RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1506

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2015

Holiday Reads

With the 2015 holiday season fast approaching, it is time to consider how to spend the downtime during the final week of the year.  Traditionally, men overdose not on turkey but the myriad of football bowl games, many of which verge on the point of mediocrity (a team needs only six wins to qualify for bowl status).  The older I become, the less appeal this ritualistic act has.  I would rather read a good book or two or three.

There is a wealth of titles, new and old, for those individuals who wish to combine antiques and collectibles, a murder mystery, and the seasonal holidays.  Reading them will introduce the reader to a number of antiques and collectibles cozy mystery series, their characters, and the authors who create them.  This column focuses first on new titles and second on older titles, fortunately still in print.

[Author’s Aside #1:  Each author has their own unique writing style, which is one of the reasons I look forward to each new title as it appears.  The characters in these cozy antiques and collectibles mysteries have become family.  Yet, they are family members I would avoid visiting in real life.  Death has a strange habit of knocking at their door.]

Jane Cleland’s “Ornaments of Death,” published by Minotaur Books, is the tenth cozy mystery in the Josie Prescott Mystery Series.  For information about Jane Cleland and the full series, visit www.janecleland.net.

Ian Bennington, a distant English relative who discovered his relationship with Josie while doing family genealogy research on Arabella Churchill, a mistress of King James II, knocks on the door of Prescott’s Antiques as Josie and the staff are preparing for the Christmas holiday.  Locating and authenticating period miniatures of King James II and Arabella Churchill is the crux of the story.  Ian’s appearance will be limited to one novel.  He is murdered shortly after his initial visit with Josie.

Rocky Point (fictional but real in the minds of the series readers), New Hampshire, is picture postcard perfect in its winter setting.  Seasonal New England is a treasure trove location for writers.

The relationship between the series characters has matured greatly.  In most cozy mystery series, the amateur sleuth heroine’s relationship with the local police is tenuous.  Chief Ellis and several of the officers rely and respect and encourage Josie’s professional expertise.  Josie’s relationship with Wes, a local reporter, creates an information conduit, albeit it is not clear who is the beneficiary – Josie, Wes, or the local police who seem to use the conduit as an off the record pipeline.

As with most cozy mysteries, “Ornaments of Death” is an easy read.  Once I start an antiques and collectibles cozy mystery, I often finish it in a single read.  This is not to suggest these books are short in length.  “Ornaments of Death” is over 200 pages.

“White Colander Crime” by Victoria Hamilton, a pseudonym for Donna Lea Simpson, is a new title in A Vintage Mystery Series, its fifth.  It is published by Berkley Prime Crime, an imprint of Penguin Random House.  See: www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com.

Queensville, a northern Michigan town just across the border from Canada, is the setting for the series.  Jayne Leighton, vintage cookware collector and food columnist, is the heroine.  She and a group of other volunteers are celebrating the restoration of the Queensville Historic Manor, a polite name for old Dumpe [I love puns] homestead.  The grand opening takes place during the Queensville Dickens Days celebration.

Like all cozy antiques and collectibles mystery novels, “White Colander Crime” is a standalone book, that is to say, you do not have to read the previous novels in the series to enjoy and understand it.  However, the cast of character in A Vintage Mystery Series is large and back story references occur frequently.  Hamilton’s wide variety of characters with their many foibles and faults lends a real life aspect to the story.  While I continue to like Valetta, the postmistress at the Queensville Emporium, I chuckle every time I encounter the volunteers of the Queensville Historic Manor.  Having spent more than 15 years as a museum professional, I can attest to Hamilton’s ability to capture the mindsets of the individuals involved, a primary reason why I left the field.

Jayne is in her third romance in five novels.  Like many of the antiques and collectibles cozy mystery series heroines, one of her early romances was with a member of the local constabulary.  This time it is with a rugged, individualist with a young daughter.  While children are an element in a number of antiques and collectibles cozy mystery series, they are like boyfriends or husbands—out of sight and out of mind.  In this case, the young lady is very much part of the story.  Adding a child creates a new twist, something that is also likely happening in Lea Wait’s An Antique Print Mystery series.

The annual Christmas offering from Barbara Allan, the pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Barbara and Max Allan Collins, is published as an eBook and available on Amazon. “Antiques St. Nicked” is a novelette in A Trash ‘n’ Treasure Mystery series.  Kensington Publishing Corporation is the publisher.  For more information about the full series, see www.barbaraallan.com.

Brandy and her mother Vivian Bourne are the primary characters, characters being the correct terminology to describe them.  Much of the story is written in the first person in a conversational style, primarily narrated by Brandy.  In this short chapter novella, Vivian is only allowed one of the five chapters.

In Serenity [another pun of sorts], Mississippi, during a downtown Christmas walk, Santa Claus is murder.  Although a novella, enough potential murderers are introduced for the story to have the usual surprise ending.  Many of the supporting characters, including Dumpster Dan, from the novel titles are present.  Tony, Brandy’s boyfriend who just happens to be a police officer, is more fully developed in this story.

[Author’s Aside #2:  I owned a Kindle for more than a year.  I have it charged but still have not downloaded a book.  I am technology resistant.  However, I delighted in finding and installing an internet program that allows me to download eBook files onto my main computer, thus allowing me to read the eBook file sent to me by the Allan’s publicist.]

“Antiques St. Nicked” also includes a chapter from “Antiques Fate,” the next A Trash ‘n’ Treasure Mystery scheduled for publication in spring 2016.  I look forward to reading it.

Although published in 2014 by Perseverance Press, Lea Wait’s “Shadows on a Maine Christmas,” a title in An Antique Print Mystery series, is a worthy addition to the seasonal title list.  The next title in the series is due in spring 2016.  In the interim, Lea is focusing on developing her Mainely Needlepoint Mystery series.  Lea’s publisher also is the Kensington Publishing Corporation.   See:  www.leawait.com.

In my 2015 Summer Read “Rinker on Collectibles” column #1482, I introduced readers to books by Mary Kay Andrews.  Eloise “Weezie” Foley and her friend BeBe Loudermilk are the central characters.  Andrews offers two Christmas titles – “Blue Christmas” (2006) published by Harper Collins and “Christmas Bliss” (2013) published by Saint Martin’s Press.  For information about Mary Kay Andrews’ titles see www.marykayandrews.com.

The BeBe and Weezie series is set in Savannah; the charm of the city’s historic district is captured in exquisite detail.  “Blue Christmas” focuses around a rivalry between local antiques and collectibles shops and other merchants to win the “best decorated shop exterior” annual prize.  Unlike the cozy antiques and collectibles mystery titles in the other series, there is no dead body in either of Andrews’ Christmas stories.

“Christmas Bliss” centers on the preparations for Weezie’s wedding to Daniel, a chef who is working on loan to a New York City restaurant, and the birth of BeBe’s child by her live-in boyfriend Harry.  There is a feeling of finality to the story.  One gets the impression that this is the last encounter with BeBee and Weezie.  Given Andrews’ writing ability, the loss is deeply felt.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI  49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.