Tag: the antique hunter’s guide to murder

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a lovely day. Today I am sharing my review for the Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller.

If you have read this book, let me know what you thought of it!

Blurb:

In this irresistible and thrilling debut novel, a former antique hunter investigates a suspicious death at an isolated English manor, embroiling her back in the dangerous world of tracking stolen artifacts.

What antique would you kill for?

Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate—sent just days before his death—Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?

My review:

This was an interesting book, it combined a lot of the traditional mystery elements that I and many other readers, enjoy, but took them in a new direction that I sort of liked. I liked this book enough to continue the series, my issue with it is that a month after reading it while writing this, I can’t remember much about it.
I had a real dislike while reading this book, of Aunt Carole. Anytime Freya had a problem or a boundary Carole treated it as insignificant and that gave me a bit of an ick to her character. I am hoping, with the way this book wrapped up, that she will be better in the rest of the series.
I enjoyed the mystery plot of this book, which I think is why I want to continue the series, this part was well developed and had a few unpredictable twists that I liked. One thing I did not like was that Freya constantly is described as being known for antiques and knowledgeable in that area but the proof of this is not consistent throughout the book, there are moments where the details are vague or brushed over so that they aren’t explained the way a character like that would. It’s just a small, but noticeable, problem.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Monthly Wrap Ups

April Wrap Up!

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you are all doing well today. It is the first of May and that means it is time to share my wrap up for April.

How was your reading in the month of April? I personally read way more than I thought I would, I managed a reread while on a trip away and I found some new series to continue and some new favourite books.

I will start with the books that were on my April TBR:

  • Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf – I did read this. It was not at all what I thought it was going to be, I will be sharing my full review for this book on the 11th May
  • Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett – I did read this. This is absolutely one of my new favourite books and I will be sharing my full review on the 18th May
  • Pages and Co 6: The Last Bookwanderer by Anna James – the final book in the Pages and Co series, I did read this and I finally finished this series. For me, each book in this series got better. I enjoyed the first three books but I loved the final three books.
  • Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T A Willberg – I did start reading this book but I DNF’d it around 100 pages. It started going in a really strange direction that took it away from what the synopsis had described and that put me off the book completely.
  • The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C L Miller – I did read this and I will be sharing my review on the 15th May
  • The Key in the Lock – I did start reading this but unfortunately this was another DNF. I did not get along well with this story, the pacing, the writing and the story itself being a little boring were things that made it not very enjoyable.
  • Rotten to the Core by T E Kinsey – I did read this and I love the Lady Hardcastle series.
  • Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry – I did not read this. This is the fourth book in the series and there were some things that happened in the third book that I didn’t like so much, especially with the way the synopsis suggested they play out in this book so I am putting it off for a little bit longer.
  • Blackthorn – I did not read this. I still want to but I haven’t been seeing the best things from others who are reading it. If you have read it and loved it then let me know!

From my TBR I managed to read: 7 books which is great on its own but I also managed to read books that were not in my TBR: The Carnival Murders by Irina Shapiro, A Fire at the Exhibition and An Assassination on the Agenda by T E Kinsey, The Enchanted Wood and the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton and I reread Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Mnaicalco. This means I managed to read 13 books in April.