It was a fantastic adventure of following Freya and unlock the true murder of what happened with Arthur.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review.
I know absolutely nothing about Antiques! But was attracted to this book because I enjoy a good mystery and thought I might learn a few things. And, I did!!! C.L. Miller has written a delightful debut novel in which the search for stolen antiques and antiquities collide with murders, and along the way we are treated to a host of characters from Freya, who is the lead protagonist of the story, to her Aunt Carole, her semi-grandfather Arthur who got her started in the antique profession over 20 years ago and who eventually caused her to leave the profession until she is suddenly pulled back in. Something is fishy about Arthurs's demise and Freya and Carole are on the hunt to figure out what all the clues lead to and what Arthur is trying to tell her from beyond the grave. The mystery takes us to an English Manor, and we learn about antique "banks" as we are joined by a shady group of characters who are all trying to find the valuables that appear to be hidden in the house. Nobody is as they appear, and everyone has their own agenda as the group meets for a weekend gathering where all things are hopefully going to be resolved. A very well plotted books with believable characters, this is a fast paced book that is easy to read and hard to put down. The author does a very good job of keeping us guessing as to the murderer, and I must admit that I was fooled!!! What I also like is that we know from the last chapter of the book that this appears to be the first of a series of books, and that there could be a group of repeat characters that we will follow as we delve into the world of antiques and murder. Top notch effort!!!!

The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder is a well written mystery in the classic form, and the debut novel by C.L. Miller. Due out 6th Feb 2024 from Simon & Schuster on their Atria imprint, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a well rounded cozy(ish) mystery with surprising side plot-threads into skullduggery, international antiquities repatriation, murder, and black-market crime. It's got a classic limited-suspect pool, and much of the action occurs at an isolated country house. The characters are varied, quirky, well rendered, and with an amateur sleuth in the lead who has a complex back story revealed over the course of the book.

The author imbues the story with a great deal of background info on arts and antiquities, and is clearly well versed in the subject, which adds a nice bit of verisimilitude and interest to the storytelling. The nuts and bolts of the plot are well constructed, and although readers who are fans of the form will likely have much of the reveal worked out before the denouement, the author manages to toss a few nice twists in at the end, à la Christie.

The story is told in alternating chapters, with main character Freya's chapters in first person, and the other characters' PoV in 3rd person. A challenging form, but the author manages it well and the whole is readable and engaging.

Four stars. It would make a good choice for public library acquisition, as well as for mystery book club selection, and for fans of classic British mystery. Quite well written. The epilogue seems to point to further planned adventures for Freya and her quirky Aunt Carole.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN GOOD! THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AMAZING! This fell so short for me, I wanted to love this

The strong points of the book were the knowledge of antiques by C.L. Miller and her enthusiasm. I really liked that the story was told from different points of view. There was also one minor character who seemed very interesting and I would have liked to learn more about her. On the other hand, I did not find the protagonists compelling. I found that there was too much introspection by one of them and I found the other one annoying and dreaded when she would appear in the story. The main character seemed to have an interesting backstory but it just took too long to get there. Overall the book was a pleasant read. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advance reader copy.

Freya Lockwood is a former antique hunter, but that’s long passed. Now her only child is off to college and her ex is ready to sell the house she lives in as he moves on with his life and she’s feeling stuck.

When Freya’s aunt calls to let her know about the suspicious death of Freya’s former antiques employer, and her aunt’s best friend, she’s once again back in a world of international intrigue, antiques, and … murder. Freya has never felt more alive.

I loved this!! This was the perfect Cozy Mystery that I needed in my life! Absolutely obsessed with this. I need more, quickly!! Loved it!!
I just reviewed The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller. #NetGalley
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Loved this one! Whodunnits are a favorite of mine, and as the season gets cozier in my hemisphere of the world, cozy mysteries are starting to stack up on my shelf.

Freya is a divorced mother of one who had a background in finding antiques/pieces of history and returning them to their rightful place. She left the business due to some mysterious circumstances and now hates her mentor. Well now her mentor has died and has left some clues making it seem like the death was unnatural. Freya gets dragged into solving Arthur's death with her Aunt Carole.

Speaking of Aunt Carole, she is an ABSOLUTE HOOT. I love her and the fact that her role in life is to distract others and be the loudest one in the room. Whether that means outrageous story or flashy outfit.

Freya and Carole learn more about the mystery behind Arthur's death and you get to watch Freya regain her confidence in the investigation field.

10/10 cozy read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for my review copy! Traditional contemporary cozies are not my favorite cup of tea. If they're heavy on the typical British cozy elements of; the countryside, red herrings, maybe an old lady solving murders and some hygge, then I will give them more of a consideration. This book was a good mix of the two. I enjoyed the location descriptions; my inner Ms. Marple loves a good village. I enjoyed the relationship between the main character, Freya & her aunt Carole as they hunted for clues & for missing antiques. The character of Freya was annoying though; being in her mind the whole time was tedious and whiny. I'm guessing this wont be a stand alone, and we'll be seeing more of Carole & Freya in the future (hopefully, with more Carole & less Freya). Check it out!

I was first drawn to this book because of the title. This was a who done it mystery that reminded me of Agatha Christie. Freya Lockwood has been left clues by Arthur to unlock the mystery of his death. This will all lead back to Cairo and she will discover the truth that he tried to hide from her.

Freya at first isn't sure of herself and her ability to solve the mystery. Then as she slowly remembers all the lessons that Arthur taught her she gains confidence. She slowly unravels all the riddles left behind.

