The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder
by C L Miller
Macmillan
Author Cara Miller started working in publishing as an editorial assistant for her mother Judith Miller, who was a regular specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. She worked on Judith’s Antiques Handbook and Price Guide and then worked as a researcher for the Antique Hunter’s Guide to Europe.
In her novel, Arthur Crockleford had an antique shop in the quaint English village of Little Meddington in Suffolk. He’d been dabbling in tracking down stolen antiques and returning them to their owners for a reward. Arthur’s last thoughts were that “the darker side of antiques was finally catching up with him and he probably couldn’t outrun it forever.”
Although she had grown up there, Cambridge History graduate Freya Lockwood had avoided Little Meddington for the last twenty years. She had fallen out with her mentor Arthur and only returned to support her Aunt Carole, who just happened to be Arthur’s closest friend.
Freya wasn’t expecting to receive a letter, that Arthur had written only a few days before his death, to find its way to her. It was full of riddles and asked her to continue his work in retrieving “an item of immense value”. But what antique would be valuable enough to kill for?
Although she felt that Arthur had betrayed her twenty years previously, Freya couldn’t resist following the clues that Arthur had left. Trusting no-one except the aunt that looked after her when her parents died, she finds Arthur’s journals in a secret compartment and tickets in her name to an antique’s enthusiasts weekend at Copthorn Manor.
Arthur was meant to value the items in Copthorn Manor after the death of its owner and he had nominated Freya in his place before he too died. What better chance was there of solving multiple mysteries than to spend the weekend in the historic manor with all the suspects?
Lezly Herbert
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