Happy Sunday! It is National Banana Bread Day. Are you a fan of banana bread? My father was the only one in the family who enjoyed it. It is also National Dog Biscuit Day. Does your canine like dog biscuits? Mine prefer the bacon treats. Now for my pun of the day. . .Why does the elephant use his trunk as a bookmark? So he always nose where he stopped reading!
A Killer Keepsake by Ellery Adam sand Parker Riggs takes us back to Burlington, Vermont. Molly Appleby wrote an article for Collector’s
Weekly on the Forget Me Not Doll Club and attends a meeting to share the
article with them. Sierra Davis, a
member, deals in rare antiques and is an expert on haunted dolls. Miranda Perry, another remember, has been
hounding Sierra because she wishes to purchase her reportedly haunted Emma doll
(a German bisque doll in a white and gold dress which is over eighty years old). At the end of the meeting, Miranda is not
feeling well, and Luke Kearns takes her home.
The next morning, Molly arrives early at Sierra’s shop as they arranged
and finds it has been broken into. Sierra’s
Emma doll is gone. Molly and Sierra go
to Miranda’s house where they find Miranda dead. The Emma doll is discovered in Miranda’s
bedroom. Detective Tony Lombardi brings
Molly on board as a consultant to help solve this perplexing crime.
A Killer Keepsake by Ellery Adams and Parker Riggs is the sixth book in An Antiques and Collectibles Mystery series. I enjoy visiting Molly Appleby to find out
what antique she is researching in each new book and what mystery she will find
herself embroiled in this time. Our
regular characters are back (Matt, Tony, Sean Murphy, Clara) as we return to
Burlington, Vermont. Molly has grown since
the series began and I am curious how her sleuthing will tie in with married
life. I thought the story contained good
writing and steady pacing. A Killer
Keepsake can be read on its own if you are new to this series (or if you have
missed a couple of books). I was
slightly overwhelmed by the number of people introduced in this book (Forget Me
Not Doll Club members, Sierra’s father, Miranda’s assistant, a nurse, estranged
hubby, etc.). It is hard to keep track
of all the characters. I thought the
mystery was interesting with it involving an 80 year old German bisque doll
that is supposedly haunted. We get to
find out more about the doll and how Sierra came to own it (we dive back in
history to the late 1930s). Molly is
brought on a consultant for her antique and collectible knowledge. We must suspend our disbelief about this as
well as Molly questioning suspects without a detective present (it’s fiction). I
had no difficulty pinpointing the guilty party early in the tale. There are good clues to help readers solve
the whodunit before the reveal. I am
glad that Molly is not having to keep her promise to give up sleuthing. I knew the writers would find a way around
it. The ending of A Killer Keepsake was
so sweet. A Killer Keepsake is a cute
cozy mystery with a disturbing doll with a haunting history, a romantic relationship,
a motivated murderer, and a collector correspondent as a cop consultant.
A Killer Keepsake is available from Amazon* along with the other novels in An Antiques & Collectibles Mystery series. The first three books (A Killer Collection, A Fatal Appraisal, and A Deadly Dealer) are available in a boxed set called The Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries. I will return tomorrow as a stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Here Comes the Body by Maria DiRico (this is a pen name for an author who writes another cozy mystery series--find out more tomorrow). It is the debut novel in A Catering Hall Mystery series featuring Mia Carina. I hope you have a relaxing Sunday. Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
*This
post contains affiliate links.
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