Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1542

2016 Summer Reads - Part II

Part I of the two-part “2016 Summer Reads” series introduced readers to: Barbara Allan’s (pseudonym for Barbara and Max Allan Collins) “Antiques Fate,” a Trash ‘n Treasure Mystery; Victoria Abbott’s (pseudonym for Mary Jane and Victoria Malfinia) “Marsh Madness,” a Book Collector Mystery; Lea Wait’s “Thread and Gone,” the third title in the Mainely Needlepoint Mysteries series; and Jan Fields’ “Stranger in the Looking Glass” and Mary Blount Christian’s “The Secret Letter,” the first two titles in the Antique Shop Mysteries series. This column focuses on the return of an old favorite and a number of newly discovered series and titles with antiques and collectibles as a secondary theme.

Robin Williams’ “The Seattle Surprise” is the third title in the A Regency Antiques Mystery series. The series is set in Vancouver, British Columbia, which coincidentally is the location of Hampshire Antiques, Ltd. where the author is managing director. The secondary setting for each story centers around antiquing areas in the America’s Northwest – “The Road to Reno” is the first novel in the series. “The Portland Payoff” is the second. “The Seattle Surprise” alternates between Snohomish, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Frank Ball and the staff of Regency Antiques, especially his store manager Catherine Chan, are the central characters in the story. A long list of secondary characters includes rival antiques shop owners and their staffs and Asian characters of dubious reputation.

Williams’ tradecraft knowledge is evident throughout the series. His settings are accurate, a fact to which I can attest having visited the geographic locations involved. The “insider” look at the business is not always a positive. Manipulation of the contemporary abstract market is one of the subthemes in “The Seattle Surprise.” I shall be eternally grateful to Williams for the Al Capp quote about contemporary art: “Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.”

[The three titles in the A Regency Antiques Mystery series can be ordered directly from the author at www.hampshireantiques.com.]

I had Josie Belle’s (pseudonym for Jean McKinley) The Good Buy Girls series on my cozy mystery possibility list for three years. Repeated requests to the author and Berkley Prime Crime Club publicists in New York failed to result in review copies. This year, I decided to buy “Marked Down For Murder” and “All Sales Final,” the fourth and fifth titles in the series. It was money well spent.

The Good Buy Girls consists of four bargain hunting females – Maggie Gerber, owner of the secondhand store My Sister’s Closet, Ginger Lancaster, Joanne Claramotta, and Claire Freemont. The local police’s presence results from Maggie’s romance with Sam Collins, the police chief of St. Stanley, Virginia, the mythical location in which the series is set. “Marked Down for Murder” involves the effort of Summer Phillips’ mother Blair to switch her daughter as the bride at Sam Collins upcoming wedding to Maggie. Summer’s jealousy of Maggie led her to opening a copycat version of My Sister’s Closet directly across the street. The story accelerates when Summer is found standing over the body of Blair. All ends well as Summer is exonerated thanks to the inquisitive tenacity of The Good Buy Girls.

In “All Sales Final,” Maggie and Sam purchase a historic home and begin the restoration process. A skeleton in the basement root cellar causes a glitch in their plans. The discovery of “a small, red, leather-bound” book is the key to solving the mystery of the unexpected guest and reveals the historical importance of the house. The story ends with the marriage of Sam and Maggie, initially a no-no in cozy mysteries but a trend that is becoming more and more common.

Cate Price’s “A Dollhouse to Die For” is the second title in the A Deadly Notions Mystery series. Also published by Berkley Prime Crime, I experienced the same issues I had with The Good Buy Girls series when attempting to contact the author and publicist at Berkley Prime Crime. Daisy Buchanan, owner of the shop Sometimes a Great Notion, is the central character in the series. “A Dollhouse to Die For” involves a Victorian era dollhouse Daisy bought at auction for a young girl that suddenly becomes an object of desire for several not-so-friendly characters.

Sometimes a Great Notion is located in a historic district in Millbury, a mythical town located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Daisy is married to Joe, who is semi-retired. Besides the requisite murder, the story focuses on the restoration of the Victorian era dollhouse and the secondary market for antique and contemporary miniature furniture. Early in my career, I met several Bucks and Philadelphia County adults who collected miniatures and used them to create room settings and furnish dollhouses. Price’s portrayal of this collecting segment is accurate.

My favorite character in the series is Agnes, a crusty old auctioneer, symbolic of many such individuals I met in my antiques and collectibles travels. As with all cozy mysteries, the cast of secondary characters is large and includes Eleanor Reid, who restores old bridal gowns, detective Tony Serrano (for once, not a love interest of anyone), Tony Z, a barber, and Martha Bristol, a woman with a compulsion to bake.

[I bought the Josie Belle and Cate Price titles as used books on eBay, paying less than the title price for each. Since my interest was reading rather than collecting them, used was good enough for me.]

I discovered Matthew Pearl’s “The Last Bookaneer,” published by Penguin Books, a Random House imprint, while I was waiting for Linda to buy the latest James Patterson title at a Barnes and Noble store. It is a stand-alone title, not part of any series. The story is set in the early 1890s, just prior to the implementation of an international copyright convention. Previously, publishers outside the country of initial publication freely printed authors’ works without paying royalties to them.

A bookaneer is defined as “a literary pirate; an individual capable of doing all that must be done in the universe of books that publishers, authors, and readers must have a part in.” Pearl makes it clear that the concept is fictional but slyly hints there may be some truth to the title.

The story involves the rivalry between two bookaneers, Pen Davenport and his assistant Edgar C. Fegins (an antiquarian book dealer) and Belial, to steal the manuscript of Robert Lewis Stevensons’ last novel. The two primary settings are London and Stevenson’s South Pacific home on Samoa. The story flows nicely. Pearl did his historical research. “The Last Bookaneer” is a fun read for anyone who loves books and the publishing story behind them.

Judy Penz Sheluk’s “The Hanged Man’s Noose,” A Glass Dolphin Mystery, is published by Barking Rain Press. Rachel Shallenberger, editor of “AntiqueWeek,” recommended it as a last minute addition to my Summer Read list. The Glass Dolphin is an antiques shop owned by Arabella Carpenter and located in Lount’s Landing, north of Toronto, Canada. The central character in the story is Emily Garland, a freelance journalist hired to edit a niche magazine headquartered in Lount’s Landing. Similar to the theme in Barbara Allan’s “Antique Fate,” “The Hanged Man’s Noose” focuses on the NIMBY issue of an unwelcome real estate development project.

Judy Sheluk, who serves as editor of the “New England Antiques Journal,” joins Robin Williams in adding a welcome Canadian perspective to the antiques and collectibles mystery genre. Antiques play a secondary role in “The Hanged Man’s Noose,” something that hopefully will change in future A Glass Dolphin Mystery titles.

[For more information about “The Hanged Man’s Noose” and other books by Judy Sheluk, see www.judypenzsheluk.com.]

If you own a Kindle, checkout the eBook Dusty Deals Mystery series by Rae Davis (pseudonym for Lori Devoti) and eBook Collectors Mystery Series by J. B. Stanley.

Like last year, there are plenty of new antiques and collectibles related mysteries to occupy your summer and fall leisure hours. Several of the writers are hard at work on titles that take place during the winter months. More about these titles in a future “Rinker on Collectibles” column.

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.

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