Today I'm participating in the Collecting Can Be Murder Blog Tour. In this post you'll find book and author information along with my review. And be sure to enter the giveaway below.
About the book . . .
Collecting Can Be Murder (Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – France
Traveling Life Press (May 31, 2023)
Approximately 250 Pages
Digital ASIN : B0BZPHKHGQ
Synopsis . . . Coming out of retirement can be deadly . . .
After tragedy struck three years earlier, art sleuth Carmen De Luca vowed to never work in the field again. But fifty is too young to fill her days with water aerobics and bingo, so when her former partner calls and begs for her help, Carmen gladly agrees.
Yet after their first assignment--the recovery of a rare medieval prayer book from an eccentric collector living in rural France--goes horribly wrong, Carmen ends up in the crosshairs of both the local police and a murderer!
With her target dead the the stolen book missing, she and her partner will have to pull out all of the stops to sleuth out the true killer's identity before their stay in France becomes permanent.
Introducing Carmen De Luca, an art sleuth with a nose for mystery and the job of locating valuable artwork stolen from museums around the world. If you love strong and resourceful heroines, puzzling mysteries, and a dash of art history, pick up Collecting Can Be Murder now!
My review . . . A group of wealthy business associates gather at Villa Saint Marie, the French country estate of rare book collector Harold Moreau for an auction of his prized medieval prayer books. Also present are his wife, adult children, and Carmen De Luca and Lady Sophie Rutherford--undercover employees from the Rosewood Agency specializing in the recovery of stolen art objects. Amidst a raging major storm on the Breton coast, Harold is killed in his library by a toppling bookcase and his copy of the Avron Book of Hours goes missing. Carmen and Sophie believe this valuable manuscript was originally stolen from an Ohio museum and are on assignment to retrieve it. Where is the book now? But more importantly, who killed Harold and why?
The murder suspects are dramatic and plentiful, as are the possible motives of greed, jealousy, desperation, and betrayal. It is up to Carmen to investigate until the police can physically reach the remote location days later--and she's a bit rusty after three years away from this type of surveillance and reconnaissance work following the tragic death of her husband while on a similar assignment. Can she identify the killer among them without suffering a similar fate and recover the rare tome without blowing her cover?
Collecting Can Be Murder is Agatha Christie-esque in its locked-room setting and cast of characters. The protagonist, Carmen De Luca, is a vibrant, intelligent art professional ready to re-embrace life after personal loss and return to the field she loves. She is steadfast and likable, and her work relationship with Lady Sophie--her polar opposite--creates an entertaining vibe and scenario. Having successfully navigated her re-entry into art sleuthing, Carmen is ready for further assignments, the next of which will be in Belgium. I'm ready to join Carmen in her future exploits, because reading a Jennifer S. Alderson novel guarantees an intriguing mystery and armchair travel to appealing locales.
Giveaway . . . Enter the giveaway contest for a $20 Amazon gift by clicking on
this link.
About the author . . . Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, grew up in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. After traveling extensively around Asia, Oceania, and Central America, she lived in Darwin, Australia before finally settling in the Netherlands.
Jennifer's love of travel, art, and culture inspires her award-winning Zelda Richardson Mysteries, her Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries, and her Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels.
When not writing, she can be found perusing a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip.
Author links . . .
Tour Participants
June 12 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT
