Antique Auctions Are Murder
It’s peak summer season at the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, with tourists fluttering in and out and wreaking enough havoc to rival a Jersey Shore hurricane. Also back in town is Courtney Whipple and his family of antique dealers for the annual Cold Spring Village antique show. Courtney’s son Auggie has a unique piece he believes will fetch them a fortune if he can get it authenticated in time, a piece rival dealer Grover Prickle insists was stolen from his store.
Poppy and her Aunt Ginny attend the auction, hoping to bid on an armoire for the B&B and discover a veritable armory for sale, everything from ancient blades and nineteenth-century guns to such potential killing devices as knitting needles and a blacksmith hammer. Strangely, they don’t see either Auggie or Grover or the mysterious item they both claim to own. Then during the auction, a body falls out of the very armoire Poppy was hoping to acquire, stabbed through the heart. Now, surrounded by competitive dealers and makeshift weapons, she must find out who turned the auction house into a slaughterhouse.
The Details
Series: A Poppy McAllister Mystery – Book #7
Author: Libby Klein
Genre/Category: Cozy – B&B/Culinary
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496733142
Page Count: 464
Rating: 
The Review
I have had issues with the “A Poppy McAllister Mystery” series in the past, but at long last, I think the series has grown up. In the latest addition, Antique Auctions Are Murder Poppy has come into her own. Shopping for antiques can be fun and exciting, but finding a dead body in the one antique at that show you want to buy goes beyond fun. This time Poppy has no connection with the victim, other than he happened to fall out of the armoire she wanted to purchase for her B&B. Now she has no choice other than to investigate, not really, but she can’t help herself.
Some of the characters in this series take a while to like, and at least one will never be, but overall, the returning friends and family are memorable. I liked the antique show and auction aspect being the main focus. The B&B is a highly entertaining location to base some of the more colorful characters, but I will never like Joanne, and let’s face it, if you treated your employer as she treats Poppy, no matter how good of a cook she may be, she would be out on her ear. Georgina was a hoot, I loved seeing her run around actually working, or so it may seem at first. Suspects throughout the story are intriguing, and any one of them could be the killer. The antiques and auction let readers dream of times and places long gone, except at this sort of show.
There are plenty of red herrings to keep readers guessing, unlimited motives, and opportunities. The auction and the antique show play a large part in solving this crime, and readers should pay close attention to the details of both. Unraveling the crime isn’t as easy as it may seem, and the outcome may even surprise some readers. I loved the mischief Aunt Ginny and the biddies get up to, and Figaro, the cat, has a love triangle on his hands that he can’t handle. There is a good amount of humor in this story, which makes it enjoyable on many levels. Poppy’s confidence is growing, and she is becoming more accepting of herself, but she still has a long way to go to be a genuinely beloved character. The killer is found just in time but not without some tense moments.
Overall, I enjoyed Antique Auctions Are Murder more than I have other books in the series, and I like the direction the author is taking the characters. Gia standing up to his family gave me a thrill for a few brief seconds. Throw in the antiques show and auction, and you have a recipe for an appealing read that fans will savor.
The Author
Libby Klein graduated from Lower Cape May Regional High School sometime in the ’80s. Her classes revolved mostly around the culinary sciences and theater, with the occasional nap in Chemistry. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, and befriend random fluffy cats. She writes from her Northern Virginia office while trying to keep her cat Figaro off her keyboard. Most of her hobbies revolve around eating, travel, and eating while traveling.
Other books from this series readers may enjoy are Wine Tastings Are Murder or perhaps Beauty Expos Are Murder.
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