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BARBARA ALLANANTIQUES LIQUIDATION Two o'clock in the morning is the perfect time to be asleep. So when long-suffering Brandy Borne is rudely awoken by her eccentric mother, Vivian, and invited on a surreptitious shopping trip, the idea is less than tempting.
But if Vivian - Serenity's true-crime writing, septuagenarian super-sleuth - has a nose for sniffing out antiques, Brandy's sense of smell is just as good . . . and trouble's on the wind.
A little light blackmail and one run-in with the police later, and Brandy and Vivian are the 'proud' owners of a selection of dead stock, liberated ahead of an upcoming warehouse sale from unsavory auctioneer Conrad Norris. Brandy's not convinced there's a fortune to be made in vintage toys, retro plates and pearl buttons - there's more mileage in their shop's new Halloween display, even though it's only August - but she supposes it could be worse.
It soon is. After the auction's taken place, Vivian and Brandy make an unnerving discovery. It's not just the stock that's dead - so is the auctioneer . . .
About the author
Barbara Allan is the joint pseudonym of husband-and-wife mystery writers, Barbara and Max Allan Collins. Barbara is an acclaimed short-story writer, and Max is multi-award-winning New York Times bestselling novelist and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. Their previous collaborations have included one son, a short story collection, and the long-running Trash 'n' Treasures mystery series. They live in Muscatine, Iowa - their Serenity-esque hometown - in a house filled with trash and treasures.
Summary
When long-suffering antiques store owner Brandy Borne is rudely awoken by her eccentric mother, Vivian, and invited on a late-night, surreptitious shopping trip, the idea is less than tempting. But she smells trouble, and soon the mother and daughter sleuths aren't just buying dead stock at the dead of night - they're finding dead bodies too ...
