Customer Reviews

So Faux, So Good (A Den of Antiquity Mystery)

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

 

 

Abigail Timberlake's life seems to be going right. Her antique shop, the Den of Antiquity, is thriving. Her wedding to drop-dead gorgeous police detective Greg Washburn is two months away, and she has managed to outbid the other Charlotte antique dealers for a rare, one-of-a-kind silver English tea service. Her satisfaction turns to horror when her mother, on her way to join a convent, presents her with an early wedding gift - a rare, one-of-a-kind silver English tea service exactly like the one Abby just obtained. To make matters worse, Greg suspects Abby's been up to something: Billy Ray Teschel, a car wreck victim in Pennsylvania, has their engagement announcement, with Abby's pretty picture, tucked safely in his wallet. Abby gathers a few friends and heads north of the Mason-Dixon Line to clear her name, restore her virtue, find the source of the fake silver and maybe buy a couple of Amish quilts along the way. Readers of Tamar Myers' novels will be thrilled at her latest offering. Filled with the eccentric characters and humorous moments that Myers is known for, "So Faux, So Good" is her best mystery yet. Particularly fun is the way she merges her two series. While in Pennsylvania, Abby meets Magdalena Yoder, innkeeper to the stars and heroine of Myers' PennDutch series. Even though Abby tries to put one over on Magdalena in order to get a room at the famous PennDutch Inn, Magdalena takes pity on her and helps Abby with her search for the evil Teschel family, who may be involved in something more serious than fake antiques. "So Faux, So Good" is a well-plotted, fast moving story, and you'll want to read it in one sitting. Myers' tales are absorbing and delightful, sweeping the reader along on a rip tide of action. It's the perfect book for a muggy summer afternoon. When it's too hot to move, immerse yourself in Abby's world. It might not cool you off, but you won't mind the heat nearly as much!

Author Tamar Myers hits her stride in this 4th. book of the Den of Antiquity series. Her heroine, Abigail Timberlake, is about to be married to a handsome detective. Her mother delivers a wedding present to her on her way to join a convent. Abby's joy turns to concern when she sees that the tea set she has just received is identical to one she purchased at an auction as a one-of-a-kind, expensive silver set. Her concern is deepened when her engagement announcement is found in the pocket of a dead man in Pennsylvania. Abby decides that she must investigate this situation up close and personal, so she and her three dearest friends drive to Pennsylvania to look into the matter and hopefully to puchase some antiques and quilts. Their culture shock at being "north of the Line" is very amusing as is the interaction of these roommates who were not made in heaven. The plot has the usual twists and turns and the guilty party is truly a surprise!

If it weren't for the cat in this story, and the fact that I've actually read a worse mystery lately, this book would have gotten only 1 star.

Basically, the character is annoying and the writer is clearly overly enamored with herself. Abby lies for no reason, jumps to frustrating, ridiculous conclusions - getting huffy for no reason except, presumably, for the reader's amusement. It is not amusing. She's so annoying, I am not surprised her husband ran off with Tweetie.

The author clearly thinks she's a humorist - she is not. The combination of Abby and Magdelena is predictable, annoying (again), and pointless. Also, I'm so sick of the celebrity jokes/references in the Penn-Dutch mysteries I could scream.

I agree with the other reviewer who commented on the author inserting herself into the story line (and having Abby state she's a good writer no less). This behavior distances the writer from the reader. It is not cute and it is, yes, annoying.

What I'm finding more and more in cozies is that the heroine never actually solves the mystery. She just stumbles around with little or no plan and the bad persons identify themselves. What is this? Why can't we have the quirky characters AND a substantive mystery?

I encourage you to read a Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery instead (maybe "Burglars can't be choosers").

As in the previous books in this series there is a mystery to be solved and Abigail Timberlake can't wait around for the police to do their work so she begins to sniff around. This time however, the crime that starts her sleuthing is fraud and not murder, although there are eventually a couple of murders just for good measure. Abigail first finds that there is a possibility that she has been the victim of fraud when her mother drops by with a present for her. In the last book Abigail's mother wanted a tattoo on her fanny while in this book she has decided to become and Episcopal nun. I didn't even know Episcopalians had nuns but that is beside the point. Abigail's mother is one of the more delightful characters ever created for this kind of fluffy mystery series and it is characters like her that make this book and the series worthwhile. There is also Wynnell who blames all misfortunes on the Yankees, the Rob-Bobs, partners both at work and at home even though they agree on nothing, and CJ who has a story for every situation. Taken altogether they make quite a cast.

