Den of Antiquity

For Whom The Bell Pulls Tolls As owner of the Den of Antiquity, recently divorced (but never bitter!) Abigail Timberlake is accustomed to delving into the past, searching for lost treasures, and navigating the cutthroat world of rival dealers at flea markets and auctions. Still, she never thought she'd be putting her expertise in mayhem and detection to other use -- until crotchety "junque" dealer, Abby's aunt Eulonia Wiggins, was found murdered! Although Abigail is puzzled by the instrument of death -- an exquisite antique bell pull that Aunt Eulonia never would have had the taste to acquire -- she's willing to let the authorities find the culprit. But now, Auntie's priceless lace is missing, and somebody's threatened Abby's most priceless possession: her son, Charlie. It's up to Abby to put the murderer "on the block."

Petite, indomitable North Carolinian Abigail Timberlake rose gloriously up from the ashes of divorce--parlaying her savvy about exquisite old things into a thriving antiques enterprise: the Den of Antiquity. Now she's a force to be reckoned with in Charlotte's close-knit world of mavens, eccentrics and cutthroat dealers. But a superb, gilt-edged 18th-century French armoire she purchased for a song at estate auction has just arrived along with something she didn't pay for: a dead body. Suddenly her shop is a crime scene--and closed to the public during the busiest shopping season of the year--so Abigail is determined to speed the lumbering police investigation along. But amateur sleuthing is leading the feisty antiques expert into a murderous mess of dysfunctional family secrets. And the next cadaver found stuffed into fine old furniture could wind up being Abigail's own.

Rattling Old Family Skeletons. North Carolina native Abigail Timberlake, owner of the Den of Antiquity, is quick to dismiss the seller of a hideous old vase--until the poor lady comes hurtling back through the shop window minutes later, the victim of a fatal hit-and-run. Tall, dark, and handsome Homicide Investigator Greg Washburn--who just happens to be Abby's boyfriend--is frustrated by conflicting accounts from eyewitnesses. And he's just short of furious with his ever-lovin, when he learns it was a valuable Ming vase, and Abby let it vanish from the crime scene. Abby decides she had better find out for herself what happened to the treasure--and to the lady who was dying to get rid of it. It turns out the victim had a lineage that would make a Daughter of the Confederacy green with envy, and her connection with the historic old Roselawn Plantation makes that a good place to start sleuthing. Thanks to her own mama's impeccable southern credentials, Abby is granted an appointment with the board members--but no one gives her permission to snoop. And digging into the long-festering secrets of a proud family of the Old South turns out to be a breach of good manners that could land Abby six feet under in the family plot.

EVERY SHROUD HAS A SILVER LININGAbigail Timberlake, owner of the Den of Antiquity, has never been happier. She is about to marry the man of her dreams AND has just outbid all other Charlotte, North Carolina, antique dealers for an exquisite English tea service. Then Mama (who is running off to be a nun) stops by to deliver an early wedding present, and it rains on Abby's parade. The one-of-a-kind tea service Abby paid big bucks for has a twin. A frazzled Abby finds more trouble on her doorstep -- literally -- when a local auctioneer mysteriously collapses outside her shop and a press clipping of her engagement announcement turns up in the wallet of a dead man. (Obviously she won't be getting a wedding present from him. )Tracing the deceased to a small town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country, Abby heads above the Mason-Dixon Line to search for clues to the origins of faux tea services. Accompanied by a trio of eccentric dealers and her beloved but stressed-out cat, she longs for her Southern homeland as she confronts a menagerie of dubious characters. Digging for answers, Abby realizes that she might just be digging her own grave in -- horrors! -- Yankeeland.

In a Treasure-Laden Mansion: Unflappable and resourceful, Abigail Timberlake, antique dealer and owner of Charlotte, North Carolina's Den of Antiquity, relies on her knowledge and savvy to authenticate the facts from the fakes when it comes to either curios or people. Her expertise makes Abby invaluable to exceptionally handsome Tradd Maxwell Burton, wealthy scion of the renowned Latham family. He needs her to determine the most priceless item in the Latham mansion and then split the proceeds of it with her. A treasure hunt in an antique-filled manor? All Abby can say is "let the games begin." It's Tough to Keep Help: Accompanied by her best girlfriend, C. J., Abby arrives at the estate and is met with cool reserve, if no downright rudeness, from the members of the Latham clan. Trying to carry out Tradd's request, Abby finds that she could cut the household tension with a knife. But someone has beaten her to it by stabbing a maid to death with an ancient kris. Suddenly all eyes are on C. J., whose fingerprints happen to be all over the murder weapon. It's up to Abby to use her knack for detecting forgeries to expose the fake alibi of the genuine killer.

