A Most Novel Revenge

Larkin’s rather high-pitched, upper-class British voice is sometimes scratchy and a bit stuffy, but it’s entirely appropriate for Amory Ames, the free-spirited, feminist amateur detective in Weaver’s series. The novel, the second in the series, mimics both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers: in other words, everyone is stuck in an elaborate countryside estate where murder did and does occur, and the characters, as well as the detective, are very upper-crust. Larkin handles nicely the book’s balance of horror and humor, including the jousting between Amory and her husband Milo and the fears and follies of the disparate characters in the party. She makes this an easy and fun listen. A Minotaur hardcover. (Oct.)