Thank you to Net Galley for the advance ecopy of this title. It is a lighthearted read with enough substance to sustain the reader. Emma moves back home to take over her parents' estate sale business when they decide to retire. They also coerce her into renting a room to a former colleague of theirs. This man becomes Emma's friend, and is quite a help with the sales. They are excited to be planning a sale at a house of significant size and stature in their town, until.. they learn it was a brothel! Along the way, Emma reconnects with an old schoolmate who is the chief of police, and her border falls in love with the chief's mother. A very entertaining story.

When her parents retire and move away a young woman takes over their estate sale business. Things get crazy when she signs a deal to organize and sell the contents of a historic mansion that turns out to have been a brothel, and not too far in the past. Lipman always comes through with quirky wit.

This book is a delight from start to end! Emma Lewis, with her masters degree in writing, is a little unmoored, having not really launched a career. When her parents suddenly decide to retire, they pass along their estate sale business and Emma takes over -- a little half heartedly, but what else is she going to do? She gets to live in her parent's house, rent free, while they move to their new condo in Cape Cod, provided she agree to take on a roommate for extra money. The roommate, Frank, is a retired teacher. Together, these two tackle the estate sale business, and find love (with others, not each other). When their biggest sale ever turns out to be a mansion that was once a secret brothel, all their new skills are put to the test. Very fun, romantic story that is great to recommend to Elinor Lipman readers, and readers who enjoy books by Anne Tyler, Elin Hilderbrand, and Susan Mallery.

Emma’s mother and stepfather spring taking over their estate sale business because they want to retire. Oh, and they’ve already gotten her a roommate - a retired teacher whose wife was just killed by lightening on the golf course. Humor abounds as she takes on a client who may or may not have run a house of ill repute and just happened to be the ex-wife of the disgraced former chief of police. Laugh out loud circumstances and found family combine for a winning read.

Emma has taken over the family estate sale business and has landed a big client. This is either a cause for celebration or concern when she learns that the popular B&B she thinks she is planning an estate sale for was actually the town bordello. Not wanting to step on toes she is trapped between selling everything interesting or selling everything scandalous. Small towns love nothing better than gossip and secrets and there is a big one she is hiding - she is secretly dating the police chief. Lots of fun and romance with a small town vibe and the laugh out loud high jinx Elinor Lipman knows oh so well. Fans of J. Ryan Stradal will love this! My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Delightful. Not flawless. There were times when the plot became a bit too hectic, farcical or ridiculous. But largely and characteristically this was a deft, funny and diverting read, with lots of wit and charm. Lipman is not an author who delivers large scale pizazz. It’s generally a small canvas with her, and an uncontroversial but engaging job of mining quirky, attractive characters. Same here. Lots of good one-liners and some folk you’d be happy to meet. More please.

Elinor Lipman never disappoints! This book is a full -on comedy of manners, with a bit of romance too. The sly, quiet humor, the human foibles...its all there.

This was such a fun book with offbeat characters (roommates dating a mother and son), very weird circumstances (an estate sale at a "house of ill repute", and small town setting in the middle of Massachusetts, where everyone knows everyone else's business. It is also about a seldom written profession--estate liquidators. Anyone who has ever watched Antiques Roadshow or been to the giant flea market at Brimfield MA. will enjoy the premise of this book--and chuckle at the ending... There are "nests" where "business" is conducted ( and not B and B business), secret rooms, and a wedding in a school gym. All in all a fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously.

3.5 stars

Elinor Lipman is always a spirit lifter. Her daily life comedic novels have unforgettable characters dealing with quirky situations. This story features Emma, who has taken over her parents' estate sale business. It's not what she expected doing and she's not really sure how she feels about it.

The first life-altering event is that she takes in a boarder -- an older retired teacher who worked with her folks. Frank is recently widowed under strange circumstances -- his wife was killed by a lightning strike and he wants to get out of the house where they lived together. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Many more odd and fascinating details emerge about their situation.

Meanwhile, Emma finds out about a house full of stuff that is coming on the market -- and then discovers it was actually part b&b, part bordello. While reeling from the idea that her community had its own house of ill repute, she also wants to capitalize on the opportunity to make some money.

Frank and she both have love interests, and Frank's new lady friend happens to be the mother of Emma's new boyfriend, the chief of police. It's entertainment with occasional poignancy and quite an enjoyable ride. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Elinor Lipman is one. of my favorite writers and much needed right now when I need to turn off the news cycle and enjoy a book. This was not my favorite of hers, but still enjoyable to read. Please write more books!

I am a big fan of Elinor Lipman and have read all her novels. I found this book a bit thin. The plot was stretched to make it book length, but there wasn’t enough! Lots of characters, gravitating around Emma and her estate sale business. Far too many subplots and definitely some just silly.

I usually stay up night’s reading a Lipman opus, but this one dragged. I think her first book, THEN SHE FOUND ME, is still one of my favorites! I even liked the film version.

Always looking forward to reading more Lipman novels.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of a novel by one of my favorite authors.