This is book two of the Oakwood mysteries and I liked it just as much as I liked the first one.

Charley and her store Old Hats is doing pretty good and her and her boyfriend Marc seem to be in a good place then everything falls apart. Her old friend Calvin who is in charge of selling things from a large estate is murdered and she wants to find out who did it. Her detective boyfriend Marc makes her promise not to get involved but the more she learns the harder it is to keep that promise putting some distance between her and Marc,

Charley is really good at finding clues and figuring things out but it also gets her in trouble and puts her in danger. I really like Charley though she is pretty spunky. I also like Marc cause he really seems to care about her and after she got into a dangerous situation in the first book you can see why he wouldn’t want her doing that again. He is just going to have to get use to her detecting.

It has a great mystery and I only guessed who it was only a bit before Charley did. I love all the side characters as well.

I know a lot of people were upset with some things in the first book cause it didn’t stick to the cozy rules, but I would like to let everyone know that this one sticks more to the cozy rules and I can’t wait to read the next one!!

The Antique House Murders is the second book in the Oakwood Mystery series. I really enjoyed The Book Club Murders, the 1st book in the series, so I had been looking forward to this one.

In this installment, Charley ends up investigating after finding a family friend murdered. It doesn’t take long for Charley to uncover a shady million dollar deal, and for us to realize that she may be in over her head this time. Fast paced and full of twists, this mystery kept me guessing right along with Charley until the final chapter.

The Antique House Murders by Leslie Nagel is an excellent mystery novel set in the town of Oakwood, Ohio. The plot centers around the initial discovery of the death of a friend which leads Charlie, the owner of a shop that sells antique clothing, to the uncovering of a scheme to build houses in the property of the Mulbridge House. Charlie undergoes a series of frightening events that eventually lead to the mastermind behind the murders and the land deal. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It reminds me of the writing of two of my favorite mystery novelists, Sue Grafton and Mary Higgins Clark. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves to read a good mystery. I look forward to reading more of the Oakwood series.

The Antique House Murders
Oakwood Mystery, Book #2
Leslie Nagel
5 Stars

Synopsis:

In this irresistible cozy mystery from the author of The Book Club Murders, amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter fights to avenge a crime that hits far too close to home.

Mulbridge House stood, silent and decaying, deep in the woods at the heart of Oakwood, Ohio, long before the passing of Augusta Mulbridge. Yet suddenly everyone in town seems to have a stake in its fate: the greedy heirs, eager to tear it down for a tidy profit; the local preservationists, determined to maintain it as an historic site; the angry neighbors, staunchly opposed to the construction of a modern subdivision. Even Charley Carpenter is forced to admit that her beloved shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, could use an infusion of the estate’s treasures.

The clock is ticking. The wrecking ball is ready to swing. All that stands between Mulbridge House and oblivion is one final vote. That, and murder . . .

The trouble begins when Charley walks into auctioneer Calvin Prescott’s office to find her cherished family friend crumpled on the floor. Detective Marcus Trenault quickly connects his death to a string of increasingly violent burglaries plaguing Oakwood. But when Charley uncovers a link to a massive land swindle worth millions, not to mention a drug ring operating out of the manor’s abandoned outbuildings, that theory crumbles faster than Mulbridge House. Now Charley’s racing to catch a killer before everything falls apart. (Goodreads)


Review:

The characters are well developed and well rounded. Charley is a hard working business woman, clever and feisty. She is not afraid of hard work or putting her nose where it does not belong. When a friend of hers is murdered, she is more than ready to put her sleuthing skills to work to figure out the killer. With the help of her friends, and to the dismay of her detective boyfriend, she is ready to tackle the mystery and find out the truth. There were times when I just shook my head and wanted to shake her, for the chances she took while investigating. The secondary characters added a lot to the story.

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and through much of the book I felt like I was right there, watching all of the action taking place. The author is also very talented in weaving together different story lines and mysteries into a great book. There were so many suspects to consider and clues to sift through that it was very difficult to solve this mystery.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well plotted, well crafted mystery. This book is a lot grittier than the typical cozies that I read. The language is stronger than what is normal in a cozy mystery. This did not bother me at all, in fact to me it made the book seem more real.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Alibi for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Charley is into vintage clothes, Marc Trenault, and her best friends, Dmitri and Frankie. Calvin, the family friend, is in charge of the auction at Mulbridge House amidst much turmoil and is killed in the process. There are many side plots and complications, but what makes this story enjoyable are some of the characters including Mille and Holland Mulbridge, who are unique to say the least and afraid - but of what?

