Customer Reviews

Shadows at the Spring Show: An Antique Print Mystery (Antique Print Mysteries)

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

 

 

As a mystery lover, print collector, and adoptive mom, I picked up this book with high hopes. Unfortunately, it's a very thin mystery heavily padded with middlebrow arcana about prints, the protagonist's endless should-I-or-shouldn't-I-adopt musings, and makeweight of end-of-term professorial minutiae. B-o-r-i-n-g. The most dramatic event in the book features the protagonist's irritation at another single (white, healthy) female wanting to adopt a (white, healthy) female infant, rather than enthusiastically signing up for older, abused children of a different ethnicity. Instead of suggesting the other woman go to Eastern Europe for such a child, the protagonist sneers at her for not signing up to sainthood. By the time the book finally reaches its climax, there is a gymnasium full of people who could commit the crime ... well, sort of, if you stretch things and one of them is nuts ... But no character development, no unexpected twists or turns, and a lot of lectures on prints and the nature (per the author, one presumes) of adoption.

I've enjoyed all of Lea Wait's Shadows Antique Print Mysteries -- what's not to like? antiques, mystery, a little atmosphere and romance -- but this one was special. Main character Maggie Summer is thinking of adopting an older child, and agrees to run an antique show as an adoption agency benefit. Then an adoptive mother (of 11!) is shot; one of her sons disappears; and a lot of questions are raised about inter-cultural and inter-racial adoption. I'd never thought about adoption as a controversial issue; for some people it clearly is. And Wait gives us a great mystery as well as some fascinating information -- as she always does. (Plus, there IS an antique show, and many of Maggie's associates and friends from previous books. I love Gussie and Will and Ben!) Highly recommended.

HAVE THREE OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES.(DAUGHTERS)4 STARS
IF YOU ENJOY FLEA MARKETS AND CRAFT SHOWS . A COLLECTOR OF PRINTS.
WITH A CRIME IN EACH , YOU WILL ENJOY THESE. THE FOURTH BOOK I BOUGHT
.MAYBE I JUST DON'T LIKE PAYING FOR THEM OR I GET TIRED SETTING UP
FOR THE SHOW.I AM ALMOST FINISHED.
.

I am so sorry to see this series end. Maggie Summer has been put in charge of the Spring Antique Show to benefit the OWOC to be held in the College Gymnasium. She is still debating whether to adopt a child and the OWOC has provided alot of information and insight into being an adoptive parent. A week before the show, one of the adoptive parents is shot in the hip, one of the adoptees is killed and there are numerous letters/calls of threats to cancel the show. Will, Gussie and Ben all come to stay with Maggie for the show. Of course, Maggie is trying to find the person doing the threatening.

I really enjoy the depth of this series. There is the mystery level plus the added depth of Maggie's struggle with her life choices - whether to adopt or not. Definitely an emotional read.

Thirty-eight years old American History Professor and antiques print dealer Maggie Summers arranges for Somerset College to host an antiques show to obtain funds for Our World Our Children, an adoption agency that helps kids while they wait for parents. Maggie is thinking of adopting though her significant other feels strongly that he would not be a good father.

With the event a week away, OWOC director Carole Drummond informs Maggie that they have received hate mail that threatens the show. Carole, who along with her husband has adopted biracial children, explains there are people who object to OWOC's policy of placing children in a good home regardless of race or religion; some people object to destroying the heritage of the adoptee, preferring kids not be adopted. When active member Holly Sloane, who has adopted eleven, hard to place teens, is shot, Carole believes the show must go on and Maggie concludes she must stop a zealot by discovering who he is and exposing this dangerous fanatic.

SHADOWS AT THE SPRING SHOW provides a wonderful amateur sleuth tale, but the heart of Maggie's fourth investigation is the inside looks at adoptions especially of hard to place children. Interestingly some "purists" would rather see a child have no nurturing adult outside of an institution in order to keep the purity of the heritage, which is more critical than the well being of a youngster. The story line is well written with Maggie at her best, but the tale belongs to the caring support characters like Carole and Holly who put their money, time and love into action not hypocritical words.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up this book because I'm always looking for mysteries with an antiques theme. I have been an antiques dealer for many years and also have written a newspaper column on antiques and published newsletters on children's illustrators. I say this because I don't want anyone to think I'm naive in the practices of paper dealers. This doesn't mean I approve of them. The author doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with ripping a cover off and an illustration out of a $10 magazine and then charging $40 each for them, pitching the rest. She doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with ripping apart a book, as long as it's "imperfect," so she can make a BIG profit on the illustrations. She isn't selling prints, artwork created to be framed and displayed. She's destroying publications that other collectors would love to own intact, even if imperfect. Old magazines and books are not a renewable resource for the collector or researcher, and fewer and fewer survive each year because of dealers like her. I know this criticism has nothing to do with her writing, but I will not read a book that promotes such practices and leads the reader to believe it's acceptable.