Ardemore House

A sharp, gripping 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 shows up in the manor 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. And that was before the body on the carpet. After losing her job, her mother, and her marriage all in one year, Jo couldn't be happier to take possession of a possibly haunted (and clearly unwanted) family estate in North Yorkshire. But when the moody town groundskeeper ends up on her rug with three bullets in his back, Jo finds herself in potential danger-and as a potential suspect. At the same time, a mystifying 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...

An amateur autistic sleuth. A wry English detective. A murder case that thrusts them both into the wealthy world of the rare artifacts trade… Jo Jones can't seem to catch a break. Trading in city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of the English countryside to take over her family estate should have been a chance for a "fresh start." Instead, she's been driven further into the past than she thought possible-and not just her own. The estate is littered with traces of ancestors that Jo never knew existed, including a mysterious woman depicted in a half-destroyed painting. Then there's the gossipy town politics Jo must constantly navigate as a neurodivergent transplanted American… And of course, the whole murder business. When prickly town detective James MacAdams discovers a body in the moors with coincidental ties to Jo Jones, they're forced to team up on the case. The clues will lead them into the wealthiest locales of Yorkshire, from sparkling glass hotels to luxury property sites to elite country clubs. But below the glittering surfaces, Jo and MacAdams discover darker schemes brewing. Local teens, many of them international refugees, are disappearing left and right. What begins as a bizarre murder case quickly plunges them both into the world of rare artifacts and antique trading…and a murderer who will do anything to cover it up.