The antique hunter's death on the Red Sea

Freya Lockwood and her flamboyant Aunt Carole inherited Crockleford Antiques after Arthur Crockleford's death. In addition to operating the shop, Freya has formed the Lockwood Antique Hunter's Agency to locate and return stolen antiques to their rightful owners. She's thrilled when Betty Peters asks her to find a painting taken from the Lowestoft Maritime Museum, where an unidentified man was found murdered outside the museum. To continue their investigation, Freya and Carole board a specialty cruise ship to Jordan, with Freya working as one of the ship's antiques experts. They soon learn that the Collector, a legendary antiques thief, is rumored to be on board. Working with an FBI agent and a thief with a conscience, they uncover a vast black-market consortium and attempt to bring it down. The multiple points of view, fast pacing, well-drawn characters and setting, plot twists, hidden clues, and antiques and antiquities frame combine for a satisfying mystery, after The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (2024).

In the entertaining sequel to The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder, Miller once again explores the dark underbelly of the antiques trade. Spunky 47-year-old Freya Lockwood and her vivacious aunt Carole have recently inherited Crockleford Antiques from the late Arthur Crockleford in the English village of Little Meddington. In addition to running Arthur's shop, Freya and Carole carry on Arthur's work exposing the black-market trade in art and antiquities. To that end, Freya accepts an invitation to serve as an in-house expert for an antiques-themed cruise from Cyprus to Jordan--an engagement she assumes Arthur had agreed to before his unexpected death. While onboard, her true mission is to ferret out the identity of a mysterious dealer known only as The Collector, who heads an international thieving syndicate. It proves a difficult task, considering that the ship is awash with double-dealers, fraudsters, and at least one killer, the latter of whom raises the stakes of Freya's sleuthing from securing stolen goods to preventing murder. Readers steeped in the antiques world will be delighted by Miller's robust knowledge of the trade, and Freya remains an appealing protagonist. This series continues to deliver. Agent: Hannah Todd, Madeleine Milburn Agency. (Feb.)

An English antiques dealer and her aunt hunt for a stolen painting aboard a cruise to the Middle East. Fresh from their triumph solving the murder of antiques thief Giles Metcalf at Copthorn Manor, Freya Lockwood and her Aunt Carole are content to sit back, relax, and manage Crockleford Antiques, the establishment left to them by Arthur Crockleford, Carole's friend and Freya's mentor. But a call from Betty Peters, a volunteer at the Lowestoft Maritime Museum, galvanizes the pair into action once more in response to the theft of a painting of a burning ship and the discovery of a well-dressed corpse behind the trash bins. The late Arthur's journals lead Freya to believe that the painting may be hung on an antiques-themed cruise run by MVGoldstar traveling from Greece to Jordan. Freya was supposed to be one of the experts lecturing aboard the ship until she received an email saying she was no longer needed. She and Carole reach out to MVGoldstar to see if there's any way they can get on the ship, only to find out that the company hadn't canceled Freya's gig--they had received a letter telling them Freya was no longer available. Now, Freya and Carole rush to Cyprus, catching the ship as it prepares to cross the Suez Canal. Onboard, they meet a cast of colorful characters--fellow lecturers Chris Prince and Mark Rushwell, special events manager Laura Scott, veteran traveler Patricia Henderson, curator Luke, beautiful art thief Bella, and handsome FBI agent Phil--each of them hiding a major secret. The cascade of reveals creates a hectic pace some may find thrilling and others exhausting. Too many climaxes don't always lead to satisfaction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.