Book Review: The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder
A Bella Winter Mystery (Book Two)
The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder
Series: A Bella Winter Mystery (Book Two)
Written by: Clare Chase
Published by: Bookouture
Publication date: January 17, 2025
Mystery type: English cozy mystery
One early morning, Bella Winter joins her fellow villagers in Hope Eaton to climb the hill to Sweet Agnes' Spring. The villagers make this pilgrimage every May Day to greet the dawn and leave small tokens.
Bella is enjoying the experience, the flowers, and the companionship when one of the offerings catches her eye: a doll stuck full of pins. The doll looks just like Mary, a strict local school secretary being terrorized by several bizarre threats.
Bella gets drawn into the puzzling mystery when she visits Mary to make antique acquisitions for Vintage Winter. The clues are wild. There are footsteps on Mary’s garden path that don’t go away until scrubbed, puddles of water and rotting weeds on her doorstep, a menacing cloaked figure spying on her, and other strange occurrences that don’t seem to add up but do seem to relate to the curse of Ginny Greenteeth.
According to local folklore, your days are numbered if Ginny the river hag leaves her mark on your doorstep. Bella isn’t sure who is playing nasty tricks on Mary, but instinct and the clues tell her that Mary has more than one enemy.
Bella is no stranger to digging for the truth. She’s already solved one Hope Eaton mystery, and her ability to read people comes naturally, thanks to her antique hunting experience and the training she received from her late police officer father.
I loved this cozy mystery!
Clare Chase is a master mystery writer. She very cleverly places all of the clues, red herrings, and twists in just the right places. Her amateur sleuth in this series is also quite delightful. Bella is smart, strong, kind, and easy to root for. Her love of vintage items is fun, and her desire for justice is admirable.
The folklore hook grabbed me immediately at the start of the book. Several suspects were established right away, which was nice—I enjoyed getting right to the mystery. I was curious to see how everything would play out as the plot developed. The pacing worked well for me; it was nice and steady throughout. I found the ending both exciting and satisfying.
Overall, I think this series is a real winner. I loved The Antique Store Detective, the first book in the Bella Winter Mystery series. It was one of my favorite reads of 2024, and I am very glad I continued on with the series. I thoroughly enjoyed The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder, and I am really looking forward to reading book three, The Antique Store Detective and the Deadly Inheritance, which will be released on August 28, 2025.
Review disclosure: Cozy Crime Reads received an advanced reader copy of The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder from Net Galley and Bookouture. This did not influence the review.
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