Death of a Rug Lord (24 page)

Home to rare antiques, priceless artwork—and murder!

Celebrated author Tamar Myers invites you to enjoy her hilarious mystery series featuring Charleston's favorite shopkeeper-turned-detective,
Abigail Timberlake.

 

“A very funny mystery series…a hilarious heroine.”

Charleston Post & Courier

“Professionally plotted and developed, and fun to read.”

San Francisco Valley Times

“Rollicking!”

The Washington Post

“Who do you read after Sue Grafton or Margaret Moron or Patricia Cornwell?…Tamar Myers!”

Greensboro News & Record

Step into the world of Tamar Myers, and see what mysteries the Den of Antiquity has in store for you…

For whom the bell pull tolls…

As owner of the Den of Antiquity, recently divorced (but
never
bitter!) Abigail Timberlake is accustomed to delving into the past, searching for lost treasures, and navigating the cutthroat world of rival dealers at flea markets and auctions. Still, she never thought she'd be putting her expertise in mayhem and detection to other use—until a crotchety “junque” dealer, Abby's aunt Eulonia Wiggins, was found murdered!

 

Although Abigail is puzzled by the instrument of death—an exquisite antique bell pull that Aunt Eulonia
never
would have had the taste to acquire—she's willing to let the authorities find the culprit. But now, Auntie's prized lace collection is missing, and sombody's threatened Abby's most priceless possession: her son, Charlie. It's up to Abby to put the murderer “on the block.”

A closetful of corpse…

Abigail Timberlake parlayed her savvy about exquisite old things into a thriving antiques enterprise: the Den of Antiquity. Now she's a force to be reckoned with in Charlotte's close-knit world of mavens and eccentrics. But a superb, gilt-edged eighteenth-century French armoire she purchased for a song at an estate auction has just arrived along with something she didn't pay for: a dead body.

 

Suddenly her shop is a crime scene—and closed to the public during the busiest shopping season of the year—so Abigail is determined to speed the lumbering police investigation along. But amateur sleuthing is leading the feisty antiques expert into a murderous mess of dysfunctional family secrets. And the next cadaver found stuffed into fine old furniture could wind up being Abigail's own.

Rattling old family skeletons…

North Carolina native Abigail Timberlake is quick to dismiss the seller of a hideous old vase—until the poor lady comes hurtling back through the shop window minutes later, the victim of a fatal hit-and-run. Tall, dark, and handsome homicide investigator Greg Washburn—who just happens to be Abby's boyfriend—is frustrated by conflicting accounts from eyewitnesses. And he's just short of furious when he learns that the vase was a valuable Ming, and Abby let it vanish from the crime scene. Abby decides she had better find out for herself what happened to the treasure—and to the lady who was dying to get rid of it.

 

As it turns out, the victim had a lineage that would make a Daughter of the Confederacy green with envy, and her connection with the historic old Roselawn Plantation makes that a good place to start sleuthing. Thanks to her own mama's impeccable Southern credentials, Abby is granted an appointment with the board members—but no one gives her the right to snoop. And digging into the long-festering secrets of a proud family of the Old South turns out to be a breach of good manners that could land Abby six feet under in the family plot.

Every shroud has a silver lining…

Abigail Timberlake has never been happier. She is about to marry the man of her dreams AND has just outbid all other Charlotte antiques dealers for an exquisite English tea service. But an early wedding present rains on Abby's parade. The one-of-a-kind tea service Abby paid big bucks for has a twin. A frazzled Abby finds more trouble on her doorstep—literally—when a local auctioneer mysteriously collapses outside her shop and a press clipping of her engagement announcement turns up in the wallet of a dead man. (Obviously she won't be getting a wedding present from him.)

 

Tracing the deceased to a small town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country, Abby heads above the Mason-Dixon Line to search for clues. Accompanied by a trio of eccentric dealers and her beloved but stressed-out cat, she longs for her Southern homeland as she confronts a menagerie of dubious characters. Digging for answers, Abby realizes that she might just be digging her own grave in—horrors!—Yankeeland.

