Customer Reviews

Deadly Collection (Molly Doyle)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Elaine Flinn, one of today's best writers of traditional mysteries, returns this month with "Deadly Collection," the latest installment in her charming series about Molly Doyle, an antiques dealer in Carmel, Calif.

Molly is hired to auction the contents of a grand estate that once belonged to a pair of Hollywood set designers. She discovers that the house holds some dark secrets, including possible blackmail, kidnapping and even murder.

As always, Flinn's sly wit, skillful plotting and gift for character raise her work above the norm.

In the 3rd book in the Molly Doyle Mystery series, what begins like an antique lovers dream turns into a nightmare for Molly.

Molly has worked very hard to improve her life and increase her bank account. She has moved away from the forgery scandal that caused her to flee to Carmel, California and has been able to save some money from managing the small antiques store, Treasures. She has made some good friends in town, including police chief Randall, restaurant owner, Daria, and District Attorney, Lucero. She has taken on the responsibility of raising her niece, Emma and is teaching her the business. However, money has been tight since she had to repay two clients for forgeries she unwittingly sold them, and garage sales have produced little items of value. When Molly is asked to broker an estate sale in the former home of Hollywood set designers, she feels she has no choice but to take on this huge undertaking. Her efforts are thwarted, however, with the arrogance of the heir to the estate, and when a mummy is found in a hidden room, Molly is once again put in the "murder business". Was the mummy authentic, or does it really just hide more family secrets?

Having read both of the previous 2 books, I have to admit that I liked this book the least. I agree with previous reviews that Emma has become annoying, and I am waiting for her to go away to school in future installments. It is a bit unbelievable to me the way that Emma conducts herself...and the way she is constantly butting into conversations becomes distracting. I don't agree that she is spoiled, and she has endured a lot from her mother. However, I believe it is time for Emma to go back to school and go back to being more of a "kid".

I also would like to see Molly's sister return, and for Molly to somehow find the miniatures that were stolen. It seems as though there are quite a few unresolved issues in Molly's life...and I am looking forward to seeing these resolved in future installments.

The 1st book in the series is called "Dealing in Murder". Enjoy!

I've been waiting a year for Elaine Flinn's third Molly Doyle mystery to come out - it was worth it! She just gets better and better with each book.

Thanks for keeping your writing fresh, and making the plots a little more complex with each book. I love it. When's that 4th book coming out??

And congratulations on winning the Barrie Award for Best Paperback Original for 2004! That's so damn cool! (for those who might not know it - these awards are voted on by the readers of Deadly Pleasures magazine...kinda like getting an Emmy!)

When "Deadly Collections" arrived from Amazon, I promptly stopped reading the book I was on and eagerly reached for this latest novel from Elaine Flinn. I was not disappointed! What a great new writer!! There are many books on the market with various "career themes" as the basis for their series. Flinn's series is absolutely one of the BEST! Her mystery plots just keep getting better and her characters are unique and multi-faceted.

The addition of Emma has been absolutely terrific! Em serves as such a great vehicle for the author to impart various knowledge to the reader concerning different antiques. Elaine Flinn was formerly an antiques dealer in the San Francisco area and it is always interesting to me to learn various aspects of the antique trade.

Likewise, Emma adds such a different dimension from other mystery novels and is so far removed from being a "bratty" kid that I found her to be just delightful! My God, she is like a "Stepford Child" and just do not understand how anyone could classify her as "bratty." Emma is this genius kid who at the age of 12 has already decided that she wants to be an antique dealer herself. She is polite, cares greatly about Molly, and made me want to CLONE her!

Moreover, Emma and the friends that she encounters in her new school will add even more to the series as perhaps one of her classmates' relatives will be the next to turn up dead?? I mean there are just so many bodies that Molly can inadvertently discover herself.

I absolutely loved how the body was discovered in "Deadly Collections" in the old mansion filled with treasures from the golden days of Hollywood. It was so fresh and different! Moreover, it was not a difficult stretch to imagine for Carmel.

Excellent book by a terrific author!

Elaine Flinn has done it again with another wonderful story. The atomosphere and characters are so life-like, I feel as if I'm living the story along with the others in the book. Great tempo with lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing long into the night. Flinn once again shows why she's an award-winning author. If you haven't read the first two in this series, do yourself a favor and buy all three...read the first, and you'll just want more! Can't wait for the next one to hit the stores.

