Lucy St. Elmo owns St. Elmo Fine Antiques, and one of the
things she looks forward to is Brimfield, the largest
outdoor antiques and collectibles show in New England. But
just as Brimfield kicks off, one of Lucy's friends is
killed. Montgomery "Monty" Rondo has been strangled with a
strip of lace. Monty is well-known in the industry as a
picker, and he tends to be a "love him or hate him" person.
Lucy had a great relationship with him, and she's shocked
by his death, and even more shocked when his business
partner (known to everyone as "Silent Billy") is almost
immediately arrested.
Although Lucy has helped solve a murder in the past, it cost
her dearly. She was shot in the process and her husband
made her promise to cease her sleuthing ways. Despite being
a friend of Monty's, she's not particularly interested in
trying to figure out who killed him, other than being sure
that it wasn't Silent Billy. Besides, she knows that she'll
be getting only a few hours of sleep each night for a week
between trying to wheel and deal the good deals all day,
every day.
But she gradually gets sucked into helping with the case.
First, she finds a defense attorney for Silent Billy, then
she starts asking questions about why he's a suspect in the
first place. When people begin assuming she's digging
around to help free him, they start freely giving her
information, and she gradually begins investigating more
until she eventually begins a full-scale investigation.
I found this to be a solid, entertaining mystery. Lucy's
new friend Coylie was endearing, and it was enjoyable to
watch their friendship form. I was uneasy, though, with
Lucy's relationships with her friend Natalie and husband,
which seemed off-kilter.
It was, nice, however, to see Lucy form a bond with her
daughter-in-law, who divulged an interest in antiquing. It
was through this that we got to see Lucy's expertise really
come to life. We also got to see Lucy share her exuberance
for the hobby, rather than see it through her eyes as merely
a business, which changes the perspective. I would
definitely read another book in this series, especially to
see how Lucy interacts with other characters, who she may
see on a more regular basis.
Treasure hunting is not for the faint of heart. Luckily,
Lucy St. Elmo, owner of the Cape Cod antiques shop St. Elmo
Fine Antiques, has more than enough heart. What she needs to
improve are her tracking skills-or else the wrong man could
be convince of a one-of-a-kind murder.
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