Deadly Appraisal Book

Josie Prescott is settling into her new life in New Hampshire. Her antiques business is thriving, she's beginning to make some close friends, and her relationship with the local police chief is becoming more interesting. Not bad for someone who has completely uprooted her life as a New York City auction house expert in order to get a fresh start in a small New England town.

With so much suddenly to lose, Josie can't help but worry when murder invades her seemingly quiet community. Josie is sponsoring the Portsmouth Women's Guild Annual Black and Gold Gala and is looking forward to receiving a kindly worded thank-you for her efforts. Instead, the Guild representative, Maisy Gaylor, dies a horrible death in the midst of the banquet. Who could have wanted to kill earnest, drab little Maisy? "Funny, isn't it," muses the hostile detective Rowcliff, "how a lot of people end up dead when no one has any enemies."

Everyone who had access to the wine Maisy drank, including Josie herself, soon comes under suspicion. Can Josie manage to ferret out the truth, keep her business running smoothly, and continue to put down roots in her new town, or will everything prove too much for her to handle on her own?

Publishers Weekly

Antiques dealer Josie Prescott thought she left trouble behind in New York City, where she weathered a price-fixing scandal in 2006's Consigned to Death, but her efforts to start afresh in New Hampshire stall when she gets mixed up in murder in Cleland's adept second cozy. After the Portsmouth Women's Guild representative, Maisy Gaylor, drops dead from potassium cyanide poisoning at a benefit gala that Josie has sponsored, Detective Rowcliff insinuates that Josie might have been the possible target. Cleland keeps the reader guessing about the true target of the poison and the possible suspects. Did Britt Epps, the chairman of the fete, have it in for Maisy, or does the theft of a $20,000 Chinese porcelain tureen mean Josie should still be worried about her nemesis from her former New York auction house? With the help of her lawyer and the intermittent cooperation of a nosy reporter, Josie finds some surprising answers. (Apr.)