Review: The Framed Women of Ardemore House by Brandy Schillace

 

The Framed Women of Ardmore House by Brandy Schillace

Publication Date: February 13th 2024 by Hanover Square Press

Pages: 336

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble |Books-a-Million | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Jo Jones inherits an estate, Ardemore House, in England. While she’s never seen it, Jo’s happy to leave the US behind after losing her job and divorcing. She’s eager for a new start. However, the estate is run-down, and Sid, the “caretaker” isn’t keen on moving on, but she doesn't trust him. Soon after he leaves, Jo discovers a painting is missing and they have a very public argument in the local pub.

Sid is murdered at the cottage on her estate, and while Jo is part of the suspect pool, there’s more than a few with better motives for killing Sid. Besides the murder, there’s a mystery surrounding the identity of the girl in the painting, one of Jo’s distant relatives.

The story is told from the POV of Jo and also DCI James MacAdams, the detective investigating Sid’s murder.  I really warmed to Jo and was rooting for her to thrive in her new circumstances! Being neurodivergent and hyperlexic she didn’t always pick up on social cues, but she excelled in picking up things that not everyone else noticed.

I really enjoyed The Framed Women of Ardemore House! It was an engrossing mystery/police procedural with interesting, multi-layered characters I’d like to get to know better! I liked the interactions between MacAdams and Jo. There were hints of a possible romance, maybe? I’d be on board for that. While the murder was solved, there were some loose strings that lead me to think there will be another story coming. If so, count me in!

 

4 Stars

Book Summary:

An abandoned English manor. A peculiar missing portrait. A cozy, deviously clever murder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz.

Jo Jones has always had a little trouble fitting in. As a neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor and divorced New Yorker transplanted into the English countryside, Jo doesn’t know what stands out more: her Americanisms or her autism.

After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, she couldn’t be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the body of the moody town groundskeeper turns up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger—and she’s also a potential suspect. At the same time, a peculiar family portrait vanishes from a secret room in the manor, bearing a strange connection to both the dead body and Jo’s mysterious family history.

With the aid of a Welsh antiques dealer, the morose local detective, and the Irish innkeeper’s wife, Jo embarks on a mission to clear herself of blame and find the missing painting, unearthing a slew of secrets about the town—and herself—along the way. And she’ll have to do it all before the killer strikes again…

Author Bio: 

Brandy Schillace, PhD,  is a historian of medicine and the critically acclaimed author of Death's Summer Coat: What Death and Dying Teach Us About Life and Living and Clockwork Futures: The Science of Steampunk. The editor-in-chief of the journal Medical Humanities, she previously worked as a professor of literature and in research and public engagement at the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum. Brandy also hosts the Peculiar Book Club Podcast, a twice-monthly show.

The Framed Women of Ardemore House, featuring an autistic protagonist caught at the center of a murder mystery, is her fiction debut. Brandy is also autistic, though has not (to her knowledge) been a suspect in a murder investigation. Find her at https://brandyschillace.com/ 

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