Murder at Rough Point

Budding journalist Emma Cross, from the Newport Observer, is invited to the Vanderbilt estate Rough Point, in Newport, Rhode Island, to write an article about the group of artists renting the mansion. She is surprised to find her parents, whom she hasn't seen in four years, are there as well. When a member of the party is found dead after falling off of a cliff, the rest wonder if their fellow guest was murdered. When a second death occurs, this time inside the house, and a nasty storm prevents the guests from leaving, they begin to look at one another as potential murderers. Emma, with assistance from author Edith Wharton, provides information to her friend, police detective Jesse Whyte. After Jesse makes an arrest, Emma comes to believe that the accused is innocent, so she continues to investigate, almost losing her life in the process. Emma, a distant Vanderbilt relative, is an interesting, independent career woman in this satisfying first-person account that includes well-drawn characters and is set in 1896, among the lives of the rich and famous.--O'Brien, Sue Copyright 2016 Booklist

Set in the fall of 1896, Maxwell's pleasantly twisty fifth Gilded Newport mystery (after 2015's Murder at Beechwood) finds Emmaline Cross, journalist for the Newport, R.I., Observer and distant relative of American gilded age royalty, with an assignment more worthy of her talents than the usual "fashion and frippery." A group of artists and intellectuals are holding a two-week retreat at Rough Point, the Gothic Revival estate owned by Frederick Vanderbilt, a remote cousin of hers. Emma is to interview and write about the contentious and egotistical band of bohemians, including an opera diva, a dancer, a cellist, a sculptor, a stage director, author Edith Wharton, and Emma's own artist parents. When someone begins picking off the guests one by one and the survivors are trapped on the estate by a vicious storm, it's up to Emma to track down a killer. Even though some of the victims are dispatched by methods that stretch credulity, this tale will appeal to lovers of atmospheric country house mysteries. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.