Spotlight for I Died for Beauty by Amanda Flower

 

An Emily Dickinson Mystery #3

I Died for Beauty by Amanda Flower

Published:  February 25, 2025 by Berkley

Genre:  Historical Fiction, Cozy

About the Book

When a blaze takes both a neighbor’s home and his life, Emily Dickinson and her maid Willa have a burning desire to crack the case in this new historical mystery from Agatha Award–winning author Amanda Flower.

Amherst, 1857. The Dickinson family braves one of the worst winters in New England’s history. Trains are snowbound and boats are frozen in the harbor. Emily Dickinson and her maid, Willa Noble, have never witnessed anything like it. As Amherst families attempt to keep their homes warm, fears of fire abound.

     These worries prove not to be unfounded as a blaze breaks out just down the street from the Dickinson in Kelley Square, the Irish community in Amherst, and a young couple is killed, leaving behind their young child. Their deaths appear to be a tragic accident, but Emily finds herself harboring suspicions there may be more to the fire than meets the eye. Emily and Willa must withstand the frigid temperatures and discover a killer lurking among the deadly frost.

 

I DIED FOR BEAUTY EXCERPT

 

I was just stepping into the family parlor when the terrifying scent of smoke tickled my nose. I hurried inside the front parlor to find an ember from the fireplace had made its way through the screen and smoldered on the edge of the carpet.

I stamped it out with my shoe with my heart beating out of my chest. Had I not been there at that very time, there was no telling what would have happened.

I pulled my foot away from the spot and there was the faintest of burns no larger than a penny on the colorful carpet. I wondered how I could remove the stain without anyone being the wiser.

My hopes to keep the incident quiet were dashed when Mr. Dickinson stormed into the room. "Do I smell something burning?"

Emily and Miss Lavinia were just steps behind him.

Mr. Dickinson was not a large man but formidable all the same. He had a receding hairline, and what hair he had on the sides of his head stuck out in triangular tufts. His brow was heavy and thick as were his sideburns. His nose was pointed and sharp, almost like a beak. He was the very last person that I would have wanted to find me in this current state.

The urge to place my foot back over the burn spot was overwhelming, but I stopped myself. I did not want to look like I was covering something up as though this was my fault.

"Willa, are you all right?" Emily asked.

"Yes, miss," I murmured, and kept my eyes pointed at my shoes.

"What has happened here?" Mr. Dickinson asked. "Have you burned a hole into the carpet, you careless girl?"

I could feel my body quake, and I willed it to stop. I was about to be sacked. I just knew it. Honestly, it was a miracle that I had lasted two long years. I thought most of that had to do with Emily's intervention when it came to her father.

She came to my rescue again. "Father, please. Willa would never do that!" She nodded to me. "Willa, tell us what happened."

"Thank you, miss." I took a breath and was determined to keep my voice steady. "I had just come into the front parlor to start the dusting when I smelled a hint of smoke. I saw an ember had come through the gate and fallen to the carpet. I stamped it out with my foot." I held up the toe of my shoe as if that was proof in some way. "It must have just happened as I was coming into the room. I was grateful I was here, miss. Most grateful."

"As are we," Emily said. "The whole of the house could have been lost!" She turned to her father. "See, she saved us all!"

"When was this hearth last cleaned?" Mr. Dickinson asked.

It took me a moment to realize that he was speaking to me. The father of the home rarely addressed any question to me. If he wanted information from me, it was relayed back and forth through Margaret and at times, Miss Lavinia.

"Yesterday morning, sir."

"But not today?" he roared. "Why not?"

"The fires were made in haste, sir," I admitted. "I had to go to the market as there is no delivery due to the cold."

"That is not acceptable. Every hearth must be cleaned every day until this weather breaks. I will not lose this house after I spent a lifetime earning it back. More people die of fires than the cold," he snapped. "Remember that."

I swallowed. My throat felt swollen, but I managed to speak. "I can clean the hearth now, Mr. Dickinson, if it is your wish."

"I expect you to," he said, and left the room.

Miss Lavinia, who was dark-haired and petite like Emily, if a bit thicker, made a move to leave the room and stopped in the doorway. "Don't let Willa cut corners, Emily, simply because you think of her as your friend," she said snidely, and left.

Emily patted my arm. "Do not worry about them, Willa. I still believe that you are a heroine."

"I don't feel like one," I said.

"You cannot put a fire out a thing that can ignite," she said, and left the room leaving me to wonder what fire she meant.

 

Excerpted from I Died for Beauty by Amanda Flower Copyright © 2025 by Amanda Flower. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Amanda Flower is the USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author of over forty novels, including the nationally bestselling Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series, Magical Bookshop Mysteries, and, written under the name Isabella Alan, the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries. Flower is a former librarian, and she and her husband, a recording engineer, own a habitat farm and recording studio in Northeast Ohio.

Amanda’s author photo credited to David M. Seymour 2021