Cover Image: Antiques Carry On

Antiques Carry On

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Member Reviews

This is book 15 in the Trash and Treasures series. It's another good cozy to solve as the girls, Vivian and Brandy head to London to search for antiques and get background for their next book. This is a great light hearted funny cozy that will have you laughing at their antics. If you're a fan of cozy's but not of blood and gore, this is a series you will enjoy. Can be read as a stand alone but you'll enjoy them all. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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I hadn’t appreciated that this was the fifteenth book in the series, when I started reading it – but as it happened, that really didn’t matter all that much. While I’m sure there are all sorts of issues within this one that I would have appreciated more, had I read the series from the start, the entertaining friction between the characters and the ongoing whodunit meant I didn’t flounder in any way.

Each chapter is written in alternate viewpoints between Vivian and Brandy, with comments aimed directly at the reader at regular intervals. It isn’t to everyone’s taste and is easy to overdo such that it becomes annoying. I think Allan has got the balance right – and I certainly enjoyed the difference between the two characters. It is a structure regularly seen in romances, but less common in other genres and worked well here, where Vivian’s larger-than-life attitude to the world contrasted nicely with Brandy’s weary attempts to keep her mother in check. Needless to say, she mostly failed…

All this could have become irritating if the bones of a good whodunit wasn’t also in place – which it was. In the end, I appreciated the denouement, how well the plot held together and why the murders were committed. While I’m not going to go right back to the start of this series and read the previous fourteen – if I encounter another one of these entertaining stories, I wouldn’t hesitate to immediately pick it up and tuck into it. Recommended for fans of quirky murder mysteries. While I obtained an arc of Antiques Carry On from Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

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The fifteenth instalment in the Trash n Treasures series is as compelling and entertaining as its predecessors and complete with farcical humour, quirky characters and a solid and absorbing mystery. A fun, lighthearted, surrealist story with plenty of twisty reveals to get your teeth into. The ideal book to escape the negativity of the world for a few hours.

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This series is always very funny and I thoroughly enjoyed this instalment.
i was happy to catch up with the quirk characters, laughed a lot and the story kept me hooked.
The mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
Can't wait to read the next story
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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Although the writing style is interesting there is too much wandering thought processes going on so it isn’t tightly written enough for me. You will enjoy the plot and it’s well thought our conclusion
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

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Quirky Shenanigans….
Book fifteen in the Trash n’ Treasures mystery series and Vivian Borne, together with daughter Brandy, are London bound. Chaos and commotion is almost a certainty but when murder joins the list of disasters it’s clear that this trip will not end well. A fun, frothy, madcap read with an eccentric and entertaining cast of characters. Quirky shenanigans guaranteed.

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The thing I love best about this series is the humor -- but it is humor with heart, not snark. That can be hard to pull off, but it happens here. For readers who are looking forward to this continuation of the series, you will not be disappointed. And for new readers who are looking for a fun, fast-paced new series to dig into, this is a great recommendation.

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Enter the wacky world of Vivian and Brandy Borne where solving murders often follows hilarious paths. I enjoy the author's dual writing style where for the most part, each chapter is written partly in each character's voice. Vivian is definitely the leader in these events, but Brandy knows what's going on and how to help. I find it humorous that Brandy's fiancé is the town's police chief, causing for obvious conflicts along the way.

With purported innocence, Vivian agrees to deliver a necklace to it's purchaser while on a trip to London. When she decides to keep it, the dealer sends a book back to USA with Vivian as proof of "no hard feelings" regarding the original necklace sales. But Vivian later has remorse for not buying anything from the shop, and convinces Brandy to return to make a purchase. But nothing is ever easy or straightforward with these ladies!

I enjoy Vivian's boldness and peculiar take on situations, she keeps me guessing! Brandy, although a willing partner, certainly seems to get the raw end of most deals! What kind of mother gives her daughter's first class airplane seat away? Sometimes I wish Brandy would stomp her foot and tell Vivian 'NO' and mean it!

If you are looking for an interesting and lighthearted book, you have found it. Loads of fun!

I would like to thank Canongate Books, Severn House Publishers and Net Galley for allowing me to read this fun book and express my opinions above.

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I was looking forward to this cozy from a reliable author. I was disappointed. Story was lacking, real life intruded too much, and it felt formulaic and forced.

