17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Get Me Rewrite!, August 18, 1999
By A Customer
Tamar Myers' publisher needs to ease up on her schedule. This novel shows all the signs of having been written in haste and edited poorly (if at all). There are several pointless, not very humorous, scenes that appear to serve no purpose other than increasing the word count. And there must be at least two dozen variations on the metaphor for a person's not being very bright: e.g., "two sandwiches short of a picnic", etcetera ad nauseum. In general, I like the fast pace and loopiness of the Den of Antiquity series, but this book could be a lot better.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Middle of the road., December 11, 2003
Tamar Myers, Baroque and Desperate (Avon, 1999)
I've been an ambivalent fan of Tamar Myers for a while now. I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get with one of her books. I've finished Baroque and Desperate, the fourth Den of Antiquity mystery, and it's done nothing to change my perceptions either way.
The book opens with fearless detective and antique shop owner Abigail Timberlake getting back into town after a vacation to find that the Den of Antiquity has been robbed. Well, robbed may not be the word for it; the shop is as clean as a whistle. Everything, including the cash register, the wastebaskets, and even the shelving is gone. Just as she's starting to wonder what's going to happen in her life, a guy sitting next to her on the plane home shows up at the store with a proposition. His grandmother, a very rich, very eccentric woman, has hidden an antique worth at least a hundred thousand dollars somewhere on her estate. He needs a professional eye to help him. Desperate for a quick buck to save the business, she agrees. (Don't worry, folks, the intrepid sidekick, not to mention Dmitri the cat, come along for the ride.)
If you've read a Tamar Myers mystery before, you know what to expect. The wit is fresh, the puns are awful, the mystery is fun (albeit capped, always, with the annoying "ah, and here's how I did it!" section). She does go a bit overboard here with her descriptions of C.J.'s insanity (there must be at least four dozen variations on "one king short of a full deck" here, and it gets annoying after a while), but everything else seems to be clicking on all cylinders.
So Baroque and Desperate ends up getting the same lukewarm recommend as most of Tamar Myers' catalogue. I keep waiting for the book that will push me one way or the other; looks like I'm going to continue waiting. ***
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Abby participates in Dysfunctional Family Games, October 13, 2000
Abigail Timberlake, owner of the Den of Antiquity, has her store robbed of all of its contents. A timely offer from Tradd, the handsome son of a wealthy family, includes a request for her presence at his grandmother's house to help advise him about her antiques during the course of a family game. She becomes acquainted with Tradd's siblings, none of whom appear to approve of her appearance in their game. Before long there is a murder, and Abby is in the middle of finding out which member of this avaricious family is responsible. In this book, author Myers continues to develop the characters of C.J., Abby's neighboring antique store owner, who is famous for her long, pointless stories, and Abby's mother who rebounds from her unsuccessful attempt to become a nun in the last book, to finding a holy image in Abby's store. Again, Myers creates a humorous and enjoyable book and manages to have the murderer be the one you would least expect.
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