The Big Steal

Whether the well-traveled and well-heeled couple who once owned Wynderly could have been trafficking in fakes is what Sterling must unravel from the secret rooms, hidden treasures, uncovered diaries, and convoluted trail of paperwork and provenance. As our sharp-witted heroine sifts through details doled out by the museum's curators, board members, and the town's local residents, she discovers that objects, unlike people, do not lie.

The Big Steal is a delightful mystery that enhances readers' antiques acumen and provides an easy guide to identifying the most popular styles and periods in an illustrated appendix.

Hired to assess the value of broken and missing antiques following a suspicious burglary at a Virginia manor house, intrepid appraiser and amateur sleuth Sterling Glass finds that her job is more complicated than she’d anticipated. The antiques, she realizes, are not always what they seem: some are worth tens of thousands, others are well-done replicas.

Whether the well-traveled and well-heeled couple who once owned Wynderly could have been trafficking in fakes is what Sterling must unravel from the secret rooms, hidden treasures, uncovered diaries, and convoluted trail of paperwork and provenance. As our sharp-witted heroine sifts through details doled out by the museum's curators, board members, and the town's local residents, she discovers that objects, unlike people, do not lie.

The Big Steal is a delightful mystery that enhances readers' antiques acumen and provides an easy guide to identifying the most popular styles and periods in an illustrated appendix.

Publishers Weekly

At the behest of an insurance company, Sterling Glass investigates the aftermath of a museum robbery in Jenkins's intriguing second mystery to feature the antiques expert (after 2005's Stealing with Style). Located in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Wynderly, "a museum teetering on the edge of bankruptcy," was once the baronial home of Mazie and Hoyt Wyndfield, a wealthy couple who died childless. At first awed by the vast number of antiques in every room, Sterling begins to doubt the authenticity of a collection of Tang horses and suspects other items are merely replicas. As she gets to know members of Wynderly's board of directors and discovers secret rooms and diaries, Sterling unravels long-hidden deceptions. Jenkins, an antiques appraiser, is also the author of a number of nonfiction titles, including The Book of American Traditions and From Storebought to Homemade. (July)

Emyl Jenkins is a longtime antiques appraiser. She has worked at two auction houses and has written numerous books and articles on antiques, as well as a syndicated column. She is the author of Emyl Jenkins’ Appraisal Book, Emyl Jenkins’ Southern Christmas, The Book of American Traditions, and From Storebought to Homemade, among others. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.