Marina Cavanaugh is a antique buyer, she is offered a great deal of money to appraise and oversee the sell of Roger Blandish's estate by his brother Jonathan. Unbeknownst to Marina the only reason Jonathan has hired her was because her name was in a cryptic note that was discovered after his brother's death. I really enjoyed this book. It was well written with interesting characters and a well developed storyline. Marina and Jonathan were great together and had amazing chemistry. The story had great secondary characters, suspense, danger, mystery and love. Highly recommend.

I received an arc from Netgalley. This was an intriguing read and kept me on the edge of my seat.

The story comes off as a cozy mystery but if that is the case it is a little to long.
Well paced story line that will keep readers engaged from beginning to end of the story. The leads in the story are perfectly matched as well as the supporting characters add to the story and there are no throw away characters.

The Riddle Key is a well written mystery. I enjoyed the plot and the author's writing. I recommend this book to fans of mysteries.

Roger Blandish, the brother of Jonathan Blandish, died about two month ago, so Jonathan hires an antiques appraisal business, to inspect and catalogue the content of Roger’s house, in anticipation of selling the house and its contents. The company’s chief appraiser, Marina Cavanaugh, is offered an exorbitant amount to do the appraisal and oversee the sell. Naturally, Marina cannot and does not refuse this offer. However, unbeknownst to her, Jonathan has hired Marina because of a cryptic note his dead brother left that included her name, though she never met Roger or knew anything about him before Jonathan’s offer. Marina is quite surprised she first sees the house and its furnishings, since she sees very little that is worth very much money and cannot understand why Jonathan hired an antiques appraiser. Still, she is committed and stays on the job. As time passes, she learns the truth about Roger’s life and death/murder, which Jonathan had not told her, and is ready to quit, but Jonathan persuades her to stay on. Marina and Jonathan are attracted to each other almost from the start, but both, especially Jonathan, fight this attraction. Marina is also attracted to Jonathan’s mother and young son, Tyler, who never knew his deceased mother. Nevertheless, Jonathan seems to put off Marina and any relationship they might have as much as they want it, because, on his wife’s deathbed, Jonathan vowed to remain true to her and has not looked at or dated anyone since her death six years ago. Raising his young son, tying up his mother to help in this endeavor, has taken a toll on him, which Marina has begun to break down. The story is filled with a lot of different threads and characters, as Marina goes about her job cataloguing Roger’s house, and as Jonathan, his son and his mother come to rely on and appreciate Marina more and more. In the middle of all this, they find that Roger swindled a huge sum and supposedly has hidden jewels, that would fetch quite a huge sum if sold, though no one knows where he hid them or how, or even if, this is connected to his murder—which only adds to the book’s intrigue.

I enjoyed reading this story. The two main characters, Marina and Jonathan were well done, with was good chemistry between them from the star. In particular, I think Jonathan’s young son Tyler stole the show, as he lent a fantastic element to this budding relationship and the story line. One thing that bothered me was the way the author wove the romance into the book, as Marian’s and Jonathan’s romance really did not start to heat up until the last third of the book. Prior to that, they were both sort of dancing around a relationship, trying to keep things almost professional, despite an overwhelming attraction. Also, the ending seemed a bit abrupt without much lead up to it. I had narrowed down the murderer to two characters in the book, and, unfortunately for me, the one who turned out to be the murderer was not the one I had decided. All the characters in the book were well done and fit in nicely to the setting and plot. I agree with one reviewer that Marina seemed a bit young to be in her job position, but I thought that she came across as so well-traveled and educated. I have not read anything else by the author, but hope this will become a series. I am interested in reading more about this couple and especially little Tyler in the future. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Marina Cavanaugh a well respected antiques buyer, is approached by Jonathan Blandish to appraise his recently deceased brother's estate. It soon becomes apparent that more is going on than Jonathan Blandish has informed her. Marina and Jonathan engage in a caustic dance of irritation, attraction, and aggravation. Trust comes gradually as the two work to unravel a mystery, that keeps presenting more questions than answers. .

Antiques. Appraisals. Murder? Two of those things belong together – one does not.

Antiques are Marina Cavanaugh’s bread and butter. When she’s offered a job at an estate appraisal, the money, and the man making the offer, seem too good to be true.
What she doesn’t know when she takes the job is that the man who owned the house was murdered, and that she’s going to be embroiled in a murder investigation, a fraud scheme, a theft, and a love affair.

Jonathan Brandish hires Marina without telling her the real reason he needs her for the appraisal of his brother’s creepy old house and estate. He’s also keeping secret his mounting feelings for the beautiful Ph.D due to a deathbed vow he made his first wife. Soon, though, his attraction can no longer be hidden, and neither can the secrets he’s kept from Marina.

The Riddle Key was the first novel I’ve read by Ms Drager and the plot/story line was a goodie. As a cozy mystery, the who-dun-it portion was fab and I was truly surprised at who the villain turned out to be.

The secondary cast of characters, from Jonathan’s adorable and wise 6 year old son, to the housekeeper of his brother’s estate, were all were formed and added layers of emotion and backstory to the tale.

All in all a worthwhile read and an enjoyable cozy mystery to lose yourself in.

Just ok. I enjoyed the first half more than the second, the intrigue kind of fell apart for me as the romance angle heated up. I guess I just wanted a heavier mystery with a little less picture-perfectness and characters losing much of what made them interesting in the name of ‘love’.

The book had a little of everything, i enjoyed reading it

*thank you to Backlit PR and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2 stars.
While this started out well, it was a bit slow. Id thought it would pick up the further on it got, it didnt, but I was still interested in reading. Then at about chapter 21 (73%) the story turned into too much of a romance novel. Something im really not interested in reading and why my star rating is quite low.

The story was quite gripping.
Marina Cavanaugh , an antiques expert is approached by Jonathan Blandish to assess the antiques left by his late brother. What, Jonathan fails to mention is the way his brother died and the mystery surrounding it. When Marina finds that Jonathan withheld information and tries to leave , she unwittingly gets involved in a murder.

Now Jonathan and Marina must prove their innocence and try to find why Jon's brother specifically asked her to estimate the non-existing antiques.They need to solve the mystery before the actual murderer strikes again.

The book completely kept me hooked. The author made the plot interesting and kept the story flowing smoothly.

Marina Cavanaugh is an antique appraiser and a very good one. Jonathan Blandish has a million dollar business and his brother died 2 months ago. He needs to settle his brother's estate.
Roger's home is dark and dreary and Marina feels very uncomfortable.
This an interesting story, kind of spooky. The characters were rich in life and realistic. The descriptions were great, they left you feeling like someone might be looking over your shoulder. The plot has a lot of threads, the author has woven them into a nice compact, smooth and easy to read tale. I found that I could not put the book down, you were kept on the edge of your seat. I was very surprised at the end. I found it to have humor, mystery, a couple of deaths and a little sex. I loved
how meticulous she was when she went thru things. The interaction between she and Patti was fun but also informative. I highly recommend this wonderful book.
I received this book from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it.