Lethal Treasure

April 22, 2013
Series fans and newcomers alike will enjoy Cleland’s eighth cozy featuring antique dealer Josie Prescott (after 2012’s Dolled Up for Murder). Josie and her boyfriend, Ty, are pleased to become friends of two new residents of Rocky Point, N.H., Leigh Ann and Henri Dubois—the proprietors of an interior design store. At an auction of abandoned storage units, Josie and the Duboises make some exciting finds in the units they each purchase. Henri gives some silent movie posters from his unit to Josie for her appraisal, since these collectibles are closer to her area of expertise than his. The next day, Leigh Ann phones Josie to say that Henri is missing. When Henri is found dead in his storage unit, Josie once again turns sleuth. Ample antique lore and credible characters bolster an intriguing plot. Agent: Cristina Concepcion, Don Congdon Associates.

May 1, 2013
An antiques dealer uses her expertise to help solve yet another murder. New York transplant Josie Prescott, always on the hunt for new items for her shop in Rocky Point, N.H., is bidding on an abandoned storage locker. The latest round brings some spirited bidding by Josie, an unknown man, and Josie's friend Henri Dubois, whose decorating business always needs new finds. When Henri wins the auction, he asks Josie for help valuing some of his items, including a collection of old movie posters. Josie has befriended Henri and his wife, Leigh Ann, who are new to Rocky Point, and when a frantic Leigh Ann reports Henri missing, Josie's eager to help. Leigh Ann finally gets the police to meet her to open the storage unit, the last place Henri was seen. To their shock, Henri's battered body is inside. Of course Leigh Ann is a suspect, along with her guest from out of town, Scott, who turns out to be her ex-husband. Josie's need to establish provenance of the valuable posters, coupled with her suspicion that they may have given Henri's killer a motive, gives her a strong incentive to track down the person who rented the locker. Although Josie's boyfriend, Ty, is always supportive, his job training Homeland Security agents can keep him from her for days at a time. While he's away, someone breaks into Josie's apartment during a big snowstorm and leaves without taking anything. When the police receive hints that Josie and Henri were having an affair, Josie, hurt and furious, resolves to use her skills to find a clever killer. Josie's eighth (Dolled Up For Murder, 2012, etc.) again provides a good mystery larded with antiques lore.

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June 1, 2013

Antiques dealers bid on storage lockers as part of their trade, but they don't generally plan to die in them. Josie is baffled by the motive behind a colleague's murder in her eighth New Hampshire-based outing (after Dolled Up for Murder).

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