Meade is skilled at depicting the Depression-era period, especially the tragic and pressing financial concerns it generated. She also successfully portrays the class divisions of the time, which her heroine Marjory is able to transcend because of her lucrative writing career and her relationship with the privileged Creighton Ashcroft. Meade leavens the grimness of the period with welcome wit; the exchanges among her characters are often amusing and wry. The greatest overarching mystery of Shadow Waltz, however, is how Marjorie, beset by constant cases inviting her attention, finds time to write her own mysteries!
-Mystery Scene Magazine
Amy Patricia Meade weaves more than a hint of nostalgia within a twisted maze of a mystery. Add to that, bits of humor, familiar characters and their sometimes zany interaction with each other and the suspects and it all blends to create a warm and entertaining conundrum for the reader to delve into.
Here’s hoping for a long, mysterious, off the wall life for Marjorie and Creighton and this series.
-Once Upon A Romance
Yes, this is a murder mystery, but it’s a far cry from the dark, almost brooding tales told by so many contemporary authors. The fuss about the wedding arrangements – including the pastor’s plans to stage his own play during the ceremony – would make for hilarious scenes on a movie screen, and that’s not what you’d expect from, say, Archer Mayor, to name just one other Vermont mystery writer.
Frankly, Amy Patricia Meade does not yet qualify as a literary heavyweight, and in all likelihood her mysteries will never be best sellers, but the reader may sense that this is of no concern to her. That’s because she’s found a winning formula, one that was responsible for the kind of stories made popular years ago by acclaimed authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that “Shadow Waltz” — the third Meade mystery featuring Marjorie McClelland — is part detective story, part drawing room farce. And both parts blend seamlessly.
In one memorable scene, the doorbell rings so often readers may be reminded of a Tom Stoppard play, or perhaps a story by P.G. Wodehouse. For a budding mystery author, those are not unwelcome comparisons. Meade is clearly having fun with her plot and her characters, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t taken care to be sure there’s also a healthy dose of suspense and, importantly, a surprise twist or two.
“Shadow Waltz” is exactly the kind of book to take on an airplane or to the beach. The characters are amusing, colorful and, in some cases, downright eccentric. The frisky dialogue between McClelland and Ashcroft is typical of lovers in the stories set in the years between the two world wars. Profanity and vulgarity, so commonplace in contemporary fiction, have no place in Meade’s stories, and, frankly, that’s all for the good, given her characters and her plotting.
-Times Argus
Journey back to the simple life and charm of 1935 in SHADOW WALTZ, a cute lighthearted mystery with some twists and turns. Marjorie and Creighton make a good team in their third outing. Readers should enjoy Ms. Meade’s latest in her Marjorie McClelland series, even if they are new to the series as I was. However, readers of the previous books will probably get the most out of the references to prior cases.
-Fresh Fiction
the sparkling Marjorie and her amiable beau make an engaging pair of sleuths in their third appearance.
-Kirkus
this light whodunit does offer a surprise closing twist.
-Publishers Weekly