Abigail, as in previous books is just a little too confrontational but I am beginning to get used to that. The plot in this book was a little more discombobulated than normal but I was able to overlook that. I was even able to forgive the fact that the spelling of Tweetie Byrd had changed to Bird in this book although I am something of a stickler for such small details. I just was not able to completely forgive the ending however. There were just absolutely no clues as to the solution; it just came flapping into view right out of nowhere. There wasn't the first clue to be found previous to the criminal mastermind's confession and if it weren't for the confession, our heroine would have never solved the mystery. There was also no reason for the confession because Abigail was as ignorant of the facts as I was.

Its not that this book isn't fun to read, because it is. The characters that the author has created go a long way toward making up for the ending and the disjointed plot although the setting of this book is for the most part in Pennsylvania instead of the usual Carolina background, and the secondary characters are much darker than usual. Abigail's cat Dmitri does however play a larger role in this book than in the past and his appearances always seem to lighten the mood. If you are a fan of this series you will most likely enjoy this book, although not as much as some of it's predecessors. If, on the other hand you have never read a book from this series do not start with this one. So far, this is definitely the black sheep of the Antiquity family.

What a delight! When Abby finds someone is selling reproductions as the real thing, her sleuthing takes her to Hernia, PA. Abby meets Magdalena - the main character from her Penn/Dutch mysteries. I couldn't wait till she got there. The book is fun reading all the way thru, with Ms. Myers staying on top of her trademark humor. However, a couple things are bothersome. A look-alike for Abby is added into this book, which was better suited to save for another book - it seemed like too many coincidences in the story, having that plus Hernia. The handling of Greg Washburn does not make a lot of sense and makes us like Abby less, which is not good for series writing. This book also made me wonder if the editor was on vacation. Quite a few typos, which were distracting. Still it gets high points for the entertaining read that it is. I hope Abby and Magdalena meet again some day.

After having read several of Tamar Myers' mysteries, I am coming to find them formulaic and a bit too self-conscious. While reading "So Faux," I found that I could predict what would happen next. Though the content differed from previous novels, the structural elements remained pretty much the same. Once again (as in another of Myers' novels), there was the reference to a "frizzy-haired" writer of mysteries, who I assume is to be the author, herself. This type of self-consciousness in a writer can distance the reader from her work and shatter the suspension of disbelief that is so necessary to the enjoyment of a book of this kind.

Myers' humor failed to make up for the thin plot, the one-dimensional characters and the lack of a well-defined place. This was simply an unsatisfying read.

This is about the 5th Den of Antiquity cozy murder I have read by Tamar Myers, since I lived in the Charleston area for 12 years, she is right on on how the natives are about their families. The book was good, would read it again just to laugh at the Southern euphonisms. But am finding that the more of the mysteries I read by her, you can almost predict the outcome.

The joy in reading "So Faux, So Good" is getting to experience the heroine's life. She's a smart, clever, wealthy antique shop dealer with a cat and many friends, both male and female. Her world is auctions, beautiful antiques, attending to her cat, having talks or outings or fun times with other clever, successful antique shop owners. Her mother gives her fabulous, expensive presents, lives her own life, and doesn't request or nag--and certainly entertains. She has a gorgeous, slightly jealous boyfriend, good jewelry, and kids who actually listen to her and obey her orders when she interacts with them (rarely). She manages to get rooms when none are available, cars when none are available, and to win competitive auctions. Her friends all want to come to her parties and go on trips with her. Men she doesn't even want are attracted to her and offer her special treatment. In other words, the fun of the novel is experiencing the fantasy of such a beautiful life, that of America's version of the local squire or his lady: a wealthy local business owner who has an important position in the community and lives the American dream. The murder and art fraud just add to the ambiance--this is the American version of a British cozy. If you value excellent plot and character development, this isn't the novel for you. This novel is for sitting down with a cup of tea, your cat, and your beautiful throw to enjoy "me time," savoring the pleasure of momentarily sharing the good life with the heroine. Even better, the killer is difficult to predict, and there are some good laughs along the way.

I have always found the Magdalena Yoder series to suffer from loose plot syndrome, but up to now the Den of Antiquity series didn't seem to have this problem, but it sure was apparent in this book. Ms. Myers' characterizations are usually quite good, and that doesn't disppoint in this book, but the plot is definitely disjointed, and when the real murderer is found I couldn't help but think, "Where did that come from?" There is simply no way that the story led to that murderer. It was a real surprise, but not a surprise that made any sense at all. The one unique thing about this book was that we got to see Abigail Timberlake and Magdalena Yoder in the same book, as Abby goes on a road trip to Hernia, Penssylvania on the trail of her murderer and forger.