Good help is hard to keep—alive…

Unflappable and resourceful, Abigail Timberlake relies on her knowledge and savvy to authenticate the facts from the fakes when it comes to either curios
or
people. Her expertise makes Abby invaluable to exceptionally handsome Tradd Maxwell Burton, wealthy scion of the renowned Latham family. He needs her to determine the most priceless item in the Latham mansion. A treasure hunt in an antique-filled manor? All Abby can say is “Let the games begin!”

 

But when Abby, accompanied by her best friend C.J., arrives at the estate she receives a less than warm welcome from the Latham clan. Trying to fulfill Tradd's request, Abby finds she could cut the household tension with a knife. Only someone has beaten her to it by stabbing a maid to death with an ancient kris. Suddenly all eyes are on C.J., whose fingerprints just happen to be all over the murder weapon. Now Abby must use her knack for detecting forgeries to expose the fake alibi of the genuine killer.

A faux van Gogh that's to die for…

When Abigail Timberlake makes a bid of $150.99 on a truly awful copy of van Gogh's
Starry Night
, she's just trying to support the church auction. Hopefully she'll make her money back on the beautiful gold antique frame. Little does she expect she's bought herself a fortune…and a ton of trouble.

 

Hidden behind the faux van Gogh canvas is a multimillion-dollar lost art treasure. Suddenly she's a popular lady in her old hometown, and her first visit is from Gilbert Sweeny, her schoolyard sweetie who claims the family's painting was donated by mistake. But social calls quickly turn from nice to nasty as it's revealed that the mysterious masterpiece conceals a dark and deadly past and some modern-day misconduct that threatens to rock the Rock Hill social structure to its core. Someone apparently thinks the art is worth killing for, and Abby knows she better get to the bottom of the secret scandal and multiple murders before she ends up buried six feet under a starry night.

Pickled, then potted…

All that remains of Lula Mae Wiggins—who drowned in a bathtub of cheap champagne on New Year's Eve—now sits in an alleged Etruscan urn in Savannah, Georgia. Farther north, in Charleston, South Carolina, Abigail Timberlake is astonished to learn that she is the sole inheritor of the Wiggins estate. Late Aunt Lula was, after all, as distant a relative as kin can get.

 

Arriving in Savannah, Abby makes a couple of startling discoveries. First, that Lula Mae's final resting place is more American cheap than Italian antique. And second, that there was a very valuable 1793 one-cent piece taped to the inside lid. Perhaps a coin collection worth millions is hidden among the deceased's worldly possessions—making Lula's passing more suspicious than originally surmised. With the strange appearance of a voodoo priestess coupled with the disturbing disappearance of a loved one—and with nasty family skeletons tumbling from the trees like acorns—Abby needs to find her penny auntie's killer or she'll be up to her ashes in serious trouble.

The corpse is in the mail…

Abigail Timberlake's Halloween costume party is a roaring success—until an unexpected fire sends the panicked guests fleeing from Abby's emporium. One exiting reveler she is only too happy to see the back of is Tweetie “Little Bo Peep” Timberlake—unfaithful wife of Abby's faithless ex, Buford. But not long after the fire is brought under control, the former Mrs. T discovers an unfamiliar suit of armor in her house. And stuffed inside is the heavily siliconed, no-longer-living body of the current Mrs. T.

 

Certainly some enraged collector of medieval chain mail has sent Abby this deadly delivery. But diving into their eccentric ranks could prove a lethal proposition for the plucky antiques dealer turned amateur sleuth. And even a metal suit may not be enough to protect Abby from the vicious and vindictive attention of a crazed killer.

