The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller is a cozy mystery filled with intrigue, a cast of wonderful characters and an engaging premise. The story unfolds quickly, introducing us first to Freya, a fifty-ish divorced woman, dealing with the sale of the family home where she still lives, and the launching of her eighteen-year-old daughter. Unhappy and directionless, Freya receives a telephone call from her Aunt Carole, and the reader is suddenly swept into a rapidly moving current of events.

Carole’s life partner Arthur Crockleford, has just died, an antiques dealer who specialized in the tracking down and repatriation of cultural objects, and former mentor to Freya in the same profession. And while Carol’s call is to seek assistance for the funeral arrangements, it becomes clear that something happened to sever the relationship between Arthur and Freya which resulted in Freya’s choice to walk away from her career.

When Freya arrives at her Aunt Carole’s she learns that Arthur has died under nefarious circumstances and that he has left a letter asking Freya to complete his life’s work and search for “an item of immense value.” The letter contains a series of cryptic clues which both challenge and guide Freya and her Aunt as they seek to identify both Arthur’s murderer and the item in question.

Miller’s encyclopedic knowledge of antiques is evident throughout her descriptions of the furniture and objects in the book. At the heart of the mystery is a ceramic bird, potentially worth a hundred thousand pounds. The ceramic piece in question is a genuine object of grotesquerie, not a fictional one, and it is described in the following way:

People often misjudge the value of the Martin Brothers birds, dismissing them as grandma’s dark, creepy clay bird pots. I imagined some found their way into charity shops now and then… “They were avant-garde ceramics made in the nineteenth and early twentieth century by four impoverished siblings – the Martin Brothers. The large jars, jugs, and so on were made into animals and, more famously, birds – Wally birds, they’re called. But they were no ordinary birds. They have dark feathered bodies, huge smiling beaks, and big clawed talons, some with frowns, some winking at you… They’re truly original, and since the brothers are all long gone, they fetch a good amount.”

As part of their quest, Freya and her Aunt attend an Antiques Enthusiasts weekend on a large estate where they discover that the provenance of many of the antiques is questionable. The story then spins into an exploration of black-market antique dealing and corruption. Freya comes into her own as she resurrects her skills in the business and rebuilds her confidence in more general terms.

Miller’s writing is fast-paced, and her characters well drawn, while the description of the antiques and the shady side of the business is riveting. This is an immersive and captivating tale. The reader is left hoping that Freya, and her delightfully rendered Aunt Carole, appear in another antique-related mystery. Highly recommended.

C. L. Miller started working life as an editorial assistant for her mother, Judith Miller, on The Miller’s Antique Price Guide and other antiquing guides. After she had children, she decided to follow her long-held dream of becoming an author and began concentrating on her writing full-time. She was an Undiscovered Voices 2022 and in the UV 2022 anthology. She lives in a medieval cottage in Dedham Vale, Suffolk, with her family.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Canadian edition (Feb. 6 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668032384
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668032381

Lucy E. M. Black

Website

Lucy E.M. Black (she/her/hers) is the author of The Marzipan Fruit Basket, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, The Brickworks and Class Lessons: Stories of Vulnerable Youth. A Quilting of Scars will be released October 2025. Her award-winning short stories have been published in Britain, Ireland, USA and Canada. She is a dynamic workshop presenter, experienced interviewer and freelance writer. She lives with her partner in the small lakeside town of Port Perry, Ontario, the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, First Nations.