A Dangerous Engagement

Weaver’s enjoyable sixth Amory Ames mystery (after 2018’s An Act of Villainy) opens in October 1933 as British socialite Amory and her husband, Milo, arrive in New York City for the wedding of her old friend Tabitha Alden. The always inquisitive Amory wonders how Tabitha’s father, who owns a shipping company, bounced back so quickly from his reversals during the stock market crash and why the prospective groom, Tom Smith, is so cagey about his past. Then Tom’s groomsman Grant Palmer is shot dead in front of the Alden mansion. A womanizer with a shady reputation, Palmer was rumored to be working with bootlegger Leon De Lora, raising the possibility that the death is a gangland hit. While Milo pursues an investigation of his own, Amory poses as a reporter to probe De Lora for clues—but he, like everyone involved in the case, is not who he seems. Weaver pairs a lively plot with colorful glimpses of Manhattan just before Prohibition’s repeal. Both longtime fans and new readers will be pleased. [em]Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary. (Sept.) [/em]