thought the premise of this book was very interesting and was super excited to get an e-ARC. I think that this book started off really great, but ultimately didn't blow me away like I thought it would.

I think that the character of Freya was the most fleshed out of all the characters which was good for the story, but I felt like there were certain other perspectives that I wish we would have gotten a little more back story of to help us see the complex relationships that were going on behind the scenes.

I felt like the plot of the book was interesting but the ultimate reveal was not shocking in my opinion. I think that the pacing was done well and the overall story flowed nicely.

I think if you are new to the mystery genre that this will be a very fun one to pick up because it is a great ohmage to great mystery staples.

I would consider reading more from this author because this is a debut and I feel like this author's work can only get better from here.

I just reviewed The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ebook.
A great story/murder mystery, I have wanted to nothing all weekend but sit with my nose in this book. The characters are mostly well developed, the back story is a little thin or perhaps it’s just that I cannot imagine pining for a lost love for 2 decades, however this twist is necessary to keep the plot intact. I’m not a huge antique enthusiast but this does not distract from the story and has given me a greater appreciation for the genre. There are a few edits still needed, word repetition and sentence structure mainly. Overall a really engaging read!!

This book starts strong and has some significantly well written passages adn a good premise, but an overly complex mystery and the consistent change of voices detracted from full enjoyment. While Freya's voice is first person, the other characters' voices are not. By the end, i didn't much care "who done it" and just wanted the resolution. I would have liked more on Freya's personal life as well, a secondary storyline that seems unresolved.

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder is author C.L. Miller’s debut novel. It combines antiques, the thrill of the hunt (for said antiques), and an interesting mystery involving the death (or murder?) of Arthur, a well-respected antiques dealer. The two main characters are Freya, who worked with Arthur twenty years ago, and Carole, Freya’s aunt and a dear friend to Arthur. When too many things don’t add up, Freya and Carole are determined to find out who killed the elderly man and why.

I really expected to like this book more than I did. What’s not to like? Antiques, a variety of potentially interesting characters, and a mystery that seriously needs some unraveling. But, there are several things that, in the end, turned the tide for me.

It was often mentioned that Freya, because of an incident in Cairo, left her job as an antiques hunter and always regretted it. This is mentioned, in various ways, over and over again. Her constant ruminating on her past and what might have been became quite tedious and I found it to be distracting and irritating.

Furthermore, Freya’s daughter Jade, was a distraction that didn’t seem to serve any real purpose and the same goes for the matchmaking segments engineered by Aunt Carole. As a result, the story felt a little choppy or maybe disjointed is a better description and it just didn’t flow very well. The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder isn’t too bad for a debut novel and I’m curious as to how the series will develop. NetGalley provided an advance copy.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This was one of 2024 ‘s most anticipated books and I enjoyed it. It's a unique murder mystery and quite enthralling. It tells the story of Freya who is saddened when she finds out that her mentor Arthur has passed on. Working hand in hand with her eccentric Aunt Carole ,they follow clues while on a quest to find Arthur’s killer . This book is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and whoddunit mysteries. It’s fast paced ,well developed and the character development was done well.

I though that The Antique Hunters Guide to Murder was a fun closed door mystery. A quick read that was also exciting and educational. I liked the depth to the characters. The FMC shows great growth throughout the story and its a testament to the authors writing. Unfortunately I found the ending a bit predicatable but it was a fun read none the less.

I love antiques and finding treasures so I was really hoping going into this book to gain a little more knowledge and I was so happy that I did. I have to say that my absolute favorite thing about this book was how well researched it was. When the characters were talking about certain antiques, I found that I wanted to research them myself see just what they were talking about. I was only too happy to find that they were actually real!

After a falling out with her mentor, Freya has been out of the antique hunting game for 20 years. But when that mentor, Arthur, turns up dead inside his antiques shop, Freya and her aunt Carole (who also happens to be Arthur's close friend) are tasked with solving his murder and bringing some antiquities forgers to justice. Or at least I think they're supposed to be doing that second part. Even after reading the book, it's hard to tell if that last bit was one of Arthur's assignments from beyond the grave. The plot's a bit murky, and several of the characters are a bit bland (though that definitely cannot be said of Carole, who is larger than life in the best possible way). This was definitely set up as a potential series starter, and I can only hope that the second book finds Miller on more solid ground.

