Freya Lockwood was an antique hunter twenty years ago, finding stolen artifacts and returning them to their rightful owners, but a tragedy made her leave that life behind. Now, her once mentor has been killed and he’s left a trail of clues in his antique store leading her to an retreat at a mansion in the British countryside. With her eccentric Aunt Carole in tow, she’s out to solve the mystery of whodunnit, but she may also find out some secrets about what happened twenty years ago.

This is CL Miller’s debut novel. Her mother was Judith Miller, a well known author of antiques guides, so she’s well versed in the world of antiques which she writes about, including the darker side of the trade. She actually started out in writing by working with her mother on some of those books.

The plot of this book falls into the cozy mystery genre mostly, perhaps with hints of thriller tropes. There’s a suspicious death and the characters are all heading to an isolated English manor. There is a murder and some serious themes in there, but there’s not a lot of gore, and there’s a bit of playful humour and sense of adventure to undercut it getting too heavy. The plot gets going immediately with the death in the first pages of the book, so we’re right in the plot, intrigued to know who killed Arthur, Freya’s estranged mentor, and we also gets little hints about Freya having a complex past, so that’s interesting too. Arthur has left a trail of clues for Freya and Aunt Carole to follow, like little bread crumbs, and I found this to be a really fun puzzle aspect of the plotting.

There are a couple of chapters from other characters perspectives, but generally the book is Freya’s. She’s got quite the tragic backstory: parents died tragically, horrible ex-husband, tragic secret backstory that’s part of the books mystery and has driven her from her home town for 20 years. It’s quite dramatic really. I think it works because it gives her motivation, as she needs to find herself again, and she does in the course of the book. But it is perhaps a little dramatic. I really liked that because she grew up around antiques, she’s always noticing things around her, like a midcentury desk here and a patterned Royal Doulton plate there. As someone who loves old things and little details, I loved when this came up in the book. One person’s old teapot is another persons treasure, after all.

I really like Aunt Carole. She’s one of those people who sparkles and is always up for an adventure. She dresses well and she has opinions. She can be a bit kooky and she’s very kind and understanding. I have a couple of aunts like this, and it’s the best. So, she was my favourite person in the book. She’s not weird for the sake of being weird and funny, she’s well rounded.

I liked the twists and turns of this book, but I do think it loses it way slightly in the last third of the book. The plot works, but I think that ending could just have been a little bit stronger and the killer being revealed could have felt a bit more like a whodunnit, a bit more of a surprise. I felt like we knew who it was, because we knew who was involved, mostly. It was just a little soft somehow. That said, it’s an excellent debut novel and one that would make a really fun series.

While the book felt inspired by Golden Era English murder mysteries, it’s really like a love letter to British mystery TV shows like Father Brown or Rosemary and Thyme. It has small English towns, antiques, nosy neighbours, ladies with adult children finding their second wind in life, country homes and an eccentric Aunt. I really enjoyed reading this one, and I think if you like this kind of story, you should get your hands in this one. It really tapped into my love of old things, classic mysteries and gentle humour. I hope there’s more to follow from this author.

Read It If: you love Antiques Road Show, cozy English murder mystery TV shows and classic mysteries. This one is a great debut and a good mystery read.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC of this book for review.