WH Watford

Molly Doyle is hired to help Frances O'Brien sell off all her parents' antiques. She is unsure of taking the job, but once she sees all the treasures, she can't say no. Frances is very difficult to deal with, and Molly often regrets taking the job. But not as much as she does when a mummified human corpse is found behind the walls.

Molly's niece Emma that recently came to live with her is such a great addition to this series. Her knowledge of antiques is proving to be a real asset in this book. There are so many items to catalog. Plus Emma keeps Molly from dumping this job more than once.

Randall, Chief of Police, and Molly have worked together to solve a few other murders. Most of the time Randall is trying to keep Molly out of things. This is no exception. Molly feels compelled to find out who the killer is, especially when her friend Daria becomes a suspect.

I really enjoy this series. I'm not an antiques lover, but I have really grown to love Molly and the rest of the characters created by this author. They are so believable and entertaining. I would love to go to Carmel and meet them all. If only I could!

I can't wait for the next book to be written and published. It's like hearing from an old friend when I read a book in this series. The author has done a wonderful job with the plot, setting, characters, and pace. Keep them coming!

I highly recommend this book.

Grieving artist Frances "Mackie" O'Brien returns from two years in France to California for the funeral of her parents who died in a car accident. Stunned by what happened to her family, Mackie hires Carmel based antiques dealer Molly Doyle to catalogue the collectibles her parents owned from their days as Hollywood set designers.

Molly expected something huge at sprawling La Casa, but not anywhere as massive or valuable as the O'Briens accumulated over the years in movie memorabilia worth a fortune and an expensive antique collection. However, the real shocker is when Molly and others find a coffin containing a corpse in it. Concerned that the police limit their suspects to one person, Molly investigates. Aided by her precocious preadolescent niece Emma, Molly soon finds the two female amateur sleuths in trouble from a killer who wants the truth to remain buried.

The latest Molly Doyle amateur sleuth tale is a terrific who-done-it that takes its time to set the stage of the key players so that the audience will not know who killed the victim. The story line often humorous but never loses sight that a homicide occurred years ago. Molly is wonderful as she makes inquiries ably assisted by her Shrek loving niece. Fans of California mellow cozies will appreciate Molly's latest caper.

Harriet Klausner

The plot involves Molly, an antiques dealer in artsy, upper crust Carmel, California (yes, that's the town Clint Eastwood was mayor of). Molly is down on her luck and working in someone else's antique store (she's used to better things but her ex-husband was a crook who had an affair with their assistant and ruined her reputation with criminal behavior). She's also taking care of a niece that her sister left with her, and money is tight. She's asked to do an estate sale for an artist whose parents were a Hollywood couple with a fabulous home stuffed with valuable items to sell off. Molly doesn't like the artist but she ends up doing it anyway. A coffin with a skeleton in it is discovered, and it becomes clear that there's something odd about the house. Molly has a romantic relationship with the Chief of Police that mostly consists of misunderstandings and the pair of them fighting -- part of why I didn't like the book. It gets tiresome. I also found the religious part a bit excessive after a while. Actually, everything was a bit excessive except the antiques part, and I wish there had been more of that and less Italian food, precocious child, and sparring with policeman-boyfriend.

I guess by the time this book was over I was thinking I didn't like Molly very well. It seemed like she was being annoying and too quick to take offense. Also, there seemed to be a lot going on that had nothing to do with the plot (like the cat having kittens -- hellllloooo, has she never heard of vets? spaying cats who are allowed outside before they get pregnant? Pet overpopulation?)

If you've never read anything by this author, I recommend one of the two previous books instead.

Well I wouldn't go so far as brat but the Emma character is a little too around. I want to read a book about grownups. Also fleshing out the other adult characters gets short shift with all the emphasis on Emma. Also new is the sudden religious inferences. We are a pretty Catholic family and no one clutches their cross constantly

I too really enjoyed the first two books in this series and was saving this installment as one I was sure to love. But I had to skim the last 100 or so pages because I knew how it was going to turn out and the dialog wasn't fun or enjoyable to me. It may be true that Randall and Emma are true to life, but they're just not people I wanted to spend anymore time with. It's too often that teasing is confused with bulling and I think that Randal in particular was abusive and domineering towards the end, with the excuse of he's the cop so it's Ok.

Authority figures are tough to portray well, but authors can write characters as roll models. When there are those ideal authority figures, children can be children and that's very dimensional and rich. For Randal to be the love interest and not be nice to Molly is just un-excusable. And for Emma to be un-parented and friend to Molly is un-healthy.