Customer Reviews

Nightmare in Shining Armor (A Den of Antiquity Mystery)

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

 

 

I know Abby Timberlake and Tamar Myers have been dying to kill off the Tweety Bird. I am surprised that she lasted as long as she did. Abby finally has recovered enough to invite Tweetie and Buford to her Halloween party and house warming ( you have no idea how warm it got). Buford was in Japan on business, so Tweetie came alone dressed as Little Bo Peep complete with sheep. This annoyed Abby, but Tweetie left the ewe outside and came in to enjoy the party. Mama showed up dressed as Lady Godiva complete with horse and things got a little rowdy. Irene forgot her promise to turn out Lady Liberty's torch and Abby's rug was afire. She kicked every one out, but not every one left. Tweety was found dead later in 17th century Italian armor. Who hated the airhead enough to kill her?

This mystery was adequate, but hardly the best of the series. I couldn't get involved in the story as I was in so many of the others. I was annoyed at the main character's habit of constantly calling everyone dear. I found myself wondering why the main character would so easily forgive Greg's lies, and drop everything to move three hours away from a successful business to an uncertain future. She already did that once and hated it then, so why now. Once again, entertaining at times, but the author has written better mysteries.

Abigail Timberlake, the heroine of this series, is hosting a Halloween party and the guests include a pair of dice, Little Bo Peep, a headless woman, and the Rob-Bobs as James and Babs. The sensation of the evening however is Abby's mother who shows up in an outrageous costume that is the talk of the party. Abby's best friend Wynnell, the headless woman, gets so drunk that she passes out and has to be taken upstairs and put to bed. While Abby deals with her drunken friend the party gets out of hand and before you know it Abby's house is on fire. It's a small fire but a fire is a fire and Abby has one of her little fits and throws everyone out. Once everyone has left, Abby goes up to check on Wynnell who is awake by now and low and behold they discover a dead body under Abby's bed. The deceased is stuffed into a suit of armor and both Abby and Wynnell figure to be suspects.

Knowing full well that she would be a suspect, Abby begins to snoop in order to clear Wynnell and herself of any guilt. Before long she visits a wealthy older lady who has an unrivaled collection of antique armor, or had a collection to be more specific for she has just sold the whole collection. To make matters worse, shortly after Abby leaves the premises, the lady in question is found dead. Now Abby stands to be a suspect in two murders so she has to do her sleuthing well and quickly. As she searches through clues she finds out some secrets that her best friend Wynnell had neglected to share about herself. She also discovers the her ex-husband Buford is even lower than she thought and also finds out that her fiancee has quit his job because he wants to work on a shrimp boat.

In the previous books in this series Abby has just sort of stumbled onto the killer, usually with absolutely no clue as to who did it until the killer confesses. This time however, she figures it out all by herself but still almost ends up joining the heavenly chorus because she confronts the killer all by herself. The anti-climatic end leads the reader to the conclusion that Abby is leaving Charlotte although some of the old gang seems to be going with her. If CJ and Wynnell don't end up going with her also I am going to be quite upset, but at least I know that Abby's irrepressible mama is going to continue to be a major force in this series.

This entry in the "Den of Antiquity" series offers a fairly good mystery along with a fun plot. This story is not quite as funny as some of it's predecessors but it still offers up some hilarious moments along with some heavy doses of gossip. CJ and her Shelby stories are always a hoot although there are less of them here than in previous books. The only problem with this book was that the ending was just a little flat since no motive for the murder was provided and the whole final scenario was way too similar to the ending of "Baroque and Desperate." All in all though, I enjoyed this book immensely.

Tamar Myers is on my list of favorite authors. I agree that this is NOT her best... Yes characters could have been better developed and it did feel rushed (TM dear, don't let those editors rush you, even though we PANT for your next...)However, this story is STILL fun and eccentric. Ms.Timberlake, soon to be Mrs.Washburn has her hands full of costumed characters following a disastrous Halloween party. Murder and mayhem abound and Abigail is in the thick of it trying to determine how the suit of Knight Armor, complete with stuffed in corpse got under her bed. Bit of a surprise ending, as long as the other reviewers don't ruin it for you.

