Rambling About.. The Antique House Murders by Leslie Nagel

Leslie Nagel

The Antique House Murders

Publisher: Alibi (May 30, 2017)

I absolutely loved Leslie Nagel's first Oakwood mystery, The Book Club Murders, so I jumped at the chance to get the second one as soon as I saw it on NetGalley! Of course, since I've been reading an advanced copy any quotes may be different in the final version ... and the fact that I received my copy for free has had no influence over whether or not I enjoyed it.

And oh boy did I ever enjoy it!!!

"The house reeked of death."

That's how it starts and how great of a first line is that?!?

The house in question is Mulbridge House -- the once grand and stately home in a secluded wooded area of Oakwood. Augusta Mulbridge died 18 months ago and the house is being cleared out and much of its contents auctioned off by a close friend of Charley's family, Calvin Prescott. The heirs want to knock the house down and turn it over for a new housing development. The local preservation society wants to turn it into a museum. Charley just wants the vintage clothes and accessories to help stock her shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions.

When Charley and her good friend (whom I quite fell in love with in the first book) Dmitri go to Calvin's to pick up her auction winnings, they find Calvin dead. Because of the events from the first book, Charley is all gung-ho about putting her detecting skills to use again to find out who killed her friend ... and her boyfriend, police detective Marc Trenault, is all gung-ho to keep her out of it (and out of danger). She promises not to get involved, but doesn't really mean it and is soon uncovering potential motives and suspects and pulling her friends along for the ride.

[from the 33% mark of the uncorrected proof -- final copy may differ]

A sure-fire way to my nerdish little mystery-loving heart? Toss in good Scooby references. (I just want to be Velma!)

I probably don't have to tell you how frustrated Marc gets with Charley. Even without reading either book you can probably imagine. I totally get it, too. I love cozy mysteries. I've been reading them for years and will probably continue to do so until I can read no more. The heroines (as the main character is almost always female) frustrate the bejeebers out of me, too, more often than not. They never seem to consider the danger they're putting themselves and their loved ones in by getting involved and sometimes I just want to grab one by the shoulders and shake some sense into them! Charley seems to be worse than most just because of the sheer multitude of people who seem to flock to her in support as potential innocent bystanders. 

I still pretty much adore her and her cohorts and her family and this series in spite of my urge to shake some sense into her. Leslie Nagel makes it difficult not to become part of Charley's gang, sifting through the red herrings attempting to uncover the truth ... and I still want to be Velma.

The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

It's Tuesday again so time for another round of linking up to Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday! "First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is the first paragraph (or two) of a book being read now or in the future and is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. "Teaser Tuesday" from Books and a Beat asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

***Text from Uncorrected Proof provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review -- final version may differ***

Amazon Description

In a charming cozy mystery series debut, Leslie Nagel’s irrepressible small-town heroine finds that her fellow mystery book club members may be taking their Agatha Christie a bit too literally—and murder a bit too lightly.

Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success—even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among the wealthy elite of Oakwood, Ohio.

Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.

Intelligent, fearless, and every bit as stubborn as Marc is, Charley soon learns the Agathas aren’t the only ones with secrets to protect. Passions explode as she and Marc must race against time to prevent another murder. And if Charley’s not careful, she may find herself becoming the killer’s next plot twist.

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I was hooked from the very beginning. By the time I hit the 20% mark I was ready to declare this a favorite series. By 67% I had come to the conclusion that Leslie Nagel is absofreakinlutely brilliant. By the end I was praying that Nagel is a fast writer so I don't have to wait too long for the next book!

This has so many elements that I love in a cozy: a quirky lead heroine, a rough-around-the-edges romantic interest, comic relief, heartfelt "awwwww" moments, a good mystery with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, and added bonus points for the tie-ins to other phenomenal mysteries that have come before. It's all woven together brilliantly and it's so hard for me to narrow down which part of any of it I enjoyed the most.

Charley is stubborn and fearless and yet absolutely terrified of so much -- failure, emotions, something else happening to her dad, etc. She owns a vintage clothing store in Oakwood, Ohio, and lives with her father and his full-time caretaker, Lawrence. Her father has had three strokes and had partial paralysis and speech issues, but is absolutely darling and the three of them make a delightful family grouping. Her extended family of choice also includes her best friends Dmitri and Frankie. She and Frankie have been joined at the hip since they were young and Frankie is how Charley first becomes involved with the Agathas -- the center of our mystery.

Dmitri and Frankie crack me up repeatedly but I think that my loudest guffaws came courtesy of Marc's partner, Paul Brixton. We don't see an awful lot of him, but when we do he tends to light up the page and often puts Marc to rights about life in general (and Charley specifically) referring to him as Grasshopper. 

Oh, Marc. Manly. Damaged. Protective. Hot. It took a while to break him down, but once he was I absolutely knew why Charley had been crushing on him since high school.

As for the mystery itself, well, I won't say much. The description above lays out the basics of it well and the nitty gritty awesomeness you just have to read for yourself. Luckily, you don't have to wait for long to do so since the book will be released by Alibi on September 27th.