Unfortunately this one just didn't do it for me. I wasn't getting hooked in the mystery early on as I wasn't finding the concept to be too compelling or executed in a unique enough way to hook me.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

When I was a reference librarian, I adored Miller’s Guide to Antiques, so when I learned the author of this delightful mystery is part of the Miller family, it was a bonus reading experience!

Miller has delivered a clever mystery featuring two endearing and super-smart characters in Carole and Freya. The author does an excellent job with dialog, description, plotting and pacing although I admit I got a little irritated with the numerous references in the early chapters to the dirty deed done to Freya in Cairo. Just tell us what it was, for goodness sake!

The deeper I got into the book, the more engrossed I became because the mysterious elements abounded! I hope this becomes a series with Carole and Freya going on all sorts of adventures.

Nicely done.

A former 'antique hunter', Freya has been out of the game for quite some time and finds herself being pulled back in with the death of a man who was like a grandfather to Freya. As she investigates the murder, you see Freya grow and trust her own abilities.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. I enjoyed the pacing, atmosphere and the characters. The execution gave me some Agatha Christie vibes. It reminded of And Then There Were None. It was hard to tell who was guilty of the crime. We have glimpses into each suspects motives for being there. Alternative perspectives always appeal to me. The heroine, Freya, grows quite a bit from the beginning to the end. And Carole is a hoot! The ending is set up in such a way that we could get more. I am hoping we do
I recommend this book if you enjoy cozy mystery.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an e-arc of the book. The opinions expressed are honest and my own.

THE ANTIQUE HUNTER'S GUIDE TO MURDER by C.L. Miller has an interesting premise: murder in an antique shop and later suspects gathered in a country manor filled with (real?) antiques. However, the preview copy I had needed some significant editing with the first two dozen chapters referring to something "being off" or "not quite right" at least five or six times. That stylistic device quickly became annoying. The main characters are an elderly bookshop owner, Arthur Crockleford, who dies very early on; Freya, his former assistant who becomes entangled in solving his murder; and Carole, Freya's aunt and longtime friend to Arthur. Yes, there are antiques and a defined set of suspects, but this all made me think of a quote from Stevenson (in Everyone on This Train is a Suspect) whose character (a writer) offers a hard no on the prologue because "it's like saying 'hey, we know this book takes a while to get going, but it'll get there.' Then the poor reader is just playing catch up until we get to the murder." Sadly, Miller seems to do just that – a murder and then not achieving much suspense or tension in the story as the reader plods along. The characters are likeable, though, and maybe their next outing will be more adventuresome. 3.5 stars

A fun debut mystery that will appeal to the treasure hunter in us all.

This is a good spin on the country house mystery trope, an antiques and antiquities scam fused with a murder mystery. Miller clearly has the expertise to delve into some heavy duty antiques stuff, and I wish she’d leaned into that more. It’s also tough to get he little bits of detail on the protagonist’s backstory relating to a forgery scheme gone bad without much expansion into it.

Essentially, it’s all plot, which is fine, but I would have preferred Miller use her knowledge to give us more about the objects and the story surrounding them at the expense of less dialogue between characters serving only to sort the central mystery.

The mystery itself is fine, satisfactorily solved and very standard to the genre. But there’s a missed opportunity here to really lean into the theme and give the antiques enthusiasts a little something extra. This would have helped a lot with the atmosphere of the book as well, which is solid in some parts and a bit thin in others.

In all, I wanted more out of this, but as a fun, quick-read mystery it gets the job done.

this was sadly SUCH a disappointment for me. I loveee the world of Antiques Roadshow so I thought I’d love this book! it could be because it is a debut but I just did not click with Miller’s writing, this book was such a slog to get through with paragraphs of mundane details. it really lost the plot which made me not care about the mystery at its core

This book just didn’t have enough going on. Most good cozy mysteries have some kind of subplot, or more info about their “specialty,” in this case, antiques . There was that antique bird and some other vague antiquities, but I just didn’t get excited about the subject.

