The Impersonator

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.