Peril at Pennington Manor (An Avery Ayers Antique Mystery #2)

Author:    Tracy Gardner

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781643859064

Crooked Lane Books

304 Pages

$26.52; $13.99 Amazon

June 7, 2022

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to Aunt Midge's unlikely friendship with Nicholas Pennington, The Duke of Valle Charme, Avery Ayers and her associates at Antiques and Artifacts Appraised head off to their most glamorous assignment yet -- cataloguing and appraising the contents of a castle-like mansion on the Hudson River.  But regal splendor becomes a backdrop to mayhem when the precious Viktor Petrova timepiece disappears -- and housekeeper Suzanne Vick plummets from a parapet to her death.

Avery, her dad William, and colleagues Micah Abbott and Sir Robert Lane soon learn that Suzanne's predecessor also met with an untimely end.  Further, the housekeeper's suspicious demise coincides with Avery's discovery that many of the Duke's most priceless heirlooms have been replaced by fakes.

Detective Art Smith lends his expertise, but the suspect list encompasses the Duke's entire retinue -- including his family.  Could the killer be someone intimately familiar with the Pennington estate, such as caretaker couple Ira and Lynn Hoffman, the Penningtons' chauffeur Roderick, or even one of the heirs to the Pennington fortune?

Then the duke himself is injured in an inexplicable accident, and the clock swiftly ticks toward a reckoning with a cold-blooded killer.  A criminal mastermind is making a desperate bid for ill-gotten riches...can Avery bring the culprit to justice before her time is up?

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Avery Ayers is an antique appraiser, along with her father William, and partners Micah Abbott and Sir Robert Lane.  They've been given the opportunity to appraise and inventory items throughout Pennington Manor, one of the duke's homes.  During the appraisals, Avery and Micah discover that there are fakes among them.  But before she can bring the duke this news, housekeeper Suzanne Vick falls to her death from the top of the manor.

Now there is a murder investigation, and Avery realizes that it could be any one of the household who pushed her.  Joining the group as part of their team is Detective Art Smith -- one time boyfriend of Avery's who wants to be so again -- and Avery is beginning to realize that she wants that, also.  But their relationship issues are on the back burner as they work to discover a killer -- any way they can -- before the murderer does so again.

Now they're wondering if the death is tied into the thefts, and if the previous housekeeper was part of it, too.  But with a household of disgruntled employees, and the duke's sons not happy, either, who is the killer?  Time is not on their side, but a killer lurks close by, and Avery may find herself in a permanent time out...

This is the second book in the series and I must say that I enjoyed it quite as much as the first.  It had a mystery that began almost at the beginning, which gave us time to garner clues and look for the killer.  But with the appraisers finding that many of the items have been stolen and replaced with fakes, they also have to find out who the originals were sold to, and who the party was who sold them,  This is going to take time, and in the meanwhile, Art and Avery are paired to quietly check out the household for clues.

In the subplots, Avery's sister Tilly is home from England with a secret to tell and a big decision to make; neither of which she is willing to come forward with as yet.  Avery is training for a 26 mile marathon, the longest she's ever done; and her relationship with Art is one again moving forward after he decides to open up to her.  Then there is a very cute addition, and one I love.

But I do love learning about antiques.  If I could afford it, I would have them in every room instead of just the ones my parents left me.  They have so much history to tell, and I love hearing about it as they go.  (Others might not, but I do).

When it gets toward the end, Avery and Art are close to finding the killer, but then an incident occurs that almost stops them until it is finally all put together and why.  One may never know what pushes a killer to do what they do, but it is sad in a way, yet a deranged mind will never be able to reason.  I did love this book as much as the first.  Ms. Gardner is indeed a talented writer and I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Peril-Pennington-Manor-Antique-Mystery-ebook/dp/B09FNYW6WZ/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4787769170

More on Tracy Gardner's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/tracy-gardner/

Ruby Red Herring (An Avery Ayers Antique Mystery Book 1)

Author:    Tracy Gardner

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book

ISBN #:    1643856599

Crooked Lane Publishing

336 Pages

$16.77; $13.99

June 8, 2021

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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.

https://www.amazon.com/Ruby-Red-Herring-Antique-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08F4GJ2DP/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4657058486

More on Tracy Gardner's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/tracy-gardner/