A great continuation of this series. I love the complicated relationship between Amory and Milo, and how they get entangled in murder in their social circles. A great quick mystery. ( )

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. ( )

I'm having a hard time choosing the stars. Started at 4 because of the even tone and nice handling of the surprisingly licit Romance element in this series. Well done. The other characters besides our glowing star couple are pretty forgettable so that knocks it down. But I do like the plausible settings and activities. (Amory isn't scaling the outside of buildings or hanging out with circus folk, ahem.) ( )

Amory Ames is back in Weaver’s follow-up to ‘Murder at the Brightwell’. If you thought everything was all patched-up with handsome husband, Milo, think again. But a jewel heist and murder is afoot to help keep Amory’s mind off of trouble at home. There are plenty of delicious England-between-the-wars details complete with an infamous diamond, sumptuous balls, satin, furs, and men that get more handsome the more they misbehave. A very satisfying locked-room mystery to content any Golden Era fan. ( )

This is the second book in the Amory Ames Murder Series, following Murder at the Brightwell. Amory and her husband Milo encounter more murder and mystery in 1930s London. I enjoyed the character interaction, did not love the mystery.

I loved the crazy tension between the main character and her husband. The mystery had the 'husband exchanges the wife's jewels with paste fakes' trope, But the overall reading experience was very enjoyable.

Smarter than the average cozy, and a perfect light read. ( )