Estate of Mind (Den of Antiquity)

A Faux Van Gogh

When North Carolina antique dealer Abigail Timberlake makes a bid of $150.99 on a truly awful copy of Van Gogh's The Starry Night, she's just trying to win Mama's approval by supporting the church auction. Hopefully, she'll make her money back on the beautiful gold antique frame. Little does she expect she's bought herself a fortune...and a lot of trouble.

A masterpiece to kill for

When her ex-boyfriend shows up and offers ten bucks for the ugly Starry Night, Abby pops the frame and is stunned to discover hidden behind the faux Van Gogh canvas a multi-million dollar lost art treasure. Suddenly she's a popular lady in her old hometown, and her first visit is from Gilbert Sweeney, her schoolyard sweetheart (according to him), who claims the family's painting was donated by mistake. But social calls quickly turn from nice to nasty as it's revealed that the mysterious masterpiece conceals a dark and deadly past and some modern-day misconduct that threatens to rock the Rock Hill social structure to its core. Someone apparently thinks the art is worth killing for, and Abby knows she better get to the bottom of the secret scandal and multiple murders before she ends up buried six feet under a starry night.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

If You Build a Better Mouse Trap..., 2005-06-27
I have come to really like this series but the author really needs to pay more attention to her overall story line. In this book the author claims that Abigail Timberlake inherited her antique shop from her aunt but anyone who read the leadoff book of the series knows that Abby already had her shop before the aunt in question dies. In the second book, the man who had inherited the shop had disappeared and Jane Cox, CJ to her friends, was in that shop. There was never any explanation as to how CJ got the shop but Abby certainly didn't inherit it. One wonders just how much attention Ms. Myers pays to her own stories. There are also several typographical and grammatical errors in this book that the editor most certainly should have fixed. Those I can live with but the inconstancies have to stop.

Beyond these problems, this is another fun mystery featuring the feisty Abigail Timberlake and her oddball friends and family. I always begin these books with a great deal of anticipation in regards to what Abby's mother will be up to in the new installment. This book finds her learning an African language so that she can go to Africa and be a missionary. She doesn't plan on going through her church or consulting the Bishop, she is just going to hop on a plane, fly to Africa and start doing missionary stuff. She finally agrees to at least talk to the Bishop who urges her to pray about it and in the end she decides that instead of being a missionary she will join a health club that masquerades as a sex emporium. Along the way she openly lusts after a young biker named Fred.

This story revolves around a very important and valuable painting that Abby buys at a church auction. The valuable painting is covered by a rather shabby fake but Abby buys it for the frame, only to discover the treasure she has once she gets home. Almost immediately, she finds herself being followed and watched by a guy named Mouse Trap among others, and once again, without waiting for the police to take action, Abby begins to investigate on her own. As normal, Abby stumbles and bumbles along, nearly gets killed, looses her cat to a catnapper, and only solves the mystery when the principles confess. While all of this is happening Abby manages to alienate all of her friends but CJ whom she sets up with a policeman who is, like CJ, from Shelby and who tells the same kind of scatterbrained stories.

Tamar Myers has a great talent for writing and for creating a wonderful set of characters. The mysteries are seldom the central focus of the plot but the story is so much fun that I seldom care. This book, like the previous ones in the series is great fun and often laugh out loud funny. No, this is not a deep scintillating mystery but it was never meant to be. It was meant to be a warm fuzzy mystery that is a load of fun, and that is exactly what it is.


1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

I never know what to grade these stories., 2004-02-13
I always have a problem with giving Tamar Myers' stories a rating. The idea behind the books is usually a good one, and there is some humour, but they are truly lacking in some key areas. Ms. Myers really needs an editor for her books. She contradicts herself throughout the books. Also, she requires some help in basic writing skills. She overuses a lot of words consistently (ie: wailing). Also, her main characters are quite rude, and there comes a time when that is no longer that funny. I always thought Abigail was less abrasive than Magdalena, but in this book I couldn't tell the difference. In this book, Abigail stumbles upon what might be a priceless work of art hidden behind a hideous copy that she purchased at a church bazaar. It turns out that some truly nasty people knew what was hidden behind the terrible front picture and are after Abby and her family in order to get the priceless work back. The other characters in the book are still likeable, Abby's mother, CJ and some of the characters we see only in this book are fairly well drawn, but it's hard to enjoy all this with the glaring errors.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Wailing and more wailing...., 2004-01-21
Why do Tamar Myers' characters have to wail? What a whiny, annoying thing to keep writing. It's very distracting, since I have to roll my eyes every time I see it, which is often! Abby lets everyone walk all over her and stands around and wails. I'd have told Mama where to get off a long time ago. Yes, Magdalena Yoder from Myers' other series is mentioned here; a police officer is also named Yoder. Can't she find another name to use? Both Abby and Magdalena are the same character, or should I say caricature? One is huge and Mennonite, the other tiny and Southern Christian. Otherwise, indistinguishable from each other.
All that said, these are easy, quick reads and the stories are pretty fun. They'd get 5 stars if not for the irritating main characters!


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

"Estate" is Excellent, 2002-06-30
When Abby buys a bad painting for the frame at a church auction, she discovers a Van Gogh underneath. Life isn't the same after that in this page-turner. Ms. Myers is in top form, with many new characters thrown into the plot pot, as well as the usual gang of family and friends. Lovable goof C.J. is matched up with a cop by Abby and Greg. As for Abby and Greg themselves - it's hard to tell where they're headed. I feel like shaking Abby and saying, "Wake up! He's a hunk - he loves you! What are you waiting for??" (I get involved.) Congratulations to Ms. Myers for another winner.


1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Estate of Mind, 2002-02-07
I really love the ending with Adele Trapp. But I find it pretty hard to believe that Dmitri would come out when called. Because the more worried you are the less chance of him coming out. I know it doesn't say that she was worried but if you were about to be killed I think you'd be worried.

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