Customer Reviews

Seven Deadly Samovars

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The second book in the Silver Sisters Crime Caper series moves the action from Beverly Hills to Juneau, Alaska, where Goldie, the more practical of the twins, runs an antique shop for tourists. The trouble begins when a delayed shipment of Russian tea urns finally arrives. Goldie quickly realizes the rare Samovars she unpacks are not the cheapies she ordered. But hey, that's business.

She keeps one for herself, another goes to her mother-in-law, two to her best friend, one for an elderly priest's retirement gift, one to her sister Godiva's boyfriend, Chef Caesar Romano, and the last one to a snobbish woman from a cruise ship. Goldie is pleased by the quick sales and only mildly curious when a customer calls to report something intriguing about the urns.

But the samovars soon grab all of Goldie's and Godiva's attention as one customer is murdered and others are attacked and their samovars are taken. The town drunk - a disabled, unemployed elderly fisherman - is arrested for the murder. The sisters know the old coot is innocent and that the murder is somehow connected with the stolen samovars, but the police are not buying it.

It's left to the sisters to catch the criminals before the last two customers are harmed. But when another innocent person dies they are terrified for Caesar's sake and race to Los Angeles to use their combined wits and cunning to corner and captured the culprits.

The secret of the samovars is finally revealed...as is a shocking detail about Chef Romano that he would rather have kept classified.

Devilishly clever plots, outlandish names for adorable, well-developed characters, and hilarious alliterative narration are all part of what makes the Silver Sisters mysteries a hoot to read. And in this particular audio edition, the reader's sense of drama and comic voice characterization add to the enjoyment.

...loved the wacky, cheeky characters in the 1st Silver Sisters book, "A Corpse in the Soup"...tried this 2nd entry to see if it was just as good...was not disappointed...in fact, it is even better...mismatched twins, frumpy Goldie Silver & glitzy Godiva Olivia DuBois (G.O.D.), are still witty, clever and persistent as ever...their nosy, wanna-be elders, mother, Flossie & uncle, Sterling are a riot as retired vaudevillians up to their meddling tricks once again...Goldie's mother-in-law, the hilarious & notorious Belle Pepper, a politically well-connected former cathouse madam, has a larger role in this episode...the villains, the Dumkovsky brothers, are classic gang unable to shoot straight menacing & bumbling.

...a shipment of Russian tea urns ("samovars") delivered to Goldie's antique shop in Juneau, Alaska sell quickly, but one of the purchasers is murdered and others are beaten up, as someone is stealing the samovars, but why?...the police arrest a local drunk for the murder, refusing to connect the dots between the homicide & the teapot thefts...of course, the Silver Sisters set out to catch the criminals themselves...the chase runs through Seattle to L.A. where Flossie & Sterling get into the act & a lot of trouble when the trap they set backfires...in the end, the bad guys are caught & justice is served...or is it?

...never been to Alaska, but the scenes there convey an authentic sense of the exaggerated spirit I would expect to find in our largest, wildest state...this book is well-written, fast-paced, full of laughs and builds to a great final twist...whether a summer beach day or winter fire night, this is the fun read for any comical, cozy mystery buff!

The Silver Sisters are back! And they bring with them a wealth of characters to keep you company on yet another exciting adventure. Of course Goldie and Godiva Silver are the stars. These twins are often mistaken one for the other but they are vastly different. Goldie is a down to earth shop owner happily working her antique store known as the 'Silver Spoon Antique Shop' in Juneau, Alaska. She is not well off but is comfortable, enjoys her life and her community. Godiva is very well off -- you might say rich. She authors an advice column called "Ask G.O.D." When she wants something or sees something she thinks a friend should have she buys it. She is also a bit on the soft and spoiled side from so much money.

