Book Review: The Antique Store Detective and the Deadly Inheritance (Bella Winter Mystery #3) by Clare Chase @clarechaseauthor   @bookouture 

The Antique Store Detective and the Deadly Inheritance
(Bella Winter Mystery #3)
by Clare Chase

 

A mysterious death and a missing ruby necklace… it’s clearly a case for antique store owner and amateur sleuth Bella Winter!


Nobody was surprised when Clemmie Crowe passed away – she’d been sick for a long time. But Bella Winter isn’t sure it’s as simple as it seems. Why was Clemmie so agitated the day she died – and why did she ask a local policeman to call on her?

Bella’s certain Clemmie knew something about her relatives, the powerful Powell family. They used to own half of Hope Eaton, but now they’re planning to sell what remains… Including the Steps Café, owned by Bella’s best friends.

The sale has to be stopped. Where else will Bella get her sausage sandwiches? Perhaps Clemmie’s secret will be enough to put a spanner in the works. So when matriarch Althea Powell invites her to value their possessions, Bella jumps at the chance. She can find some gems, investigate Clemmie’s death, and stymie the sale all at once.

It seems to be going swimmingly… until it’s proved that Clemmie was murdered, and Althea’s priceless ruby necklace vanishes. The list of suspects is as long as Bella’s arm. Was it Althea’s shady stepson, desperate for cash? His older brother, who wants to sell up? Or even her husband, who keeps changing his will?

Then Bella finds the necklace in the last place she expects, upsetting everything she thought she knew. Where there’s a will, there’s bound to be a quarrel. But can Bella figure out whose inheritance means murder, before things turn deadly for her?

A completely charming English cozy mystery. Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love following the fiendish clues as Bella cracks her most puzzling case yet!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She was adept at spotting lies and bluffs, thanks to being the oldest of four sisters and an antiques dealer to boot.

Bella always found other people’s emotion contagious. She couldn’t help imagining what they were feeling and feeling it too.

Tony grunted. ‘All right. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.’ Bella tried to imagine what that might be, and failed.

Then he’d asked if she had any idea how to get children to eat cabbage but Bella hadn’t replied. Her childcare knowledge had been hard-earned and it didn’t come for free. If he wouldn’t promise firm action on Gregory and Kevin Baker, she was withdrawing her services.

 

My Review:

 

This was a rather complicated mystery for a cozy; the little pea in my brain was dizzy from spinning in circles. I was starting to lose faith in Bella as this one just kept getting further away from her, with additional murders piling up and multiple relatives appearing guilty. The storylines were active, humorous, multi-layered, and chockablock full of odd and uniquely drawn characters. I would never have unraveled this one and had no idea Clare Chase could be so devious. She’s become quite the shifty minx.

 

 

About the Author

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. She aims to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations.

Her debut novel was shortlisted for Novelicious’s Undiscovered Award, as well as an EPIC award post-publication, and was chosen as a Debut of the Month by LoveReading. Murder on the Marshes (Tara Thorpe 1) was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.

Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium.

As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

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