A sharp, savvy mystery about an autistic editor who inherits a crumbling English estate, only to find herself at the center of a murder investigation when a family portrait vanishes and a dead body turns up.

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…

Review:

Atmospheric, suspenseful, and quirky!

The Framed Women of Ardemore House is a captivating, crafty tale that takes us into the life of neurodivergent Jo Jones, a middle-aged American woman and lover of the classics who, after inheriting the family’s rambling estate and moving to the English countryside, quickly discovers that there’s something a little more nefarious going on inside the neglected walls of her ancestors home when a painting vanishes without a trace and the groundskeeper winds up dead.

The writing is playful and light. The characters are unique, clever, and supportive. And the plot is a pacey, amusing whodunit full of misdirection, deduction, humour, clues, suspects, mishaps, amateur sleuthing, and murder.

Overall, The Framed Women of Ardemore House is a cosy, satisfying, entertaining read by Schillace that was so much fun with its eccentric characters, intricacies and drama, and which I do hope may just be the first in a multitude of books in a series that would definitely have a spot on my must-read list.

This novel is available now.

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