Rudy is Goldie's loyal assistant who can operate very efficiently on his own. Angel Batista is Godiva's loyal assistant who can do most anything and hand picks all the letters for the G.O.D. column. She also researches for Godiva and can find almost anything that you could think of on the internet. Father Innocent is the local Russian Orthodox priest for whom the church ladies represented by Nora and Dora are purchasing an antique Samovar from Russia. Father Augustine is a young priest sent recently to replace the aging Father Innocent. Goldie's mother-in-law, Belle Pepper is 217 pounds in a bright caftan covered in red and gold swirl, and is celebrating her 75th birthday soon. Ollie Oliver is the Chief of Police of Juneau and is generally believed clueless. Caesar Romano is a famous television chef and the boyfriend of Godiva. Chili Pepper is Goldie's daughter and also the smart assistant to Chef Romano. Flossie and Sterling are Goldie and Godiva's mother and uncle and also famous magicians. They are to receive a lifetime award at the annual Icons of Illusion banquet in Seattle. Finally Vladimir Minsky of Pinsk and Uri Pinsky of Minsk are Russian antique dealers with whom Goldie conducts regular business.

Whew! What a cast of characters. These are only the main ones. There are a bunch more introduced and used in this tale but we don't need to go into all of them.

All these characters revolve around a story of seven antique Samovars Goldie purchased from Minsky and Pinsky. Originally she only needed one Samovar for the present for Father Innocent but got a pretty good deal on the lot for her store. It turns out that instead of the ones she ordered, these Samovars were being used to smuggle some very valuable gems from the tiara of a Russian queen or wife of a Czar or something.

Before the arrival of the Samovars Father Augustine was found dead. He was beaten to death. Each Samovar had one of the seven large stones from the tiara in it. Each of the Samovars was purchased from the Silver Spoon and each purchaser was visited by two large Russian thugs shortly after. The first victim was a good friend of Goldie and resident of Juneau. She was brutally killed; beaten with a fish killing bat. Goldie and Godiva discovered what was going on and the reason for it and began to try to follow up with the purchasers of the Samovars. They followed one of them to Seattle but the murderers paid a visit before they could get to her and attacked.

Flossie and Sterling can never stay out of any adventure their girls are involved in and follow up with one Samovar only to be trapped by the Russian thugs. A big fight ensues. The thugs are captured and some of the stones recovered. The sisters go on to finally get the rest of the stones and manage to turn them over to the real Russian authorities getting a fat reward. Reluctantly Godiva agrees to help set up a charity in memory of Goldie's friend, the first victim, with some of it and agrees to donations of some more of it. The sisters do manage to get some of the reward for all their troubles.

You couldn't ask for a more "feel good" ending to this story. It all turns out happy in the end. Juneau gets the new priest and the secret players in a smuggling ring are exposed. And, Goldie won't ever have to deal with Samovars any more.

"Seven Deadly Samovars" is the best Silver Sisters mystery yet and that is saying something. Morgan and Phyllis manage to incorporate just the right mix of tension and humor to keep it lively and interesting page after page. If you like the warm, friendly amateur detective mystery then this is one you should get and read right away. Don't miss it!!

The story begins in the Silver Spoon Antique Shoppe in Juneau, Alaska, owned and operated by Goldie Silver, an aging flower child and twin sister of Godiva Olivia Dubois, who couldn't be more different than Goldie. Goldie is trying to track down a lost shipment of imported Russian samovars, one of which is supposed to be a departing gift for a local retiring priest. Unfortunately, the priest's replacement is murdered before the gift is ever delivered, becoming one of two big stories swirling around this normally quiet and peaceful community.

The second big story around town is the arrival of Goldie's sister, Godiva Olivia Dubois, a wealthy and manipulative nationally-syndicated advice columnist from Beverly Hills, and her handsome celebrity-chef boyfriend, Cesar Romano, who arrive just as the lost samovar shipment reaches Goldie's shop. The samovars, much more beautiful and elaborate than what Goldie had ordered, sell quickly and even more quickly earn their deadly title as one customer is murdered and the others are attacked and their samovars are stolen.

Despite what seems an obvious connection between samovars and the unusual crime spree, the police are not convinced and arrest an innocent local drunk who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. What follows is a clever and very funny adventure, from Alaska to Seattle to Los Angeles, as Goldie, Godiva, their eighty year-old mother and uncle, Flossie and Sterling, former vaudeville magicians, attempt to save an innocent man and warn the remaining customers (including Cesar Romano) who have no idea of the danger they face - not to mention picking up Flossie's husband's lifetime achievement award and meeting Godiva's column deadlines.

What I really like about this book is the long list of zany characters who we meet along the way, a recurring motif about doubles and twins, and the fact that no one, on the surface, is who they seem to be.

Look for surprises right down to the very end.