Highboy

New England Cozy #3

by Steve Sherman

In Steve Sherman's continuing series, this time ex-police detective Hugh Quint drives north to see an old Harvard chum, inventor Miles Cooper, whose schemes are as fluffy as his mother's frosted cupcakes. The sudden murder of the family lawyer and the disappearance (kidnapping?) of Miles' sister Amy draw Quint into the chase of his life through the White Mountains. When a slick trick in Mrs. Sarah Cooper's will is revealed, an extremely valuable Dunlap highboy chest of drawers made in the 18th century turns into a motive for murderous mischief. Once only the seasons changed in sleepy Longfield, New Hampshire, but soon it's Welcome to Psychoville. This back-country mystery with an "Antiques Road Show" twist has suspects popping out of the woodwork like rusty nails.

219 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[David J. McRae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The murder mystery itself was okay... The secondary plot regarding Amy's disappearance was built up decently enough only for it to end with no real pay-off and a disappointing conclusion... The tertiary story with the romance between Hugh and Jean was endearing and I honestly enjoyed it more than the murder mystery itself... While reading the book, I found at times the writing kind of just droned on with irrelevant trivial details while at other times, the details described were too confusing to picture the image itself in my head... Sarah and Jean were my favorite characters in this book... Sarah's blatant detestment of Miles was comical while Jean had a certain allure to her... They were also two of the few characters that weren't totally annoying in some way...

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story, the characters were interesting and likable and the chase through The Flume was outstanding.