Nightmare in Shining Armor [Abridged] [Hardcover]

Tamar Myers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2001

Suspenseful thriller especially for the antique collector. Author also wrote bestselling mystery "A Penny Urned".

Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: Avon; First Edition edition (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739419463
• ISBN-13: 978-0739419465
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,362,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tamar Myers, who is of Mennonite background, is the author of the Pennsylvania Dutch mysteries and the Den of Antiquity series. Born and raised in the Congo, she lives in North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but Myers can do better., December 17, 2001

By 

Moe811 (New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightmare in Shining Armor: A Den of Antiquity Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wynnell the Headless Antique Dealer, July 27, 2005

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightmare in Shining Armor: A Den of Antiquity Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OH, WHINE... Not her best, but still a GREAT read..., October 22, 2001

By 

Ruth A. Caldwell "Highland Princess Mum" (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightmare in Shining Armor: A Den of Antiquity Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

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.