The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder is a well written mystery of the classic form, and the debut novel by C.L. Miller. Due out 6th Feb 2024 from Simon & Schuster on their Atria imprint, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a well rounded cozy(ish) mystery with surprising side plot-threads into skullduggery, international antiquities repatriation, murder, and black-market crime. It's got a classic limited-suspect pool, and much of the action occurs at an isolated country house. The characters are varied, quirky, well rendered, and with an amateur sleuth in the lead who has a complex back story revealed over the course of the book.
The author imbues the story with a great deal of background info on arts and antiquities, and is clearly well versed in the subject, which adds a nice bit of verisimilitude and interest to the storytelling. The nuts and bolts of the plot are well constructed, and although readers who are fans of the form will likely have much of the reveal worked out before the denouement, the author manages to toss a few nice twists in at the end, à la Christie.
The story is told in alternating chapters, with main character Freya's chapters in first person, and the other characters' PoV in 3rd person. A challenging form, but the author manages it well and the whole is readable and engaging.
Four stars. It would make a good choice for public library acquisition, as well as for mystery book club selection, and for fans of classic British mystery. Quite well written. The epilogue seems to point to further planned adventures for Freya and her quirky Aunt Carole.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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