NIGHTMARE IN SHINING ARMOR happily continues the Den of Antiquity series. In fact, it's one of the smoothest and most fun in the comic mystery series that began with LARCENY AND OLD LACE. The rip-roaring plot is lots of fun. The book is easy to read, flows quickly and smoothly, and has a fullness and a completeness to it. In other words, it's a satisfying read. But a surprise plot turn makes you wonder -- is this the end of the series? But no! Check out the next one: SPLENDOR IN THE GLASS. Nicely done.

Is Ms. Myers winding down her Den of Antiquity series? This one was the worst yet. Abby over-reacts a lot (as she does in several of the later books) and once again the humor is just not there. The victim in this story is Tweetie, Abby's ex-husband's wife. It took about 50 pages before we know there's been a murder, as the author takes us through chapters of unnecessary prose that went nowhere. Abby's involvement in this murder sounds contrived, and we don't really care when there is a second victim. Abby's sleuthing is poor, and her realization of who the killer is is barely sensible. The killer him or herself is revealed at the end with not much to lead up to it, though Abby's face-off with him or her was enjoyable. Abby moves to another town at the end of this book. Let's hope her move benefits the entertainment value in the series.

If you're ready for some light entertaining reading this book is perfect. The zany characters will keep you amused from page one to the end.

A fashionable Halloween costume party goes awry and the guests flee, leaving a murdered body behind. The hostess becomes a suspect and must investigate an epidemic of "musical beds" among attendees to clear herself. Nothing hard-boiled here; there is a chuckle on every page. I did find the ending somewhat abrupt, perhaps because I was enjoying myself so much. (I am sorry so many reviewers feel compelled to detail every nuance of these mysteries--the less said the better in my opinion.)

I enjoyed this book much more than some of the previous ones. I found that the antics weren't quite as slapstick. Yes, it still is little farcical, but I found the stunts a little more funny, and Abby a little less caustic. This series is really "fluff" reading, but it can be enjoyable. Some of the characters are worth reading the books for. My favourite is CJ. Although we don't see as much of her as in previous books, she is still there and just as confused and funny as usual. In this book Abby is hosting a Halloween party to warm her new home. At the end of the party, though a body is found in a suit of armour in Abby's house, and that body is none other than her arch rival - her ex Buford's silicone-enhanced wife Tweety. Abby has to do some fast sleuthing to remove suspicion from herself for this one. Who has a better motive than her, and the killing is done in her own house. Along the way we get a lesson in medieval suits of armour. Not a bad lark.

This was my first Den of Antiquity book and I almost didn't stick with it through the first few gossipy chapters, but once the body was found, stuffed in a medieval suit of armour, the story began to pick up. Abby can't stand to be the object of suspicion, so off she dashes in a frantic effort to find the real killer. The ending isn't wholey satisfying (motive?), but still, this would be a good choice for casual, summer pool-side reading.

Tamar Myers'intrepid heroine, Abigail Timberlake, is throwing a costume party to celebrate the purchase of a new house. She has an interesting assortment of guests, including her ex-husband's second wife Tweetie, who comes dressed as Little Bo Peep. Before the evening is over, Tweetie is found dead and bundled into a suit of armor which has been pushed under Abby's bed. As if that isn't enough, Abby's guests manage to set fire to her carpet and make a general mess of her house. Abby certainly has a motive for murder and she also had the opportunity. For self-protection as well as natural curiosity, Abby launches her own investigation. She discovers that Tweetie had many male friends outside of her marriage and thus there are several people who have a motive for murder. She finally figures out who the culprit is and confronts that person. The motive is a bit weak, and maybe I overlooked it, but I don't recall a solution to another murder which takes place in the book. Myers' ending could signal the end of the series or it could be the beginning of another era. Perhaps Abby has had about as many adventures as she need to.