closer to unravelling the web of lies the murdered man has left in his wake, the killer is weaving a web of his own.

• ISBN10: 0749024585
• ISBN13: 9780749024581
• Publish Date: 23 April 2020 (first published 3 September 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Allison & Busby
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

A Dangerous Engagement is the 6th Amory Ames mystery by Ashley Weaver. Released 3rd Sept 2019 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 309 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a very well written stylish murder mystery series with sophisticated protagonists who are a married couple. Set in the interwar period, Amory and husband Milo are upper class (he's trying to be a good husband, reformed from his playboy days), intelligent, and modern. In fact, I've always gotten a sort of British Nick & Nora vibe from the books with the witty repartee and clever plotting, with a little dash of a more serious Tommy & Tuppence, and something all their own. The books aren't derivative at all, the author's talented and the characters stand quite well on their own.

This book sees them heading to New York for the wedding of Amory's childhood friend Tabitha. Hidden motivations and underhanded lucrative business dealings within the wedding party leave Amory less sure of her footing than on her home turf in England. Although this is the 6th book in the series, it does work quite well as a standalone. There's enough backstory woven into the narrative that readers new to the series won't have any trouble sorting out who's who.

This entry was well paced (if a trifle slow at the beginning) and solidly plotted. The dialogue is witty and rings true to the period. The setting was novel change for the main characters and seeing them in the USA and in much less formal surroundings than usual allowed for some interesting insights into their marriage and the way they worked together.

Four stars, solidly entertaining.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.