The pace is steady with some light breaks. The ending makes sense but isn't predictable until almost the end. All the pieces come together nicely. This is the second in the series, but can easily be read as a stand alone. If you like cozy mystery with a bit of humor and romance, you'll enjoy the ANTIQUE HOUSE MURDERS.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review as part of this blog tour. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

Greedy Heirs, an Abandoned Mansion, and Murder

Charlie Carpenter, owner of the Old Hat Vintage Fashions, is excited to get a call from Calvin Prescott. Her friend is an auctioneer and has been given the job of disposing of the contents of Mulbridge House before it’s torn down to make way for a subdivision. When she sees the vintage couture gowns, Charlie is thrilled, but she feels a pang at seeing the glorious mansion torn down.

Charlie isn’t the only one upset at seeing the mansion torn down. The preservation society wants to keep the house as a historic site. The neighbors want to preserve their privacy and don’t want a new subdivision in their area. The heirs, however, want a quick sale to capitalize on the valuable land where the house it situated.

When Charlie and her friend, Dimitri, go to collect the fashions, they find Calvin dead on the floor of his warehouse. There is a long list of suspects and Charlie wants to find out who murdered her old friend, but Detective Marcus Trenault, with whom Charlie is in a relationship, warns her to stay out of the investigation because of the danger.

This is the second book featuring Charlie and the Old Hat. The plot is full of twists. It’s not easy to guess the murderer until close to the end. Charlie is a vivacious heroine, but I felt that her bad decisions putting her in danger were a little hard to believe. Dimitri is my favorite character. His bravery almost puts Marc to shame.

Mulbridge House is a great setting, but I found it hard to believe that a house could deteriorate that much in the lifetime of one old lady. Still, it’s a fun cozy mystery.

I received this book from Alibi for this review.

I didn't watch Scooby Doo so portions of those references fly over my head but the complex cast of tight-knit friends creates a great support crew for our intrepid heroine as she stumbles over clue after clue, interpreting actions and gossip within the framework of the current crimewave in town. I found myself racing through the chapters trying to keep up with the action, proud of myself for having doped out the core scheme long before Charley caught on to her dad's hints. It is hard to believe this is only author Leslie Nagel's second book--it is terrific!

Note: I had read "The Book Club Murders" so when I found this title available on Netgalley I snatched it up. Either title stands alone but you might enjoy reading them in order just because the cast is so likeable and the books so well done.

The Antique House Murders by Leslie Nagel is the second book The Oakwood Mystery series. Charley Carpenter lives in Oakwood, Ohio where she owns Old Hat Vintage Fashions. Her friend and mentor, Calvin Prescott of Prescott Auctions is handling the sale of the contents of Mulbridge House. The heirs plan to demolish the old home once everything of value has been removed. Charley is at Mulbridge House to look at some vintage fashions that Calvin has put aside for her. While at the house Charley witnesses a skirmish between Holland Mulbridge and Millie Peache. Millie as the president of SOAP (Sustain Oakwood’s Architectural Past) is spearheading the campaign against the demolition of the home. The Oakwood Planning Commission will soon vote on the fate of Mulbridge House. Millie claims that Augusta Mulbridge, Holland’s mother, had drafted a new will that would leave the home to SOAP. Will the beautiful but decaying home be saved or will it fall victim to the wrecking ball? On Monday Charley heads over to Prescott Auctions to pick up the items she purchased from Mulbridge House. The place is ablaze with lights which is unusual for that hour of the morning. Charley heads inside with her friend, Dimitri and finds Calvin dead in his office. She calls Detective Marcus Trenault (her boyfriend) who in the building across the street. Before Trenault arrives, Charley takes notice that someone had thoroughly searched the office and left it a mess. Charley later discovers that there have been a series of robberies over the weekend. Are they related to Calvin’s death? Trenault asks Charley to stay out of this investigation, but this was her friend. Charley starts asking questions and uncovers some illegal activities. But what happens when Charley gets too close to a killer who does not wish to be caught?

The Antique House Murders is the second book in The Oakwood Mystery series. I suggest you start with The Book Club Murders (the first book). The author goes over what occurred in The Book Club Murders and Charley’s past history, but, due to the numerous characters, you might be a confused. As you can see from my summary, there are several storylines in this mystery novel (there are more than mentioned above). While the mystery was convoluted, the killer’s identity was easy to discern. I give The Antique House Murders 3 out of 5 stars. This book, unlike traditional cozy mysteries, has foul language (which it did not need) and intimate scenes. There were also some remarks (I believe they were meant to be jokes) made about sexual assault and rape that I did not appreciate (between Charley and Trenault as foreplay). The Antique House Murders has the traditional nasty cop with Chief Zehring, boyfriend who keeps telling Charley to stay out of the investigation (which she ignores), and boyfriend’s ex who works with him (which makes Charley jealous). Charley gets carried away with her investigation. She continually lies to Trenault and some of her actions are bordering on or are illegal. Charley continually puts her life in danger (it got tedious). Trenault’s jealousy of Sean Ambrose was unpleasant (no woman likes a boyfriend who is continually jealous). Does he not trust Charley? I did appreciate the information on how Safety Departments operate and the Leica-10 3D scanner (I want to know more about this gizmo).