I also got some of the characters confused, because their personalities weren’t distinctive enough. I think many of the characters needed a tad more pizazz. And daughter Jade served almost no purpose at all,

I think, with a little more editing, this book could have been much better.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. This is a new author for me, and I was intrigued. The blurb gave a Indiana Jones/Lara Croft vibe, and it delivered. Freya Lockwood is in her forties, divorced, and distressed at the sale of her home when she learns her mentor and dear friend to her Aunt Carole, Arthur, has died. She goes to her aunt's side despite her own estrangement from Arthur over an incident 20 years ago when she was working with him in his antique business. Carole suspects Arthur was murdered, and at the reading of the will, they learn he has left a mystery behind.

This is multilayered story. There's the mystery of Arthur's death at the surface, then there is the mystery of why he sent Freya on this hunt. Relationships are a huge part of the story, as is redemption. The mystery elements are well paced and engaging. I liked the characters and seeing the story from differing perspectives. The antagonists in the story are complex with family concerns of their own so I like the continuing them of family.

I honestly enjoyed this one and like that threads are left for another adventure. My only complaint is that I did not like the resolution/justice aspect with one particular situation.

This Agatha Christie-esque, cozy mystery set it in the world of illegal antique trading, follows Freya and her Aunt Carole as they seek to uncover the mystery behind her mentor’s death.

Though not a true locked room mystery, this story leaned heavily in that direction. The characters were interesting and the writing sharp but I would have loved to see this go further into the adventure and repatriation aspects of the antique hunting world that were teased.

This was enjoyable but has promise for even greater things if Miller plans to release a series.

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder released 2/6/24. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

ARC Review ~ the Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder~

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m a big fan of cozy mysteries and this fit the bill. Diving into the world of Antique hunting mixed with a murder. The intrigue kept me going and I like how it all unfolded. It’s a nice read for a rainy day.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

C.L. Miller has written a fantastic mystery. Freya Lockwood used to be an antiques hunter, working with her mentor, Arthur, to track down stolen objects and return them to their rightful owners. Then something horrible happened, destroying her relationship with Arthur and sending her into a life of soul-crushing “normalcy.” Now she’s divorced, her daughter is on her own, and Arthur is dead. She goes home to her aunt Carole, who was Arthur’s best friend, possibly more. They find out they’ve been left his antiques store and that he wants Freya to go to a Lord’s country house for an antiquing weekend to verify the provenance of the items there. The two also receive a mysterious letter from Arthur that points them to journals he left behind containing clues of what, they’re not sure. Freya suspects antiquity fraud, but she’s not sure. The only thing they do know is that someone wanted Arthur dead, and now they’re being followed.
They go to the house party, and Freya immediately notices that nothing and no one is as they seem to be. She and Carole are determined to find the killer and figure out why Arthur sent them on this mysterious mission.

The story is fantastic. The mystery is fascinating, but even more than that, I enjoyed Freya coming into her own and finding the person she used to be. The characters are well drawn, and Ms. Miller’s knowledge of antiques enhances the book and makes brings you right into the world of the characters and the high stakes antiquities trade. .

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Freya Lockwood’s past is knocking at her door. When her aunt’s best friend and her old mentor, Arthur Crockleford, dies and leaves Freya as his heir; Freya is thrown back into the world of antiques. It’s been more than 20 years since she’s been a part of the antique hunting game, and with Arthur’s suspicious death comes the invitation to attend an antique hunting weekend. Along with her aunt Carole, Freya is off to Suffolk to get answers not only for Arthur’s death but also to get the truth of events that happened more than two decades ago.

This is such a cute premise. I really like the idea of this black-market antique hunting and restoration of valuable antiques to the places they truly belong. Add in a cozy mystery and I think this has all the key elements to be a great little mystery series.

I’d love to give this book all the stars, but I really struggled with the pacing of the story and the repetitive nature. At only 304 pages, it felt like a much longer story and felt slow and off balance. In addition, Freya’s constant alluding to past events made it hard to focus on the ‘now’ events. The back-and-forth perspective wasn’t flushed out fully enough, and I think just laying the initial incidents out up front would have made the story flow better.

I loved the antique portion of the book and Carole is the best eccentric supporting character. The ending definitely set this book up to be a part of a series and I’d certainly pick up the next installment. If you’re looking for a new cozy series this one might be for you. 3.5 stars rounded to 3.



The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder is out now. Huge thanks to Atria for my copy, in exchange for my honest review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.