Murder is a glass act…

Antiques dealer Abby Timberlake is thrilled when
the
Ms. Amelia Shadbark—doyenne of Charleston society—invites her to broker a pricey collection of Lalique glass sculpture. These treasures will certainly boost business at the Den of Antiquity, and maybe hoist Abby into the upper crust—which would please her class-conscious mom, Mozella, to no end. Alas, Abby's fragile dream is soon shattered when Mrs. Shadbark meets a foul, untimely end. And as the last known visitor to the victim's palatial abode, Abby's being pegged by the local law as suspect Numero Uno.

 

Of course, there are other possible killers—including several dysfunctional offspring and a handyman who may have been doing more for the late Mrs. S than fixing her leaky faucets. But Abby's the one who'll have to piece the shards of this deadly puzzle together—or else face a fate far worse than a mere seven years of bad luck!

Supernatural born killer…

Abigail Timberlake would rather be anywhere else on a muggy Charleston summer evening—even putting in extra hours at her antiques shop—than at a séance. But her best friend, “Calamity Jane,” thinks a spirit—or “Apparition American,” as ectoplasmically correct Abby puts it—lurks in the eighteenth-century Georgian mansion, complete with priceless, seventeenth-century Portuguese kitchen tiles, that C.J. just bought as a fixer-upper. Luckily, Abby's mama located a psychic in the yellow pages—a certain Madame Woo-Woo—and, together with a motley group of feisty retirees know as the “Heavenly Hustlers,” they all get down to give an unwanted spook the heave-ho.

 

But, for all her extrasensory abilities, the Madame didn't foresee that she, herself, would be forced over to the other side prematurely. Suddenly Abby fears there's more than a specter haunting C.J. And they'd better exorcise a flesh-and-blood killer fast before the recently departed Woo-Woo gets company.

Death by David…

Abigail Timberlake, petite but feisty proprietor of Charleston's Den of Antiquity antiques shop, stopped speaking to best friend and temporary decorating partner Wynnell Crawford a month ago—after questioning her choice of a cheap, three-foot-high replica of Michelangelo's David to adorn the garden of a local bed-and-breakfast. But now Wynnell has broken the silence with one phone call…
from prison!

 

It seems the B and B owner has been fatally beaten—allegedly by the same tacky statue—and Wynnell's been fingered by the cops for the bashing. But Abby suspects there's more to this well-sculpted slaying than initially meets the eye, and she wants to take a closer look at the not-so-bereaved widower and the two very odd couples presently guesting at the hostelry. Because if bad taste was a capital crime, Wynnell would be guilty as sin—but she's certainly no killer!

Birds of a feather die together…

Abigail Timberlake is thrilled to purchase an elaborate Victorian birdcage that is a miniature replica of the Taj Mahal. However she's less excited by the cage's surprise occupant—a loud, talkative myna bird named Monet. But Monet soon becomes a favorite with Abby's customers—until one day he goes mysteriously missing. In his place is a stuffed bird and a ransom note demanding the real Monet painting in exchange for Abby's pet. “What Monet painting?” is Abby's only response.

 

Abby tries to put the bird-snatching out of her mind, dismissing it as a cruel joke—until Abby's mama, Mozella, is taken too. This time the kidnapper threatens to kill Mozella unless Abby produces the painting.

 

What do a talking bird, Mozella, and a painting hidden for hundreds of years have in common? Abby must figure it all out soon before the could-be killer flies the coop for good.

Abigail Timberlake Washburn understands the antiques game is a gamble—so she doesn't know what to expect when she wins the bidding for the contents of an old locker that has been sealed for years. It's a delightful surprise when she discovers inside a collection of exquisite old walking sticks—and a not-so-delightful one when she pulls out a decrepit gym bag containing…
a human skull!

 

The last thing the diminutive South Carolina antiques dealer needs is to be suspected of foul play. So she grabs her chatty assistant (and future sister-in-law), C.J., and heads out to search for a killer they can stick it to. But this cane case will be no walk in the park—with its arcane clues hinting at poaching, counterfeiting, smuggling…and homicide, of course. And when a fresh corpse turns up, things are about to get
really
sticky for Abby and her staff of one.