Mystery & Crime

Antiques Bizarre

Name: Antiques Bizarre
Author: Barbara Allan
ISBN: 9780758234216

by Barbara Allan

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Overview

Spring has sprung a major leak in far-from-serene Serenity, as the Mississippi River drops in for an extended stay. With homes and businesses flooded, how better to help the town recover than by staging a church bazaar?

Brandy Borne knows her mother Vivian's plan, however, is more likely to lean toward bizarre, especially when she hears Mother wheedle a reclusive Russian heiress into donating the last Faberge egg ever created! When the winning bidder turns up mortally scrambled, Brandy and Mother cook up a plan to crack the case of this killer. . .who is one seriously bad egg!

Don't Miss Brandy Borne's Tips On Antiques!

Praise for Barbara Allan and the Trash 'n' Treasures Mystery Series. . .

"Top pick! . . .thrills, laugh-out-loud moments and amazingly real relationships." --Romantic Times Book Reviews

"Engaging and utterly believable." --Sara Paretsky

"This is surely one of the funniest cozy series going." --Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Synopsis

Spring has sprung a major leak in Serenity, as the Mississippi River droops in for an extended stay. With hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses flooded, what better to help the cozy town get back to normal than a city-wide church bazaar? But Brandy Borne knows the outcome of her mother Vivian's plan is more likely to lean toward bizarre -- especially when she hears Mother wheedle a reclusive Russian heiress into donating the last Faberge egg ever created!

Publishers Weekly

In Allan’s giddy fourth antiques mystery set in the Midwestern Mississippi River town of Serenity (after 2008’s Antiques Flee Market), Vivian Borne persuades elderly Nastasya Petrova to contribute her Fabergé egg to a charity auction for Serenity flood victims. When Madam Petrova dies in a mass poisoning at the auction and someone pushes the winning bidder for the Fabergé egg, a Chicago art dealer, down a spiral staircase to his death, Vivian and daughter Brandy swing into dizzy detecting mode. Brandy must cope with morning sickness (she’s a surrogate carrier for close friends) and digest the news from her biological mom that her biological dad is a U.S. senator, but these distractions don’t prevent Brandy from getting closer to hunky Serenity police chief Tony Cassato as more bodies pile up. Auction tips and a recipe for spicy beef stew enhance this satirical cozy. Allan is the husband-wife writing team of Max Allan Collins and Barbara Collins. (Mar.)

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

Sleuthing mother and daughter solve the murder of the high bidder on a Faberge egg. Since she's acting as a surrogate mother for her best friend, Brandy Borne has gone off Prozac. She thinks her biggest problem is morning sickness, until her mother Vivian comes up with an idea to make some money for their flood-ravaged Mississippi River town by holding a multi-church bazaar. When they call on Madam Petrova, who represents the Russian Orthodox Church, Vivian has no scruples about asking her to donate her Faberge egg. Surprisingly, Madam agrees, and the egg, a rather plain specimen because it was the last to be commissioned by the tsar, attracts the attention of the major auction houses. The winning bidder is Louis Martinette, a well-known collector willing to pay $1 million for an item he'd authenticated years before. When the excitement dies down, audience members partake of the meal the bazaar has provided and fall ill. Madame Petrova dies; Martinette is killed in a suspicious fall from a church staircase; and the egg goes missing. When Father O'Brien is killed with the caterer's cake knife, the case becomes a murder hunt for the Bornes despite the disapproval of Brandy's newest love interest, the local police chief. Though Brandy and Vivian's adventures (Antiques Flee Market, 2008, etc.) have to date been uninspiring, this latest has a tighter plot and less extraneous fluff than usual. Maybe there's still hope for the future of this over-the-top duo.