Book Pick for March 2025
Closed room mysteries are a common motif for the suspense genre in 2025. I suspect that they were either started during the pandemic or that they are inspired by that time in isolation. Beautiful Ugly is no exception, encapsulated fully on the Scottish Isle of Amberley. Author Grady Green finds himself on Amberley in an effort to write his next big novel. His agent has sent him there in a move to boost him from the slump he has found himself in after the disappearance of his wife one year earlier – the night his first novel made the New York Times Best Seller List.
A year later he has nothing more written, his advance on the book is gone and he has defaulted on his home. With nothing left to lose, he departs for Amberley. His editor has arranged for him to stay in the home of a former writer on the island in an effort to give him a place to live and to finish his next best seller. Amberley, however, does not seem to want to be found. Grady, once settled into the opulent “cabin,” discovers a human finger with the help of his dog, Columbo. He also finds a missing manuscript from the previous author. These strange occurrences are the only the start of mysteries that Amberley holds. Repeated sightings of a woman who looks like his wife cause him to look deeper into the largely female population of the island. As he and Columbo delve into the mysteries of Amberley, the idyllic isle’s true intent for Grady comes out. His only concern is whether or not he will come out alive.
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