A cute and fun cozy mystery, but this one suffered a bit from the antics of your typical cozy heroine.
The Antique House Murders by Leslie Nagel is the second book in The Oakwood Mystery Series. While the first book in the series, The Book Club Murders, focused more on reading and murder mysteries, this mystery focuses on antiques and old homes. I have to say that I enjoyed The Book Club Murders more than this entry.
Our main character, Charlotte “Charley” Carpenter, is engaging enough. She’s tough, she runs a vintage clothing store, and she’s smart and capable. But, while in the first book, she stays away from the stereotypical cozy mystery heroine antics like investigating an abandoned home alone at night, and refusing to ask for help or discuss clues with law enforcement; here she falls into that behavior. And it was frustrating for me, as actions like this are why I tend to get irritated with cozy mysteries.
I also had a problem with the male lead, Marcus “Marc” Trenault, who happens to be a detective. He and Charley are now in a relationship, and while I loved them together in book one, here Marc was very irritating and controlling. I was disappointed in his behavior here, and was hoping Charley would stand up for herself!
There was one person who stole the show for me, and that is Dmitri St James, Charley’s best friend. Yes, his leather pants make another appearance here, and he’s got a big scene at the end that had me grinning from ear to ear. I just really like him, and his sister, Vanni, arrives in this book, and I hope she sticks around for future installments in this series, as she was great fun.
In terms of the mystery, I guessed who the murderer was right away, but I did enjoy all the different red herrings and plots that came up. I know it sounds like I really disliked this book, and that’s not true. I enjoyed it; it was fun; but it did suffer from the “classic cozy heroine” escapades that come with the genre. I do enjoy reading cozy mysteries, but I do get frustrated with many of the situations our leading ladies end up in, and this one was no exception.
Bottom Line: Enjoyable, but falls prey to typical cozy mystery antics.

This is a fun, fast-paced mystery that hooked me immediately and quickly became a page turner with a great cast of characters, interesting suspects, twists, turns, action, humor and a bit of romance. I really liked Charley Carpenter, owner of Old Hat Vintage Fashions as well as amateur sleuth, and her dynamic and interactions with other folks in Oakwood, especially Detective Marcus Trenault.

Even though this is the second book in the Oakwood Mystery Series, it is the first I have read by Leslie Nagel and I had no problem reading it as a standalone. I liked the book so much I plan to read book one and any future installments.

This is a must-read for cozy lovers or anyone who enjoys a well-crafted mystery. I received a free advance copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my unbiased review.

This is the first book I have read by Leslie Nagel. It is, however, the second book in the Oakwood Mystery series. While I found it easy to dive into and read as a stand-alone book, there were enough clues given in this book about the previous one that it was a bit of a spoiler. If the idea of the series is interesting to you, you might want to consider starting with the first book and reading them in order.

Charley Carpenter is the owner of Old Hat, a vintage clothing store. She is also the girl friend of the town detective, Marc Trenault. She is also a very inquisitive and bold in action woman. When one of her oldest friends and mentors is found murdered, she can't rest until the murderer is brought to justice.

Along with her investigations into the murder, she starts looking into a proposed land re-development of a large estate in town (into much smaller house lots) that has the citizens of the town choosing sides for and against.

The action was great and there is a romantic relationship established (and perhaps a few more in the works.) The relationship between Charley and Marc seems to swing from steamy to argumentative at a drop of a hat. Turbulent is the word that comes to mind.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

This was my first introduction to this author and I am now a huge fan. The story is well-written, it flows smoothly with enough background that it can be read as a standalone. The characters are well-developed and interesting. Charley and Marc have a great dynamic that leaps off the pages. The setting descriptions are fantastic, I live within an hour to Oakwood and can see the community in the pages. The story has humor, mystery, twists, and just enough romance. An excellent addition to the cozy mystery genre. I look forward to reading more by this author.

The Antique House Murders is the second installment of the Oakwood Mystery Series. Charley Carpenter, owner of vintage clothing store Old Hat and amateur sleuth, is shocked to find family friend and auctioneer Calvin Prescott lying in a pool of blood soon after a profitable auction of the contents of Mulbridge House. Although Calvin's office has been trashed, the only thing missing appears to be the listings of items and their new owners from the auction.

After the passing of the Mulbridge family matriarch her children want to tear down the decaying mansion with the intention of creating an estates subdivision. This has caused quite a stir in Oakwood, the preservation society, the neighbor's, and environmentalists all against the proposal. And the head of the preservation society swears there was a second will deeding the property to them to be preserved. With the final planning commission vote fast approaching, and a series of break ins of the homes of those who bought items at the auction, it becomes even more important to try to find the missing will from the one cryptic clue that was discovered.

