Dead men don't decorate

Abbott debuts with a charming series launch set in Marthasville, Va., a stand-in for Alexandria, Va. At 55, Camille Benson wants a life change when she hears Waited4You, the antique store her parents used to own in Marthasville, is for sale. Camille jumps at the opportunity to buy the store from Roberto Fratelli, known as the meanest man in town. After a night of celebrating her first day of ownership, she and her best friend, Opal Wells, go back to the store only to find Roberto lying in a pool of blood and a valuable piece of inventory missing, a leather case that had been taped under a chair, in which Opal had earlier found a letter dating to the mid--18th century. Could it be a clue to the murder? More crimes ensue, including the kidnapping of a police detective, as well as revelations of a messy political entanglement involving the local newspaper and the town's police chief. Abbott lovingly depicts Marthasville and its appealing residents while keeping the reader guessing whodunit. Cozy fans are in for a treat. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Agency. (Nov.)

When the inventory of an antiques shop turns up not only fraud, but also a letter that, if authentic, could shake a nation, the new proprietor digs deeper. Camille Benson must strike a deal with Roberto Fratelli, the meanest man in Marthasville, Virginia, in order to buy Waited4You, his antiques store. Well, it's only been his antiques store for a few years; before that, it belonged to Camille's family. Buying Waited4You seems like her fate, especially now that her most recent project of managing her son Paul's mayoral run has come to a successful end. With the encouragement of her nearest and dearest friend, Opal Wells, Camille prepares to make the deal. The other local merchants are excited about the potential change--apparently Roberto's reputation was well earned--and Camille has a million ideas to restore the place to its former glory. In between rounds of planning, celebrating, and taking inventory, Camille and Opal start to wonder if all of Roberto's business dealings were really aboveboard, particularly when Opal discovers a letter addressed to George Washington from Sally Fairfax, apparently written after his marriage to Martha. Scandal! If the letter proves real, it could upset history as we know it, but when Camille and Opal try to retrieve the letter from Waited4You, it's gone. Instead, they find Roberto's corpse on the floor. His murder convinces Camille that there's something seriously amiss and that Roberto may have served as a front for someone trying to trick him and the business--but who? It's hard to say what's special about this debut, which seems like a bit of a knockoff. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.