DEATH IS A CABARET by Deborah Morgan is 220 pages in paperback form. It is #1 in An Antique Lover's Mystery. Its main character is Jeff Talbot, an ex FBI man.Brief Description:ONE MAN'S JUNK IS ANOTHER MAN'S MOTIVE.Since Jeff Talbot left the FBI, he's been investigating yard sales as a professional antiques picker. From furniture to books, from old clothes to broken toys, nothing escapes his keen eye for appraisal. But there is one, item that he always keeps his knowing eyes particularly peeled to find: a one-of a-kind French cabaret set commissioned by Napoleon for his love, Josephine. It is an item any collector would kill for...So when it's about to be auctioned off--and rival collectors start turning up dead--there are plenty of suspects to choose from. Suddenly Jeff finds himself polishing up his old crime-solving skills as the search for a cabaret set becomes the search for a killer. But can he pick out the right clues before the killer adds him to the collection of dead bodies?I loved this first book in the series about an antique picker. I had no clue who the killer was and enjoyed every minute trying to figure it out. There are a host of characters in this book and a lot of possible killers that you keep you thinking. Everything was sequential too, so you didn't lose track what is going on in the story. The setting was described very nicely and you had a sense of the atmosphere. It did remind me a little of the Golden Age a bit. With everyone dressing to the nines. In some places it was quite witty and in others very serious. There was even a bit of history about Napoleon in this book and I found that to be fascinating. There is a bibliography at the end of the book so you could follow up on anything that you wanted to learn more about. I found this to be very nice too. This is a book that could be read in a day, but I just didn't have the time to sit and read all at once. I am giving this 4.5 stars out of 5. I did enjoy it, I just wanted to have more. BUY NOW: Conniesbookshelf $9.99
#1 in the Antique Lover's Mystery series. This 2001 debut novel by author Deborah Morgan (wife of mystery/western author, Loren D. Estleman) was a Finalist 2002 Barry Award for Best Paperback. The series features Jeff Talbot, an ex-FBI agent turned antiques picker. The novel is loaded with antiques lore and shines a light on the obscure profession of antiques "picker", one who travels about looking for pearls among dross. Antique Lover's Mystery - Since Jeff Talbot left the FBI, he's been a professional antique picker. He always keeps his eyes peeled to find a cabaret set commissioned by Napoleon for his love, Josephine. When it's about to be auctioned off - and rival collectors start turning up dead - there are plenty of suspects. Jeff finds himself polishing up his old crime solving skills on Mackinac Island.
In this case, a cabaret is not a nightclub, but rather a set of expensive porcelain. This might be classified as murder light--several deaths, but not a lot of violence. Jeff Talbot has a wife who has become an agoraphobic, so she doesn't travel with him from Seattle to Mackinac Island in Michigan for an important antique auction. Jeff is a picker and hopes to bid successfully on a porcelain tea set which belonged to Napoleon's wife, Josephine, because the family of the antique dealer he works for used to own it, and he wants to return it to her.
—Marti
Jeff Talbot is a former FBI man who now works as an antique picker. He opens by crossing paths contentiously with a fellow Seattle-area picker. In search of a rare tea set he’d long sought for an antiques seller he particularly likes, Talbot travels to Mackinac for a convention. Once there, he meets other convention-goers, makes a friend or two, and thinks he has seen the fellow picker from Seattle. Then someone is killed, then someone else dies under curious circumstances. Talbot turns on his inner investigator and works with the local law enforcement folks who don’t see murders often, to find the culprit or culprits. Clearly, author Morgan brings her own interests in antiques to the story. She did also develop Talbot reasonably well, giving him an interesting and unique wife to go with his mixed background. Morgan built the mystery itself well, the difference between three stars and four here. For someone not into antiques, the descriptions seem over-the-top, so it’s the mystery that kept me in.
—Steve
