Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Worth Its Weight in Old by K. D. Hays. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Worth Its Weight in Old by K. D. Hays
A Karen Maxwell Mystery
Heartsong (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-60260-131-3 (1602601313)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60260-131-4 (9781602601314)
Publication Date: December 2008
List Price: $4.97
Review: Newly minted private investigator Karen Maxwell gets her second case investigating vandalism at a local art gallery in Worth Its Weight in Old by K. D. Hays.
Karen Maxwell, a divorced mother of two, works in her brother’s private investigations agency. So far all she has done was make coffee, keeps ledgers, files, and the like. Finally, her brother assigns her a case with the Blue Moon Art and Antiques Gallery. Someone has been slashing paintings and damaging antique furniture. Her cover is to be hired as a salesperson to work three days a week and watch what happens in the gallery. In addition to the owners Mr. and Mrs. Photopoulos, there are only two other full-time employees: Vicki, a sales person; and Eric, the porter. If this is an inside job, and it appears to Karen to be, ascertaining the perpetrator should be a snap. But maybe it isn't an insider. The damage to the paintings and furniture wasn't so bad that it couldn't readily be repaired. Maybe a potential buyer was looking to acquire the pieces at at discount. Karen is puzzled but before she could actually identify the culprit, she's fired by the owners. And that's not all her of her problems. Her relationship with her new boyfriend Brian seems to be going nowhere and her kids are "at that age". Is she up to handling everything at once?
Worth Its Weight in Old is a fun, fast-reading mystery. That it isn't much of a mystery per se is a little disappointing, the reader being able to piece the puzzle together far more quickly than Karen, but the characters are interesting and it's a pleasure reading a novel void of foul language and physical violence. Worth Its Weight in Old is a part of the Heartsong Presents Mystery series, and is appropriate and recommended reading for mystery lovers of all ages.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Worth Its Weight in Old and to K. D Hays for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
If you are interested in purchasing Worth Its Weight in Old from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.
Synopsis (from the publisher): Paintings slashed ... Furniture broken … Someone is wreaking havoc at the Blue Moon Art & Antiques Gallery.
Fledgling private investigator Karen Maxwell goes undercover as a salesclerk to find out who’s behind the vandalism, and why. She learns little from Vicki, a friendly clerk who seems interested only in rearranging pictures to display them -- and her designer clothes and sports car -- to maximum advantage. Eric, the shop’s surly, tight-lipped porter, would run over her with a hand truck before he’d answer any questions. The guilt may even lay with the shop owners themselves, despite the fact that they’re the ones who hired her.
Karen’s investigation seems to be going nowhere -- just like her once-promising relationship with Brian, the handsome blacksmith who could sweep her off her feet in a minute … if he’d ever take a break from working with the church youth group. Frustration mounts as her dreams of romantic evenings turn into endless rehearsals for the church Christmas play.
If Karen can’t crack the case soon, she may find herself busted back to plain, old office manager, her dreams of a career as a private investigator -- and a life with Brian -- as old and busted as the Blue Moon’s vandalized antiques.
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