Book Review: The Framed Women of Ardemore House by Brandy Schillace

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…

This was a recommendation from a colleague who is also autistic.

While I am always grateful for neurodiversity representation in literature, my expectations got in the way of my enjoyment. The book is initially presented as a cozy mystery with an autistic main character. As a frequent reader of cozy mysteries, I expected our main protagonist to do some sleuthing and find the murderer. The book turned out to be something quite different. There are two storylines: one featuring Jo Jones, who is searching for a painting, and another with DCI MacAdams investigating the murder that occurred at Jo’s cottage. The novel is basically a police procedural with a side quest protagonized by Jo.

Key characters are missing in the last third of the book, like Tula or Gwilym. Because Gwilym was so helpful to Jo, and since they are both neurodivergent, I kind of expected more participation from his character towards the end, but he’s suddenly nowhere in sight.

It was just an okay book. I confess I was bored at several points, but I kept reading mainly because of the neurodivergent factor and because, although I expected a cozy mystery, I also enjoy police procedurals. It would have helped if the author had focused more on one of the two things this book tried to be. I wanted to root for Jo, but MacAdams led half of the story, and he was not prominent enough as a main character to be entirely successful.

There’s a second book in the series, but I’m not too tempted to try my luck again.

Story (Plot)
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lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.