4/5 stars
An Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller (2024)
Freya Lockwood was an orphan when she went to live with her quirky Aunt Carole, and was basically adopted by Arthur Cockleford, an antiques dealer in a quaint English village. She grows up working in his shop, and eventually joins the antiques profession along with him, traveling to far away countries to hunt down items. That is, until Cairo. Something awful happened in Cairo that drove a wedge between Freya and Arthur, and drove Freya away from the profession entirely.
That was 20 years ago, but Freya is pulled back into Arthur's world abruptly when she receives word that he has died mysteriously in his shop - an apparent burglary-gone-wrong, but there are aspects to that theory that just don't fit. Aunt Carole begs her to return home, so she does, but only, she tells herself, to support her aunt. Then she and Aunt Carole receive a letter from Arthur, written a few days before his death, asking them to investigate his murder. In the letter are clues for them to follow to help them along the way - including a weekend away at a stately old manor with a bunch of shady folks with questionable motives and secret agendas.
This is a well written murder mystery with really believable and likable characters. Aunt Carole in particular is delightful in her eccentricities. I love a wacky - but not crazy or pathetic - single, childless aunt who is perfectly content with her life's choices (I wonder why!). Freya is also relatable in her pain and grief over the loss of the grandfather-granddaughter relationship and her profession 20 years ago, followed by the actual loss of her grandfather in present-day. There's a lot of humor to the book, and I was very impressed to see that it is a debut novel too! Will definitely keep an eye out for more by Miller.
UP NEXT: You'd Look Better as a Ghost, by Joanna Wallace
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