Her Aunt Carole always believes in her and encourages her. She loves her and nurtures her as best she could after tragedy of loosing her parents.

This was a quirky, cozy mystery that will sure to entertain you.

This fun mystery was the perfect mix of fast paced and cozy. I love a whodunnit and how much to mix in antiques and archaeology. I would gladly follow our protaganist, Freya, through more stories.

Loved this book! National treasure meets Miss Maple in this charming debut about solving a long ago mystery, hunting down clues and fishing one’s self again.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

First time reading C L Miller. I enjoyed The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder. No spoilers. Writing is solid, characters well developed, and keeps a good pace for reader. Really like an intelligent lead. Good lead in for a series. Hope to see more of Freya Lockwood (main character).

I received an e-galley of this book compliments of NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I love a good whodunnit and this one did not disappoint. It was like Agatha Christie meets Knives Out.

I highly recommend reading this one but you will have to have some time set aside because you won't want to put it down.

I thoroughly enjoyed this quick, cozy murder mystery. It was a nice side-step from my typical reads.

The pacing of this was excellent, and I felt that the stakes remained high throughout the book. Short chapters kept me coming back for more. Though primarily told through the MC’s perspective, other characters’ POV take over as the story unfolds to keep the reader guessing at their involvement and intentions.

If you’re a cozy mystery fan (or just interested in trying out this genre), I think this was a solid debut from C.L. Miller!

Thank you Net Galley and Atria Books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Freya has just sent off her daughter to university in America, and her dick of an ex-husband is selling her house out from under her. When her Aunt Carole—who raised Freya after her parents died in a fire when she was 12—calls her to say that her former mentor Arthu (with whom Freya had fallen out) is dead and has named her in his will, Freya’s curiosity gets the better of her. She drives up to the small village where her Aunt Carole lives and is unexpectedly thrust back into the exciting world of antiques (both legally traded and some not so legally) that she left behind two decades ago.

The acknowledgements made me cry. This is such a love letter to CL Miller’s parents, and especially her mum who was on Antiques Roadshow for years. Miller even started out as an editorial assistant for her mum. Adorable. And the aunt is based off of her godparent and former Bond girl Carole Bouquet. Wild.

I do think there were some clunky devices and dialogue, but overall, this was a lot of fun. It very much fulfills the National Treasure, Indiana Jones, intrigue, mystery lover in me. I definitely understand the comp to Thursday Murder Club, though I think the tones are very different. Thursday Murder Club is very intentionally funny, I find, and this was more cozy (even with murder…) Overall, it was just a lot of fun, and I think the series that’s being set up is going to be delightful, especially given Miller’s closeness to this subject matter.

emotional-abuse, inheritance, relatives, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, cozy-mystery, unputdownable, suspense, stalker, antiques, grieving, country-house, England, small-town, small-business

I hope that this is the beginning of a new, fun mystery series!
Freya Lockwood has returned home at the request of her eccentric aunt Carole when a family friend and former mentor is found dead in his antique shop. The man leaves Carole his antiques business and a sequence of clues to follow assisted by Freya. The goal is to find his murderer and more. The characters are fun and well developed, there are a plethora of suspects, and a slew of red herrings. The pacing is irregular at times, but firsts are there to get the wrinkles out. Fun read!
I requested and received an EARC from Atria Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers at Atria for providing this digital ARC in return for an honest review.
I am an Agatha Christie, Knives Out, wrap-yourself-in-a-blanket-while-trying-to-figure-out-whodunnit-type of gal.
This premise and the fact that it’s a debut for author C. L. Miller grabbed me immediately. Freya Lockwood must return to her hometown that she’s been avoiding as long as possible upon the mysterious (and potentially murderous) death of her mentor and fellow antique-lover. Freya’s avid past as a detective capable of reuniting lost antiques with their true and original owners has been locked away and stored tightly - but she’ll need to tap into those skills to solve this case and uncover the suspicions and motives of all involved.

Freya spent childhood with her Aunt Carole and had inherited an eye for beautiful pieces from both of her parents. Alongside Arthur Crockleford, Freya threw herself into the passion of restoring stolen antiquities to their rightful owners. Aunt Carole begs Freya to take a closer look into what happened to Arthur.

The story is told in first person from Freya’s POV. (I’m not the biggest fan of first person - I tend to struggle with liking a MC in general and find that feeling trapped inside their mind makes it worse).

I enjoyed that while the story unfolds, we experience multiple POVs that leave the reader guessing about multiple characters’ motives and eager to discover more.

As far as what I disliked, several moments Freya reminisces about feel disjointed, thrown haphazardly into the story to provide more depth to the character, but dwelling on everything lost to Freya over and over again, which began to be tiring. Ultimately I found the mystery of this story to be fairly boring and found the characters flimsy and hard to connect with - once the big reveal happened I remained unimpressed.

The writing was skillful and the antiques knowledge interesting in of itself, but otherwise this fell flat.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

This mystery was a slow revelation of past events being revealed while finding a murderer. Overall, everything felt very slow. It never really felt like there was any danger, when there really should have been.

I was hoping for more Indiana Jones like characters, but sadly, that wasn't the case.

I feel like this is a good definition of "average" for a book.

I didn't fully gel with the tone of this book, but it was diverting enough and I very much appreciate the way cozy mysteries are going more traditional/mainstream mystery. The British charm was there in spades, too, which was nice for this US reader.