A Faux Van Gogh. When North Carolina antique dealer Abigail Timberlake makes a bid of $150.99 on a truly awful copy of Van Gogh's The Starry Night, she's just trying to win Mama's approval by supporting the church auction. Hopefully, she'll make her money back on the beautiful gold antique frame. Little does she expect she's bought herself a fortune...and a lot of trouble. A masterpiece to kill for. When her ex-boyfriend shows up and offers ten bucks for the ugly Starry Night, Abby pops the frame and is stunned to discover hidden behind the faux Van Gogh canvas a multi-million dollar lost art treasure. Suddenly she's a popular lady in her old hometown, and her first visit is from Gilbert Sweeney, her schoolyard sweetheart (according to him), who claims the family's painting was donated by mistake. But social calls quickly turn from nice to nasty as it's revealed that the mysterious masterpiece conceals a dark and deadly past and some modern-day misconduct that threatens to rock the Rock Hill social structure to its core. Someone apparently thinks the art is worth killing for, and Abby knows she better get to the bottom of the secret scandal and multiple murders before she ends up buried six feet under a starry night.

Pickled... Then PottedAll that remains of Lula Mae Wiggins-who drowned in a bathtub of cheap champagne on New Year's Eve-now sits in an alleged Etruscan urn in Savannah, Georgia. Further north, at the Den of Antiquity antique shop in Charlotte, North Carolina, plucky proprietor Abigail Timberlake is astonished to learn that she is the sole inheitor of the Wiggins estate. Late Aunt Lula Mae was, after all, as distant a relative as kin can get. Arriving in picturesque Savannah, Abby makes a couple of startling discoveries. First, that Lula Mae's final resting pot is more American cheap than Italian antique. And second, that there was a very valuable 1793 one-cent piece taped to the inside lid. Perhaps a coin collection worth millions is hidden among the deceased's worldly possessions-making Lula's passoing more suspicious than orginally surmised. With the strange appearance of a voodoo preistess coupled with the disturbing disappearance of a loved one-and with nasty family skeletons tumbling from the trees like acorns-Abby needs to find her penny auntie's killer p. d. q... or she'll be up to her ashes in serious trouble!

The Corpse Is In The Mail! Den of Antiquity proprietress Abigail Timberlake's Halloween costume party is a roaring success-until an unexpected fire sends the panicked guests fleeing from Abby's emporium. One exiting reveler she is only too happy to see the back of is Tweetie "Little Bo Peep" Timberlake-unfaithful wife of Abby's faithless ex, Buford. But not long after the conflagration is brought under control, the former Mrs. T. discovers an unfamiliar suit of armor in her house. And stuffed inside is the heavily siliconed, no-longer-living body of the current Mrs. T. Certainly some enraged collector of medieval chain mail has sent Abby this deadly delivery. But diving into their eccentric ranks could prove a lethal proposition for the plucky antiques dealer/amateur sleuth. And even a metal suit may not be enough to protect Abby from the vicious and vindictive attentions of a crazed killer.

Antiques dealer Abby Timberlake Washburn is thrilled when the Mrs. Amelia Shadbark-doyenne of Charleston society-invites her to broker a pricey collection of Lalique glass sculpture. These treasures will certainly boost business at the Den of Antiquity, and maybe hoist Abby into the upper crust-which would please her class-conscious mom, Mozella, no end. Alas, Abby's fragile dream is soon shattered when Mrs. Shadbark meets a foul, untimely end. And as the last known visitor to the victim's palatial abode, Abby's being pegged by the local law as suspect Numero Uno. Of course there are other possible killers-including several dysfunctional offspring and a handyman who may have been doing more for the late Mrs. S than fixing her leaky faucets. But Abby's the one who'll have to piece the shards of this deadly puzzle together-or else face a fate far worse than a mere seven years of bad luck!

