Lori C. (dollycas) reviewed A Killing in Antiques (Lucy St. Elmo Antiques, Bk 1) on + 642 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Lucy St. Elmo owns St. Elmo's Fine Antiques in Cape Cod. Treasure hunting is the mainstay of any antiques business and Lucy excels beyond many when it comes to finding just the perfect piece.
This week the hunt takes Lucy to Brimfield, the largest outdoor antique show in all of New England. She has her strategy all worked out, her custom made cart and money at the ready. She is ready to make a killing at this show and bring back treasures she has been dreaming about.
Lucy was not the only one with making a killing on their mind. Someone else did but they actually killed someone! Right there at Brimfield!! Worse Lucy knows the deceased. He was her long time friend, Monty Rondo. He was well known in the antique circuit as a supreme picker.
All leads pointed at his partner but there is no way Silent Billy would have hurt Monty. So Lucy has no choice, in addition to hunting for treasures, she also has to hunt down a killer. With less than a week before Brimfield closes for the season and all the suspects pack up and move on to the next big show she has to move fast to close the sale on the real killer, knowing he is truly no treasure.
First I have to tell you Brimfield is a real place. Those of you not in the New England area may not realize this.
Knowing that makes the story even better because while Mary describes the place wonderfully with her words, seeing it makes the story itself so believable.
I was drawn into this story not only by the mystery but the education about the treasure hunting in the antique world. The characters were real, eccentric and interesting. You wanted to follow them through the maze of Brimfield, weighing each as a suspect, crossing them off the list, then thinking some more and returning them to the possible suspect category. The story was like a mini treasure hunt for the reader making it very entertaining.
This is a perfect summer read. I am looking forward to learning more about antiques and Lucy and her wonderful friends and family. I can't wait to return to Cape Cod with Lucy!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 : Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
This week the hunt takes Lucy to Brimfield, the largest outdoor antique show in all of New England. She has her strategy all worked out, her custom made cart and money at the ready. She is ready to make a killing at this show and bring back treasures she has been dreaming about.
Lucy was not the only one with making a killing on their mind. Someone else did but they actually killed someone! Right there at Brimfield!! Worse Lucy knows the deceased. He was her long time friend, Monty Rondo. He was well known in the antique circuit as a supreme picker.
All leads pointed at his partner but there is no way Silent Billy would have hurt Monty. So Lucy has no choice, in addition to hunting for treasures, she also has to hunt down a killer. With less than a week before Brimfield closes for the season and all the suspects pack up and move on to the next big show she has to move fast to close the sale on the real killer, knowing he is truly no treasure.
First I have to tell you Brimfield is a real place. Those of you not in the New England area may not realize this.
Knowing that makes the story even better because while Mary describes the place wonderfully with her words, seeing it makes the story itself so believable.
I was drawn into this story not only by the mystery but the education about the treasure hunting in the antique world. The characters were real, eccentric and interesting. You wanted to follow them through the maze of Brimfield, weighing each as a suspect, crossing them off the list, then thinking some more and returning them to the possible suspect category. The story was like a mini treasure hunt for the reader making it very entertaining.
This is a perfect summer read. I am looking forward to learning more about antiques and Lucy and her wonderful friends and family. I can't wait to return to Cape Cod with Lucy!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 : Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
Helpful Score: 3
First Line: Most treasure hunts are fantasies.
Lucy St. Elmo, the owner of St. Elmo's Fine Antiques, looks forward to the annual Brimfield Antiques Show; it's a major source of the stock for her shop. When a friend and mentor is killed at the Brimfield show, Lucy has to stop looking for merchandise and start looking for a killer-- because she knows that the police have the wrong man in jail.
There is a lot to like in this book. Moody has a lot of information about the antiques trade to share. I loved Lucy's plan for working this huge antiques show, how she gathered her purchases, and how she stored them. All that was so interesting that I wanted to call her and ask if I could tag along next year.
The book has plenty of humor, most of it from Lucy's point of view. She seems to have a never-ending stream of children returning to the nest. Children who keep insisting that she carry a cell phone "in case of emergency." She stopped carrying one when she learned that the emergency usually consisted of an errand one of her children wanted her to perform.
Humor wasn't the only part of Moody's characterizations that had me enjoying this book. Lucy herself is someone I'd invite over for coffee (when I wasn't tagging along on her search for antiques). She has a brand-new daughter-in-law who turns out to be a welcome surprise, and although not that much is said about Lucy's husband, there are hints that their marriage might be undergoing some sort of change, which definitely keeps me interested in future books. Living and having a business on Cape Cod and working a show inland made for a lively setting.... Even the mystery kept me well occupied!
Information, setting, plot, characters-- I want more of what Lucy St. Elmo's got!
Lucy St. Elmo, the owner of St. Elmo's Fine Antiques, looks forward to the annual Brimfield Antiques Show; it's a major source of the stock for her shop. When a friend and mentor is killed at the Brimfield show, Lucy has to stop looking for merchandise and start looking for a killer-- because she knows that the police have the wrong man in jail.
There is a lot to like in this book. Moody has a lot of information about the antiques trade to share. I loved Lucy's plan for working this huge antiques show, how she gathered her purchases, and how she stored them. All that was so interesting that I wanted to call her and ask if I could tag along next year.
The book has plenty of humor, most of it from Lucy's point of view. She seems to have a never-ending stream of children returning to the nest. Children who keep insisting that she carry a cell phone "in case of emergency." She stopped carrying one when she learned that the emergency usually consisted of an errand one of her children wanted her to perform.
Humor wasn't the only part of Moody's characterizations that had me enjoying this book. Lucy herself is someone I'd invite over for coffee (when I wasn't tagging along on her search for antiques). She has a brand-new daughter-in-law who turns out to be a welcome surprise, and although not that much is said about Lucy's husband, there are hints that their marriage might be undergoing some sort of change, which definitely keeps me interested in future books. Living and having a business on Cape Cod and working a show inland made for a lively setting.... Even the mystery kept me well occupied!
Information, setting, plot, characters-- I want more of what Lucy St. Elmo's got!
Tim H. (Timbuktu126) reviewed A Killing in Antiques (Lucy St. Elmo Antiques, Bk 1) on + 476 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I did not like this book. Oh my God, it was so boring. Long drawn out descriptions of her looking through the antique tables and chatting with her family and friends about nothing relevant to the mystery plot. (although I will say, by doing this, she made it a bit more realistic than some books, where the sleuth just happens along a piece of evidence everywhere he/she goes) If you have been to Brimfield (which I guess is a real life huge antiques show), you may enjoy this. But if you are reading it for a good mystery, I would definitely pass!!!