As Charley delves into matters her detective boyfriend Marc Trenault asks her not to as he worries for her safety, Charley pieces together enough of the puzzle to place herself in serious danger. There is a deranged mastermind behind what is going on, just not who she thought.

Written in a fast paced manner with strong characters and intriguing settings, Ms. Nagel has given us another mystery that twists and turns to the very end. I do recommend this book!

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've had the first book in this series The Book Clum Murders on my Kindle since it came out in September but somehow never got around to reading it. But when I saw the blurb for the 2nd one I knew that there was no way I could resist it so I went on and dove into the series at #2. I'm glad I did! I had no trouble figuring out who was who and how they were connected.
I liked Charley. She knows her business (and what I wouldn't give to go through all the goodies she got at the Mulbridge House!) and is desperately trying to make it work. She's smart and good at reading people though perhaps a little overenthusiastic in her investigations. I liked her relationship with Marcus and really just Marcus in general. He's got a sense of humor and while pride and wanting to keep Charley safe can cause some conflicts he also is willing to listen to her. Dmitri nicely rounds out the cast. He's a good friend and kind of balances out Charley.
The mystery on this was really enjoyable and very well done. I enjoyed watching Charley and Marcus get to the bottom of it. This was a fun read and I would pay serious money to explore Mulbridge House (without all the murder of course)! I'm looking forward to revisiting Oakwood very soon.

This book got off to a slow start for me, but I am glad I persisted. Once there was a dead body, the story was off and running. A couple TSTL moments, but our adorable protagonist overcame the odds without always having a man save her at the last moment. Fun romance with no explicit sexual details, we just know the duo are doing it. I am eagerly awaiting the next one in the series.

Not having read the first book I was pleasantly surprised by how easily and quickly I became immersed in the storyline! This is definitely a book that holds the attention while not resorting to crass tactics. I've already purchased book one an plan to read it immediately! I will link that review at a later time. Back to my review of book two of the Oakwood mysteries! The "scooby" gang is apparently riding again with our main character and sleuth Charley "Daphne" Carpenter looking into the murders of Augusta Mulbridge & Calvin Prescott. Talk about a lot going on! This story has more suspects than you can shake a stick at. But between suspects and motives I couldn't figure out who done it! Which only added too the reading pleasure. Charley's love interest detective Marc has been busy attempting to find a group of violent robberies. While looking into the

Charley Carpenter, proprietor of Old Hat, a vintage clothing store, is looking forward to getting her hands on the clothes, hats and shoes she has purchased from the Mulbridge estate. To her horror, when she and her friend admitting arrive at the shop of Calvin Prescott, they find him dead.
Charley, who has helped the local police department with a few cases, figures on investigating. Her boyfriend, Marc, a cop, asks her to stay out of it. That's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She should have followed his advice because things turn out to be pretty complicated.
Looking forward to the next installment.

The Antique House Murder is the second book in the Oakwood Mystery series. This is a standalone with no cliffhanger, though it is open-ended for future books in the series. There is described violence, this is a murder mystery after all.

The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I'm not going to repeat that all of that info here. The author did a great job of explaining and describing the characters and the town. This is a cozy mystery. There are a lot of clues in the storyline that keep you guessing what twists and turns will be revealed next. And they continue to keep coming until the end of the book. It definitely kept me riveted. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.

I look forward to reading more of Leslie Nagel's books. I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and chose to leave a review for other readers.

This is the second book in the Oakwood Mystery Series, the first being the entertaining The Book Club Murders which we reviewed in October, 2016. Amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter, the indomitable young owner of a vintage clothing shop, is back, this time intent on solving the murder of a friend during an apparent break-in and robbery gone wrong.

Tempers are flaring in Oakwood, Ohio. Plans to demolish an historic old mansion to make way for development are hotly contested, and folks in town are taking sides, sometimes with violent results. With her personal connection to the murder victim, Charley can’t stay out of the action, even though her snooping defies angry warnings from her police detective boyfriend and puts their relationship at risk.

Familiar friends from the first book are here, but we see less of them as Charley takes on more of a solo approach this time that gets her into plenty of trouble. There are enough twists and turns and potentially guilty people to keep the reader unsure of who the murderer might be right up to the end. The author does a good job of moving things along while providing an appropriate amount of description that puts us in close contact with the smells, sights, and sounds of the formerly elegant but now decrepit old house and all the secrets it holds. Charley, her long-suffering boyfriend, and her two best friends are likeable characters who keep things fun and interesting, and Book Two in the Oakwood Mystery Series does not disappoint.

An entertaining and interesting read of a murder in a small town where everyone knows everyone,, Who could do such things and why provides an unfathomable mystery that keeps one guessing to the end. With an interesting cast of likable characters dashes of humour , local intrigue, controversial politics and hair raising events to keep the reader hooked it makes a great holiday read.