A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

Electra McDonnell knows that her upbringing wasn't exactly traditional. Raised by her uncle with her three male cousins, she is nearly the last one left at home since the boys have gone off or are soon leaving to fight in WWII. So she and her uncle are carrying on the family business. It's just too bad that their latest job has them caught for thievery. Except that very handsome man, Major Gabriel Ramsey, offers them a way out of jail. Electra will have to help him retrieve a set of blueprints that will help them win the war. She's not expecting to stumble across a dead body. Nor can she believe the deeper plot that she is being drawn into.

This was a good start to a mystery series. Electra is coming into her own as women's roles are changing rapidly. I do like the Amory Ames series a little bit better but mostly because I dislike the love triangle trope so very much and Weaver is definitely teasing it here.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 25th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Deception at Thornecrest by Ashley Weaver

Hugely pregnant, Amory Ames is just ready to give birth. She is suffering through the planning of the local festival. She does not need a young woman showing up claiming that Amory's husband Milo is also her husband. Even despite their rocky past, Amory is willing to wait until Milo can be reached before she passes judgment. And it's a good thing that she does because it turns out that Milo is, indeed, innocent. It's actually a shadowy figure from his father's past is the person who provides the explanation.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of their troubles when a local stable boy is killed at the festival and more than one person declares that it must be murder.

The mystery in this one was maybe a little disappointing but it needed to be set up that way to introduce a new character. I don't believe that most Amory Ames fans will be disappointed.

Three and a half stars

Follows A Dangerous Engagement

This book comes out September 9th 

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Dangerous Engagement by Ashley Weaver

Amory and Milo have crossed the Atlantic to attend her friend’s wedding. Tabitha Alden was a schoolmate of Amory’s but she returned to New York after her mother’s death. Her father lost a lot of money in the stock market crash but he seems to have recouped his investments, at least if the car that picks up Amory and Milo is anything to go by.
They get to Mr. Alden’s house and meet the rest of the wedding party: Tabitha’s fiancé Tom who seems to have no past beyond four or five years ago; Jemma Petrie, a friend of Tabitha’s and the only other bridesmaid; Rudy Elliot, a friend of Tom’s who is in marketing, most recently for a salad dresssing, his father was one of the men who committed suicide after the crash; and Grant Palmer, a confident man who is rumored to be in with the mob. In a quiet moment, Tabitha confesses to Amory that she believes that Grant is trying to lure her father into the mob business. When Amory overhears the two men talking, it seems they know each other better than they pretend.
Amory also witnesses Tom fighting with Grant; it seems Tom doesn’t want his past to come up again. But that could be for any reason, really. Perhaps he thinks his Midwestern past won’t fly with the high social group that is the circle Tabitha moves in.
And with Grant being the most unpleasant person in this book, it isn't hard to believe that he’s the one who ends up dead, shot several times outside the Alden house. Milo and Amory are dragged into the underworld.
Another great book in the series.

Four stars
Follows An Act of Villainy
Followed by A Deception at Thornecrest
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

An Act of Villainy by Ashley Weaver

Amory Ames has always thought that Gerard and Georgina Holloway were the epitome of romance. They have always seemed to be in love with each other. Which is why she's surprised that Gerard is cheating on his wife with the young actress in his latest play. And that Gerard is asking her and Milo for help with the young woman, Flora Bell, who is receiving threatening letters. Amory is not really interested but she meets with the actress who brushes off the threats. But opening night, Amory is the one to discover a body. She and Milo will have to work fast to figure out who the murderer is.
I liked this book. The ending wasn't my favorite but it was interesting and that's sometimes better.

Four stars
Followed by A Dangerous Engagement
This book came out September 4
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

The Essence of Malice by Ashley Weaver

Amory Ames and her too-handsome-for-his-own-good husband have been on vacation in Italy but decide to stop in Paris on their way home. Once again, Amory's husband is mysterious. It turns out his former nanny has called him in to help solve the death of her employer, famed perfumier Helios Belanger. As always in the Amory Ames mysteries, there are layers to the story with the Ames' neighbor in Italy being a former fiance of Helios' daughter. She and his two sons all have stories that make each of them suspicious.
Also redundant in the Ames' mysteries are Amory's push-me-pull-me feelings toward her husband and his refusal to tell her anything of use. She's over his partyboy ways and couldn't care less except that they drive her nuts so she really could less. I really hope Ms. Weaver stops hinting around about Milo soon and makes he and Amory true partners.

Three stars
This book comes out September 5