Bella Winter moved to charming Hope Eaton for some peace and quiet after quitting her busy city job. She delights in spending time in her little antique store on top of the hill, hunting for bargains at auctions, and getting to know everybody – because if there’s one thing Bella’s good at, it’s solving other people’s problems.
But her peaceful life is overturned when she finds eccentric local historian Professor Oliver Barton dead in the ruins of Raven Hall, a trowel lying near his outstretched hand. At first, Bella is like everyone else: saddened by a tragic accident. But then her colleague John asks her to dig deeper. Because the dead man gave him an ancient coin he should never have had, and John thinks he was murdered.
As Bella delves into the case she uncovers a hoard of suspects: the lord of the manor, a secretive group of treasure hunters, the dead man’s desperate niece and her no-good son. And when another local historian takes a fatal tumble, she is certain that the answers lie in the antiques the professor stole.
The Antique Store Detective by Clare Chase is the first A Bella Winter Mystery. The author takes her time in setting the scene describing the village, the antique store, the manor home, and Bella’s apartment. We get to meet a host of characters when Bella goes to the pub or people come to her antique shop. I like that Bella is now living in the same apartment where her father resided. You can tell how much Bella cared for father. Bella finds a man dead who was nighthawking on the grounds of the local manor house.
I had not heard of nighthawking previously, and it was interesting to learn about this practice. Bella along with her employee, John Jenks, dig into whodunit. Bella, of course, does not believe the police are up to the task. There are several suspects who have a motive. John seems to be related to over half the village, which helps in obtaining information as well as questioning suspects. Of course, Bella retires to the pub to share the information she has learned with her friends. This leads to repetition of case details. While parts of the mystery were interesting, the solution was simple. There was a lack of action, suspense, and excitement. The ending felt incomplete. The story moved at a slow pace (snail’s move faster), and it was too long (375 pages). As the saying goes, The Antique Store Detective was not my cup of tea!
The Antique Store Detective is available from Amazon*. You can read it for free if you are a member of Kindle Unlimited. I suggest you download a sample and see if the book suits you. The next A Bella Winter Mystery is The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder. Thank you for coming by today. Booked on Murder by Allison Brook (I am a stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours on August 8) and Peach Tea Smash by Laura Childs (I will be a stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours on August 13) are out today. I will return tomorrow with my thoughts on The Home Front Nurses by Rachel Brimble. My mother and I survived Hurricane Debby. It rained heavily and the winds were strong (I am glad that my wind chimes are hung securely for not one of them fell off). I do have a tall flag pole that is leaning. I am waiting for the water to go down, so I can assess the damage to my garden (time to pull out my wellies). I am just grateful that both of us are okay and so is our home. I hope that you have cheery day. Take care and Happy Reading!
The
Avid Reader
*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book. I am not required to leave a review. The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.
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