Charlie Carpenter,
owner of the Old Hat Vintage Fashions, is excited to get a call from
Calvin Prescott. Her friend is an auctioneer and has been given the
job of disposing of the contents of Mulbridge House before it’s
torn down to make way for a subdivision. When she sees the vintage
couture gowns, Charlie is thrilled, but she feels a pang at seeing
the glorious mansion torn down.
Charlie isn’t the
only one upset at seeing the mansion torn down. The preservation
society wants to keep the house as a historic site. The neighbors
want to preserve their privacy and don’t want a new subdivision in
their area. The heirs, however, want a quick sale to capitalize on
the valuable land where the house it situated.
When Charlie and her
friend, Dimitri, go to collect the fashions, they find Calvin dead on
the floor of his warehouse. There is a long list of suspects and
Charlie wants to find out who murdered her old friend, but Detective
Marcus Trenault, with whom Charlie is in a relationship, warns her to
stay out of the investigation because of the danger.
This is the second
book featuring Charlie and the Old Hat. The plot is full of twists.
It’s not easy to guess the murderer until close to the end. Charlie
is a vivacious heroine, but I felt that her bad decisions putting her in danger were a
little hard to believe. Dimitri is my favorite character. His bravery
almost puts Marc to shame.
Mulbridge House is a
great setting, but I found it hard to believe that a house could
deteriorate that much in the lifetime of one old lady. Still, it’s
a fun cozy mystery.
I received this book
from Alibi for this review.
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