Deadly Appraisal (Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries)
Antiques dealer Josie Prescott thought she left trouble behind in New York City, where she weathered a price-fixing scandal in 2006'sConsigned to Death, but her efforts to start afresh in New Hampshire stall when she gets mixed up in murder in Cleland's adept second cozy. After the Portsmouth Women's Guild representative, Maisy Gaylor, drops dead from potassium cyanide poisoning at a benefit gala that Josie has sponsored, Detective Rowcliff insinuates that Josie might have been the possible target. Cleland keeps the reader guessing about the true target of the poison and the possible suspects. Did Britt Epps, the chairman of the fete, have it in for Maisy, or does the theft of a $20,000 Chinese porcelain tureen mean Josie should still be worried about her nemesis from her former New York auction house? With the help of her lawyer and the intermittent cooperation of a nosy reporter, Josie finds some surprising answers.(Apr.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.