The Majolica Murders

I love this antiques mystery!! The author puts in a little bit of history and background about the antiques they are after so it's doubly entertaining. Jeff Talbot is every women's dream and you can almost see him as you read..

Deborah Morgan's The Majolica Murders flawlessly combines mystery elements with the tension of a thriller. Although it's easy to assume this series would have perfect appeal to the cozy reader, Morgan avoids the overly precious voice that often causes readers to avoid that category. The fascinating background of the little known world of antique buying and selling thwarts retired FBI agent, Jeff Talbot's efforts to leave his old occupation behind. His new business as a seller and picker of antiquities provides ample opportunity for him to use skills he thought he could leave behind. Great read! Charlotte Hinger

In general, this book was a well written entry in a good series. Familiar faces reappear throughout the story, and the background information on majolica and its collectors is interesting. There are two problems with the story, however. First, I was not a fan of the technique of putting the climax in the first chapter of the book, then doing an extended flashback showing how things got to that point. It's a device that can be used to good effect, but in this case, it eliminates most of the suspense, since the reader knows who is and who is not responsible all along. Second, when the "why" is revealed, it is quite contrived. When the true identity and motive of the killer are revealed, the reader is left with the sense that the motives were insufficient to incite murder. Because the rationale is rather senseless, the reader has little chance of deducing the solution before Morgan pulls it out of the hat. Even with the let down at the end, I still enjoyed the book, and it is a decent entry into the series. Let us hope for a little more careful plotting in the next entry. BTW, what happened to the directory of antique references included at the end of the book in the earlier stories? I missed it in this one.

This is a good addition to the series, but not the best (so don't start here if you are new to the series). The ending was somewhat confusing and hard to follow. The characters continued to develop in an interesting and fun manner though. It just seemed a bit plodding at times.

Back in the days when Jeff Talbot was an FBI agent and John "Lanny" Smith was an informant, the two men got to know each other on a very deep level without knowing anything specific about their personal lives. Lanny gave honest, reliable and useful information about cases the Fed was working on and was instrumental in saving Jeff's wife when she was kidnapped. Now both men are pickers, searching for treasures to sell to antique stores or individual clients. Jeff asked Lanny to look for certain piece to give as a gift to his wife; Lanny locates it at Fiona Brock's store along with a piece that he wants for himself. Fiona promises to save it for him but she sells it to someone else for an outrageously inflated price. Lanny and Fiona get into a fight witnessed by four people. Later when Lanny goes back to apologize, he finds Fiona's murdered body. The police arrest him and Jeff bails him out. Jeff is determined to find the real killer. He interviews a street person who was one of the witnesses to the fight, but she is later killed in her hotel room. Jeff assumes the two killings are linked and sets out to prove it almost getting killed in the process. Readers get a fascinating glimpse into the world of antique collecting and pickers in THE MAJOLICA MURDERS. The protagonist is a hero in every sense of the world, a caring and understanding person especially to his agoraphobic wife, understanding and accepting her condition and loves her all the more because she is trying to overcome it. This tale is as much a drama focusing on the human condition as it is a well written mystery. Harriet Klausner