In The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C. L. Miller follows Freya, who’s feeling a little lost now that she’s divorced and her daughter has moved away for university. So when Freya’s free-spirited Aunt Carole calls with the news that her best friend Arthur (who was also Freya’s estranged former mentor) has died mysteriously, she returns to her hometown. There, she and Carole start piecing together what happened to Arthur, and it’s not what either expected. They find themselves at a weekend meeting for antiques enthusiasts at a nearby manor house, where Freya must channel the skills she cultivated in her previous career. In doing so, she meets several strange characters, and begins to unravel the truth—and to her surprise, it has to do with what caused her to turn her back on Arthur in the first place. But it could be that she had Arthur all wrong…

This was a fun mystery! The two main characters, Freya and Carole, are delightful, and are the best parts of the book. I love their bond, which is much more daughter-mother than niece-aunt. Carole’s kind of wacky and bold, which is often hilarious, especially compared to Freya’s more methodical and logical nature.

I also thought the main setting, an old English manor house, was a classic but still enjoyable place to solve a mystery. The other characters that populate it are unpleasant, but therefore excellent suspects that keep you guessing. I don’t know if it’s the best-written mystery, in terms of motive and structure, but I still liked being immersed in the strange world of antiques and antiquities. Apparently, there’s a difference!

As I mentioned earlier, Arthur’s death ties in with Freya’s past, which I found to be very compelling. Her tragic backstory connecting to the current circumstances was a good touch, and makes you more invested in both. However, I wish that we’d learned about what happened to cause her falling-out with Arthur in a different way. Maybe a flashback, rather than Freya merely narrating it in her brain randomly, would have been better. Still, I think it was clever how the two events—the drama in Cairo, and Arthur’s death two decades later—were interwoven. I really hope the antiquities world isn’t this dangerous, because I worry about you all now.

In the end, The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder was pretty entertaining. Delightful protagonists, interesting setting, and well-researched realistic elements made for a quick read. You can tell that Miller is fascinated by antiques (apparently, her mother works in that field), and also adores her characters, and I love to see that passion come through. The audiobook narrator Emilia Fox does a wonderful job (though her Southern American accent slipped a little sometimes—which I won’t hold against her; I imagine that it’s a tough one for a Brit). So if you’re a fan of murder mysteries that lean on the cozy side, check this out!

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder is available now!