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This fifteenth installment in the adventure of Vivian Born and her adult daughter Brandy, the author keeps up the good work - a well crafted fun mystery, with plenty of laughs. The "author," Barbara Allan is really a pseudonym for mystery authors Barbara and Max Allan Collins. With this novel the series begins with a new publisher, which is crafted into the storyline,

Vivian and Brandy own and run an Antique store in Iowa, and always find themselves a part of a good small town mystery. This time though the strangeness begins when a fellow antique dealer is discovered murdered, by the pair, when they visit him on a trip to England to see their new publishers.

That mystery seems connected to a necklace that Vivian was supposed to bring to the dealer. Yet could it be that it is connected somehow to the book that she is asked to bring with her upon her return to the States? Upon said return an already suspicious fall down the stairs by one of Vivian's contemporaries becomes more mysteries as events unfold,.

Written in tradition cozy mystery style, I find these books a delight. As with any (I have read a few in the series) they do not need to be read in any particular order. Past events are, sometimes exhaustingly referred to by their book title, so one can choose which tale to read by these indicators. Additionally, with a nod to a "cozy" this book, like its predecessors includes a recipe, and each chapter is concluded by some piece of advance when shopping for antiques, or from yard sales and the like.

My absolute favorite, and laugh out load, parts of this book is the editorial asides made by and between our dual narrators, with sometimes the editor chiming in!

As with the others in the series, Antiques Carry On is a winner. A fun read, around delightful characters. Cozy fans will enjoy this as with non cozy fans. It has just the right touch for a light and engaging mystery read.

My review is based upon an advanced review e-copy of the book via NetGalley. My review herein is my honest assessment of the work, as I was invited to leave upon completing my reading of the book.

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A long time follower of the 'Trash-n-Treasure series here! The newest delivers another excellent read ti enjoy. There are alot of twists and turns that keep your interest piqued. Love the mother-daughter duo crime fighters! Thanks #netgalley and Severn House Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Brandy and Vivian Bourne are off to London to meet with their new editor, squabbling as usual. In addition to the meeting, they've got some touristy stuff planned and an errand to visit a local antique dealer...and that's where things start to very wrong and the authorities become involved.

This is the kind of fast paced fun that I've come to expect from this series. Brandy and Vivian are still bickering with each other (and their editor) and Vivian has a new informant that's crazy even for her.

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Antiques go really & fully bonkers in this delightful madcap the latest addition to the "Trash & Treasures" Series involving Vivian Borne and her daughter Brandy, the dysfunctional mother-daughter duo hailing from Iowa and their hilarious ways to create complete mayhem wherever & whenever they are trying to investigate a crime. This time around those two oddballs will manage to stumble upon a muder in London within 24h of their arrival, get deported back to the US the following day and bring back a suitcase full of muderous headaches big enough to shatter the peaceful serenity of the Hawkeye State......Great slapstick, delicious verbal pyrotechnics laced with terrific black humor and very colorful characters make this latest episode from Max Allan and Barbara Collins a highly entertaining ride that everyone should be able to enjoy without moderation.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for this very funny ARC

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A great big thank you to #netgalley and the publisher #severnhouse for the opportunity to read and review "Antiques Carry On" by #barbaraallan in return for a fair and honest review.

I only recently started reading the "Trash 'n Treasure' mysteries recently, and I've completed the first two books with plans to read the rest, but when "Antiques Carry On" became available on NetGalley, I couldn't resist jumping ahead to present day with Brandy and Vivian Borne. And I was not disappointed.

One of the things that I like about this series is that it really doesn't take itself too seriously (I have to admit I've been addicted to Max Allan Collins's books for years now, and find his sly humour invigorating). But Max Allan Collins and Barbara Allan do write entertaining 'cozy' mysteries that seem to be just the remedy for today's world of angst and sturm & drang.

Antiques Carry On finds Brandy and VIvian - who take turns narrating the story, each from their own twisted perspective - on their way to London to meet with a new editor (what happened to the previous one is touched upon lightly); and they're also supposed to deliver a necklace to a London antiques dealer and bring back a book as a present. Needless to say, things don't go as planned and they're plunged into a murder investigation and summarily sent back to the US.

Once back, they become involved with a - potential - murder for profit; and then another murder; and then another..... you can see where this is going. The wacky sleuths navigate the twists and turns of the murders and international art thefts that crop up on the way to the conclusion; and a twist that leaves us hanging.

All in all, if you've read and enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will enjoy this one. But I heartily recommend that you don't start with this one - there's too much from previous novels that you may not understand (but it you don't care, go right ahead!).

Recommended

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