About the Book
Coming out of retirement can be deadly…
After tragedy struck three years earlier, art sleuth Carmen De Luca vowed to never work in the field again. But fifty is too young to fill her days with water aerobics and bingo, so when her former partner calls and begs for her help, Carmen gladly agrees.
Yet after their first assignment – the recovery of a rare medieval prayer book from an eccentric collector living in rural France – goes horribly wrong, Carmen ends up in the crosshairs of both the local police and a murderer!
With her target dead and the stolen book missing, she and her partner will have to pull out all of the stops to sleuth out the true killer’s identity – before their stay in France becomes permanent.
Introducing Carmen De Luca, an art sleuth with a nose for mystery and the job of locating valuable artwork stolen from museums around the world. If you love strong and resourceful heroines, puzzling mysteries, and a dash of art history, pick up Collecting Can Be Murder now!
Review
Carmen and her partner, the Baroness, have a series of stops as they travel through Europe in hopes of identifying historical artwork that has been missing for years. This time they're attending the home of an art collector, not to be confused with an art lover, in hopes that they will find a rare illuminated prayer book, stolen, lost, and only resurfaced at an art auction recently.
As Carmen, posing as a journalist and playing to her host's ego, finally gets into the library, filled floor to ceiling with rare first editions and illuminations, and finds the prayer book they were seeking, the bookcase 'falls' over. Harold is dead and the prayer book is lost in the scattered book. It's clear that Harold has been murdered, and now someone has stolen the missing prayer book.
As the story progress, the pace speeds up with a houseful of suspects, all snowed in a countryside in France. There are twists and turns, many of suspects - all prestigious. The characters are well developed, conflict abounds as they wait for the gendarmes, and Alderson keeps you guessing. Carmen is a likable main character. If you enjoy cozy mysteries and strong women sleuths, you'll enjoy this one. If I ever can get my TBR list manageable, I'll be adding the others in this series as well as Alderson's other series.
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.
Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries:
A Statue To Die For
Forgeries and Fatalities
A Killer Inheritance
About the Author (from Amazon)
Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, grew up in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. After traveling extensively around Asia, Oceania, and Central America, she lived in Darwin, Australia, before finally settling in the Netherlands.
Jennifer’s love of travel, art, and culture inspires her award-winning Zelda Richardson Mystery series, her Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries, and her Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels.
When not writing, she can be found perusing a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip.
For more information about the author and her upcoming novels, please visit: https://www.JenniferSAlderson.com
