Antiques Liquidation
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Trouble’s on the wind when an auctioneer turns up dead in the new Trash ‘n’ Treasures cozy mystery – “one of the funniest cozy series going” (Ellery Queen Magazine)
Two o’clock in the morning is the perfect time to be asleep. So when long-suffering Brandy Borne is rudely awoken by her eccentric mother, Vivian, and invited on a surreptitious shopping trip, the idea is less than tempting.
But if Vivian – Serenity’s true-crime writing, septuagenarian super-sleuth – has a nose for sniffing out antiques, Brandy’s sense of smell is just as good . . . and trouble’s on the wind.
A little light blackmail and one run-in with the police later, and Brandy and Vivian are the ‘proud’ owners of a selection of dead stock, liberated ahead of an upcoming warehouse sale from unsavory auctioneer Conrad Norris. Brandy’s not convinced there’s a fortune to be made in vintage toys, retro plates and pearl buttons – there’s more mileage in their shop’s new Halloween display, even though it’s only August – but she supposes it could be worse.
It soon is. After the auction’s taken place, Vivian and Brandy make an unnerving discovery. It’s not just the stock that’s dead – so is the auctioneer . . .
This light-hearted, laugh-out-loud cozy mystery also features Brandy and Vivian’s humorous tips for buying and selling antiques, along with a selection of tasty recipes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Allan's madcap 16th Trash 'n' Treasures mystery (after 2021's Antiques Carry On), flamboyant septuagenarian Vivian Borne—honorary deputy sheriff of Serenity, Iowa, antiques dealer, and magnet for murder—awakens her long-suffering 33-year-old daughter, Brandy, at 2 a.m. for a questionable meeting early that same morning with sleazy auctioneer Conrad Norris to purchase dead stock (aka "old unused new merchandise") for their shop. Vivian blithely ignores the dangers of entering a decrepit warehouse once owned by Lyle "the Liquidator" Dayton, who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. Vivian uses some dirt she has on Norris to blackmail him into letting her cherry-pick from the stock before he auctions it. When Norris ends up dead atop an elevator after the auction, Vivian is determined to solve the case. With a reluctant Brandy and her fiancé, Tony Cassato, Serenity's chief of police, Vivian investigates a lengthy list of suspects with reason to kill the double-dealing auctioneer. Can Vivian and Brandy expose the murderer before he permanently liquidates them? Humorous asides and loads of antique lore will please series fans. Allan (the pen name of Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins) delivers the cozy goods.
