The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder – C.L Miller

Published By: Macmillan
Pages: 384
Released On: 29/02/2024

WHAT ANTIQUE WOULD YOU KILL FOR?

Freya, it’s down to you to finish what I started. . .

Freya Lockwood has avoided the quaint English village in which she grew up for the last 20 years. That is until news arrives that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and Freya’s estranged mentor, has died… and the circumstances seem suspicious.

You will uncover a reservation, I implore you to attend. . .

But when a letter from Arthur is delivered, sent just days before his death, and an ordinary pine chest concealing Arthur’s journals including reservations in her name are revealed, Freya finds herself sucked back into a life she’d sworn to leave behind.

But beware, trust no-one. Your life depends on it. . .

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Arthur’s staunch best friend, Freya follows both clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an ‘antiques enthusiasts weekend’. But not is all as it seems; the antiques are bad reproductions and the other guests are menacing and secretive.

Can Freya and Carole solve the mystery surrounding the weekend before a killer strikes again?

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I have been so looking forward to reading this one, ever since it was announced, and I’m thrilled to have been given a copy to read.

It’s hard to believe that this is a debut. It’s so phenomenal, well-written, well-crafted, that it reads of experience. It gives me so much excitement about future books she writes. Also, I think this is the first book of a series so I’m very pleased that there will be more in this vein.

I love antiques. I love watching all the antique programmes and used to frequent antique shops; I even attended filming of The Antiques Roadshow! There’s something really wonderful about being surrounded by such historic pieces that can tell a story.

I also liked Judith Miller on The Antiques Roadshow, who just so happens to be Cara’s mother, and it’s clear how her knowledge, love and passion for antiques has worked its way down to her daughter. There is so much detail in some of the most mundane things, which was really lovely to read.

There are a lot of whodunnits, so called cosy crime novels about today and I love reading them, but you do start to wonder if they’re going to get a bit samey, but that wasn’t an issue here as she has chosen a novel way to write in this genre and it really works. You still get everything you want from a crime novel, and you never feel short-changed, but it’s just got a bit of an edge which helps it stand out.

I would say the main characters are Freya, Carole, and Arthur. Freya is our main protagonist, a former antique hunter who has kept herself to herself and avoided her past for over two decades, with much of her trauma stemming from the village of Little Meddington and its inhabitants. I wasn’t sure I was going to like her at first as I felt she very much had a chip on her shoulder and seemed blind to anyone else’s views, but that quickly went away and she became such a fabulous main character to follow. And with her aunt Carole, they soon made a formidable pair. I must say, I really liked Carole. She’s eccentric, devious (in the best way), passionate, a livewire, very much someone who sees the glass as half full. And then the third character is Arthur. He is Carole’s best friend, and Freya’s estranged mentor. I won’t go into the whys and whatfores. It’s a shame we only got to meet Arthur after he’d died, I would quite like to read a spin-off all about his life in the antiques business.

There are lots of characters in it, some bigger than others, but they’ve all got their secrets and their lies, and so it gives you a plethora of potential suspects, which was fun to go through. I had my suspicions but every time I thought about it, something else would happen which would throw those suspicions away. Even by the time it came to the reveal, I wasn’t 100% sure I knew whodunnit.

I found myself going on a journey with them. You’re reluctant at the start, much like Freya (for reasons I won’t spoil), just wanting her to live her own life, but then the clues start to emerge and you’re as intrigued as she is, and then you’re there, looking round every corner. It’s so addictive. I read it in less than 24 hours.

Each chapter begins with a quote from our Arthur Crockleford. They don’t really affect the chapter’s contents as such, but it was something extra that she didn’t need to put in, but I’m glad she did. They gave us an insight into this character who we only really know after death.

I have found that in most crime novels, you explore the characters in order to uncover the crime, but in this, it was more how things (in this case, antiques) can help uncover a crime, which was an interesting route to take.

It’s not just the suspicious deaths that are important here. It’s a story about family, about love, about grief and loss, about hatred and anger, about broken relationships, about value and worth, about jobs and dreams; it’s so much more than “just” a whodunnit. I think even people who aren’t a huge fan of the genre will find something in this to like.

The ending – which I obviously won’t give away – was very Agatha Christie/Miss Marple. So a big plus for me there. It can be difficult to do that without it sounding like an imitation. There’s clearly the influence here but it’s not an obvious duplicate. She’s found her own voice.

It definitely reminded me of the classic whodunnits, and I kept expecting someone to put their head round a corner and shout “the game is afoot!”