Author: Tracy Gardner
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 1643856599
Crooked Lane Publishing
336 Pages
$16.77; $13.99
June 8, 2021
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After her parents' death, Avery Ayers takes over the family business, Antiquities & Artifacts Appraised, from the home office in Lilac Grove and a branch in Manhattan. Now living back at home with her younger sister Tilly and their newly moved-in, eccentric Aunt Midge and her Afghan hound, Avery's life is filled with jewels, tapestries, paintings, and rare finds. But their world is rocked when Avery leans that the theft of a priceless ruby may be connected to her parents' demise.
The trouble starts when the Museum of Antiquities hires Avery to appraise a rare, resplendent ruby. It bears a striking similarity to a solitary stone in the museum's prized Xiang Dynasty bejeweled dragon medallion exhibit, which has long been missing one of its ruby eyes. Now, Avery and her colleagues -- ostentatious Sir Robert Lane and fatherly Micah Abbott -- suspect they may have the missing gem. But facets of the case remain cloudy. Security guard Art Smith is always underfoot but is not what he appears. Another body turns up connected to the appraisal. And Avery receives mysterious notes that begin to put her life in danger.
Avery enlists possible ally Art's help in cutting the list of suspects who might have polished off her parents and swiped the jewel. Was it art collector Oliver Rennell? Curator Nate Brennan? Acquisitions Liaison Francesca Giolitti? Actor Tylor Chadwick? Was the crime impersonal or perpetrated by someone all too close to Avery? If she can't find the culprit, lovely Lilac Grove may be the setting for Avery's own death.
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After her parents' untimely death in a car accident, Avery Ayers returns home to Lilac Grove, New York, to help run her family's business, Antiquities & Artifacts Appraised. She lives with her younger sister Tilly, and her Aunt Midge, who had moved in after the deaths, leaving her Manhattan apartment for Avery to use while in the city.
Avery is working on verifying a very large Burmese ruby that was acquired from a mysterious collector. This ruby might be the twin to the bejeweled dragon medallion which is currently housed in the Museum of Antiquities, with the other ruby ensconced as its left eye. If this one is verified, it could make the medallion worth millions. But strange things are happening, and not only on the work front.
Avery hopes to find her parents' verification papers on the other ruby, but before she can do anything with them, there is a break in at her home and they are stolen. There are mysterious notes that appear to come from her deceased father. Then someone is murdered, and it changes everything. With one clue that links her to someone named Art, she asks him for help, and suddenly she discovers that her life is in danger and Art might be the only one she can turn to. Who is trying to kill her? And more importantly, are Tilly and Midge in danger, too?...
This is the first book in a new series, and I wish I had had the time to read it sooner. It is definitely the most intriguing book that I have read in a long time. It's full of details, of mysterious goings-on, and plenty of red herrings (hence the title). I absolutely loved this book and devoured each page eagerly, wondering where the story line was going to take me next.
Avery is probably one of the most intelligent protagonists I've ever come across; she's generous, smart, fiercely protective of her family, dedicated to her job; while at the same time being vulnerable, recognizing that therapy has helped her cope with her tragedies, and willing to take a chance on trusting someone other than her family. She's human. She has flaws. But she does what she needs to to find out the truth of what is going on.
And what is going on is more complicated and deadly than anything she might ever have imagined. It fills her with fear. Yet she knows that in order for it to end, she needs to do whatever is necessary, and with the help of the mysterious Art, she will find the truth to free herself and learn who's behind the fatal car crash.
In the end, when the killer is revealed, it comes not so much as a surprise, as the fact that the person who has caused such havoc does not care, and would continue to do so again. This is a wonderful book, full of everything you would expect in a mystery, and I am eagerly awaiting the next in the series. Highly recommended.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Tracy Gardner's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/tracy-gardner/
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