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Murder at the Brightwell (Amory Ames Mystery, #1)

Ashley Weaver

Start date: November 1, 2016

Finish date: November 30, 2016

Discussion: Group reads

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* Nominations for November 2025 group read
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What Members Thought

Oct 11, 2016 Everyman rated it it was ok

This mystery, selected by a book group here on Goodreads, which is how I happened to read it, is the debut mystery by a young writer who gets a “nice try, but.” Ashley Weaver builds her adequate but no more than that story around a goodly helping of mystery cliches.

This first person mystery starts with the classic country house (in this case a seaside hotel, but same difference) where a group of friends gathers for a few days, offering the traditional limited group of potential victims and murd This mystery, selected by a book group here on Goodreads, which is how I happened to read it, is the debut mystery by a young writer who gets a “nice try, but.” Ashley Weaver builds her adequate but no more than that story around a goodly helping of mystery cliches.

This first person mystery starts with the classic country house (in this case a seaside hotel, but same difference) where a group of friends gathers for a few days, offering the traditional limited group of potential victims and murderers. Her protagonist, Amory Ames, is a semi-outsider to the group, having been invited by one of the group (a former fiancé who was rejected when a more alluring prospect came along but who still carries a flame for her) to use the occasion to wrest his sister from the embraces of a perceived cad who has become engaged to her. I say semi-outsider because most of the other guests, friends of each other, are previously unknown to her. So in another mystery cliche we get to meet the potential victims and subjects through their gradual introductions to her as they appear at tea or dinner.

Amory Ames is, of course, a feisty, independent, intelligent young woman. That’s de rigueur. Naturally her husband, who she wavers between loving and hating, who has spent the past five years in Monte Carlo paying no attention to her, shows up without warning or notice a few hours before her departure for the hotel, adding a complication to the situation which tests the credulity of the reader.

Mrs. Ames, again of course, is the one who finds the body. The murdered man is, no surprise, the cad, and her friend, of course, is suspected and arrested. She, of course, is convinced of his innocence (she KNOWS him, he could NEVER murder anybody), and so, also as expected, decides for no discernibly adequate reason to distrust the police and go about playing amateur detective. And in yet another reliably invoked cliche, the detective inspector who comes to investigate strikes up a highly unprofessional friendship with Mrs. Ames, sharing confidences with her and disregarding her potential as a murderer helping her friend rescue his sister from the clutches of the cad.

Cliche piles on cliche. The detective, seeing that the victim who tumbled down a cliff to his death has a bruise on his head, concludes that he was struck by a blunt instrument, and jumps to the unprofessional conclusion that it was murder, completely disregarding the possibilities that it was accident or manslaughter, but this is a murder mystery, so murder it must be. Once the item with which he was struck is revealed it’s obvious that it could never have made an injury that could reasonably be described as being from a blunt instrument, but the cliche requires a blunt instrument, and so it becomes one. We have, of course, the traditional demand that the members of the party must remain on site until the police are ready to let them depart, adding to the internal stresses and making sure that all prospective suspects remain available to interact with and be suspected and questioned by our amateur detective.

Meanwhile, we need to toss some unrelated complications in to the protagonist’s life. So ... the friend comes to her room to consult on the murder, gets drunk and spends the night (innocently, as it turns out, but the appearance is sufficient). The husband shows up at the hotel, again unexpectedly, and finds out about the incident, with the expected result. In order to complicate things, and for no apparent other reason, the husband lies and behaves otherwise in a manner which makes his wife suspect him of being the killer. She dithers and wavers between the husband and the friend as to whether she regretted her decision to switch horses those several years ago and who she really loves, and so we have this completely unrelated tangle, the warp to the weft of the mystery, including an incident where the couple, having broken into guest rooms in search of clues, in another reliable cliche, when the guest shows up unexpectedly wind up hiding together in a closet while a second victim is being murdered a few feet away.

Eventually, of course, our protagonist breaks into yet another guest’s room in a search for clues (not only is she trespassing, but the police could not have made this search without a warrant, but of course our protagonist is above the law), is found there, discovers who the murderer and the motive are, is threatened at gunpoint, manages to turn the tables and subdue the killer, during which the gun discharges without hitting anybody, when, no cliche being left unturned, the friend and detective burst into the room to find her standing over the now revealed murderer.

If there are any murder mystery cliches I have forgotten to mention, be assured that they are nonetheless present and accounted for.

The characterizations are adequate but not memorable, the setting adequately but not well developed, the motive barely sufficient to justify murder, and in general, the book, as I said at the beginning, a nice try, but.

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16 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2017 Jan C rated it liked it

Shelves: england, gr-group-read, 2017

This was probably really 2 1/2 ☆. For much of the book it was hovering around 1-2☆ but I thought it perked up a bit at the end.

The author spent far too much time describing what her main character, Amory Ames, was wearing. Is Amory a common name? Or perhaps it was supposed to be a family name. It wasn't just that she changed into a gray suit but she had to describe all the facets about it. I gave some allowance to the author as it was her first book. But where was her editor?

Not a house party bu ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2016 Judy rated it it was ok

I often enjoy historical mysteries, and this was an easy light read, but there was just too much romance for me (and that's something I never thought I'd say!) I did enjoy some of the humour and the characters. The main story, about an unpopular playboy who is killed at a seaside hotel, also kept me guessing. However, I didn't think the romance plot, about a young socialite torn between her husband and her ex-fiance, was very convincing. Looking forward to discussing this with the Reading the De ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2020 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed the read. Its a mystery set in the 1930's. The heroine is a socialite that stumbles into a murder investigation. It was lighthearted, fun at times, not too heavy, with some romance thrown in. It reminded me a bit of the old Thin Man movie series, but with much less alcohol. :))

I really enjoyed the time period it was staged in, and the author seemed to stay true to the speech and mannerisms of the time. I also liked that it was a fairly clean book, no vulgar language or graphic s ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jan 04, 2019 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 19, 2019 Annarella rated it it was amazing

I love this series and this one the only I hadn't read.
It's as lovely and engaging as the rest of the series.
It was great to meet Amery and Milo at the beginning.
The mystery was intriguing and engaging, the book is well written, and couldn't put it down.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to St. Martin Press and Netgalley for this ARC ...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Sonia rated it liked it

3.5 stars.

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Jul 02, 2019 jaadhimalli rated it liked it

Shelves: popsugarreadingchallenge2019

I definitely plan to continue reading the series. It reads like chick-lit.

#PopSugarReadingChallenge2019
30. A book featuring an amateur detective

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Jan 10, 2016 Yorky Caz rated it it was amazing

Loved this. Very Agatha Christie but dont know if I would of been so tolerent of such a misbehaving husband I think he would of been given the boot a long time ago!!

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Jan 04, 2016 Kerry Hammond rated it it was amazing

Absolutely loved this book and have already read book two in the series. More on Mystery Playground here:

http://www.mysteryplayground.net/2016...
...more

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