‘Deadly Vintage’ By Elaine Flinn

Published by Perseverance Press. Sept 2007.

ISBN: 978-1-880284-87-2

It is always a pleasure to welcome back Molly Doyle, she of the Carmel, CA antique business, her nearly-teenage niece, Emma, her bordering-on-boyfriend, Kenneth Randall, the local police chief, and their sundry and always charming friends.  When Molly considers branching out for some business on the side, in addition to running Treasures Antiques, the shop she manages for a friend, and is asked by Carla Jessop, to redecorate the tasting room of her family’s prestigious local winery, she jumps at the chance.  The fly in the ointment appears in the person of Carla’s pompous nouveau riche husband, roundly disliked by virtually all who know him, who has ugly and public arguments with Molly.  When he is murdered in the midst of a social gathering at the family manse, and Molly is standing right next to him when it happens, not only Molly but Randall are both under suspicion by the sheriff’s office [who handle the investigation since it is outside of Randall’s jurisdiction], as is, of co urse, the wife, Molly’s client.

Molly, already having ‘assisted’ the police in solving two prior murders in the Carmel area, and given the present circumstances, finds herself thinking “I just might decide to find the killer myself,” and when reminded by Emma “I thought you wanted to be an antiques dealer,” rather than a detective, responds:  “just think about how the two professions seem to work together.” 

The equally interesting sub-plot deals with some mysterious postcards received by Molly from different parts of Europe, and how that triggers events that threaten Molly and Emma’s relationship.  The book is well-written and a very enjoyable read, and gives the reader tantalizing portents of things to come in the next entry.

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Gloria Feit