Abigail Timberlake Washburn would rather be anywhere else on a muggy Charleston summer evening -- even putting in extra hours at her antiques shop -- than at a séance. But her best friend, "Calamity Jane," thinks a spirit -- or "Apparition American," as ectoplasmically-correct Abby puts it -- lurks in the eighteenth-century Georgian mansion, complete with priceless, seventeenth-century Portuguese kitchen tiles, that C.J. just bought as a fixer-upper. Luckily, Abby's mama located a psychic in the yellow pages -- a certain Madame Woo-Woo -- and, together with a motley group of feisty retirees known as the "Heavenly Hustlers," they all get down to give an unwanted spook the heave-ho. But, for all her extrasensory abilities, the Madame didn't foresee that she, herself, would be forced over to the other side prematurely. Suddenly Abby fears there's more than a specter haunting C.J. And they'd better exorcise a flesh-and-blood killer fast before the recently departed Woo-Woo gets company.

Charleston antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake Washburn is thrilled by her recent estate auction purchase of a spectacular bejeweled birdcage from India, but not so much by its occupant, a mouthy mynah named Monet. Still, her customers at the Den of Antiquity seem charmed by the insufferable birdbrain, so Abby figures she's stuck with him. That is, until she finds a stuffed starling resting on his usual perch with a ransom note demanding a real Monet (the painted variety) in exchange for her purloined pet. Since she doesn't happen to have a priceless masterpiece on hand -- and since a mynahless existence isn't all that distasteful a prospect -- Abby figures she'll let the thief keep the annoying avian. But when her mama Mozella is abducted by the craven birdnapper, Abby must leap into the fray to rescue mater and mynah alike ... before the feathers really start to fly!

Raising CaneAbigail Timberlake Washburn understands the antiques game is a gamble -- so she doesn't know what to expect when she wins the bidding for the contents of an old locker that has been sealed up for years. It's a delightful surprise when she discovers inside a collection of exquisite old walking sticks -- and a not-so-delightful one when she pulls out a decrepit gym bag containing... a human skull! The last thing the diminutive South Carolina antiques dealer needs is to be suspected of foul play. So she grabs her chatty assistant (and future sister-in-law), C. J. , and heads out to search for a killer they can stick it to. But this cane case will be no walk in the park -- with its arcane clues hinting at poaching, counterfeiting, smuggling... and homicide, of course. And when a fresh corpse turns up, things are about to get really sticky for Abby and her staff of one.

Business isn't booming for antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake Washburn. A local rug store is luring away her customers with its rock-bottom prices. Eager to check out the competition, Abby is delighted to find a priceless Persian amid the cut-rate carpets-and shocked when Gwendolyn Spears, the store's beleaguered owner, begs her to take it home! Abby feels more than a little guilty about getting such a great deal . . . especially when Gwendolyn is found dead the next morning. Investigating the brutal murder, Abby soon discovers that the prized Orientals of Charleston's society dames are nothing more than cheap fakes . . . and that a dangerous thief will do anything to pull the rug out from under her.

All antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake Washburn wanted was to find a perfect gift for her darling (if not altogether together) mama Mozella's birthday. She never expected her online purchase of an exquisite, seventeenth-century rosewood linen chest to place her in federal custody, accused of trafficking in illegal ivory! Then insult is heaped on her injury when she's forced to turn to her lawyer-snake ex, Buford, to spring her-since ex-cop /current hubby Greg's "good ol' boy" contacts don't happen to include any feds. Abby may be small in stature, but she's a force to be reckoned with when riled-and she's determined to root out the real smugglers who she blames for her recent indignities. But in her zeal to stick it to the elephant eliminators who have invaded her beloved Charleston, Abby might just land herself and mama alike up to their pearly whites in lethally hot water!

After sixteen delightfully madcap books, Tamar Myers's hilarious Den of Antiquity cozy mystery series comes to a close with The Glass is Always Greener. A real death at a fake wake gets Charleston, South Carolina antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake Washburn into serious hot water in this masterful cozy farewell from the author of The Witchdoctor's Wife, The Headhunter's Daughter, and the Magdelena Yoder mysteries. Collectables connoisseurs and Antiques Roadshow nuts won't want to miss a single minute of Abby's amateur sleuthing.