In 1924 a young vaudeville actress takes on the role of a lifetime when she impersonates a missing heiress in this 2012 MB/MWA First Novel Competition winner.
In 1917 Jessie Carr, fourteen years old and sole heiress to her family's vast fortune, disappeared without a trace. Now, years later, her uncle Oliver Beckett thinks he's found her: a young actress in a vaudeville playhouse is a dead ringer for his missing niece. But when Oliver confronts the girl, he learns he's wrong. Orphaned young, Leah's been acting since she was a toddler.
Oliver, never one to miss an opportunity, makes a proposition—with his coaching, Leah can impersonate Jessie, claim the fortune, and split it with him. The role of a lifetime, he says. A one-way ticket to Sing Sing, she hears. But when she's let go from her job, Oliver's offer suddenly looks a lot more appealing. Leah agrees to the con but secretly promises herself to try and find out what happened to the real Jessie. There's only one problem: Leah's act won't fool the one person who knows the truth about Jessie's disappearance.
Set against a Prohibition-era backdrop of speakeasies and vaudeville houses, Mary Miley's The Impersonator will delight readers with its elaborate mystery and lively prose.
Mary Miley is the
winner of the 2012 Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime
Novel Competition. She worked at Colonial Williamsburg, taught American history
at Virginia Commonwealth University for thirteen years, and has published
extensively in history and travel. Miley lives in Richmond, Virginia.View all by Mary Miley
