Antiques Fruitcake

A Trash 'n' Treasures Mystery #8.5

by Barbara Allan

It’s curtains at Christmas in a special short “If you delight in the absurd and enjoy manic humor, you’ll treasure the Trash ‘n’ Treasure mysteries.” —Mystery Scene During the dress rehearsal for a festive Christmas play in small-town Serenity, Iowa, star Madeline de Morlaye topples over—on stage!—after a bite of prop pastry. Since the frosty actress had earned plenty of enemies through her offstage dramatics, the cast of suspects is longer than Santa's "Naughty or Nice" list. Prop mistress Brandy Borne and her diva-turned-director mother, Vivian—assisted by their savvy shih tzu, Sushi—must solve this fruitcake fatality before it's curtains for anyone else.Includes A Tasty Recipe!Praise for Barbara Allan and the Trash ‘n' Treasures Mystery Series "Plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor." —Library Journal "A humorous cozy that teems with quirky characters." —Booklist "Thrills, laugh-out-loud moments and amazingly real relationships." —Romantic Times Book Reviews "A hilarious team of snoops." —Joan Hess

Genres: Mystery, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Novella, Christmas

94 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Barbara Allan is a pseudonym used by Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins

Max Allan Collins is a writer of mystery novels, screenplays, comics and historical fiction. Collins has collaborated on numerous short stories with his wife writer Barbara Collins. Together they also write the successful “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” mysteries – their Antiques Flee Market (2008) won the Romantic Times Best Humorous Mystery Novel award in 2009.

There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good, quick read. Not a lot of Christmas, despite the cover, but a good one, anyway.

[Mary Michals · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short and sweet novella! The story is actually a play which was cool to read. The play begins by introducing you to the diva and the rest of the cast of players. The diva dies after eating a piece of fruitcake and the author aka the narrator assists the police with interrogations to find out who did it! The narrator's mother is the producer of the play and narrates the last part of this novella. This was a fun whodunit one and that had me interested from start to finish! I loved the cover on this one with the pup so it was a must read for me!

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet novella. There is a play within the story. We meet the diva and the rest of the cast of players. In short order the diva dies after eating a piece of fruitcake. The author, which is apparently the narrator, assists the police with his interrogations. Much is revealed as to motives until the final reveal. The narrator's mother is the producer of the play, and narrates the last part of the book.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short Christmas story that has now been released in Ho-Ho Homicides paperback, along with Antiques Slay-Ride and Antiques St. Nick. Sheriff Rudder is our police presence during the investigation of an actors death during dress rehearsal.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and to the point

This book was cute and a little funny, but not my favorite of the series. I'm always glad to read the next book in the series.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but it ended too fast. Not much to this one.

[Eva Biediger-games · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh...

Didn't really do anything for me. Not much in the way of compelling story and the Brandy and Vivian interactions were annoying.

[Eva · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess I just expected more from this holiday novella than it delivered. Instead of being light and humorous, the plot and characters were leaden and dull.

[Shawnee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet. Ha ha ha!

[Lenka · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nevyhovoval mi styl psaní ani chování postav. Nic dalšího ze série nebudu určitě číst.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun holiday mystery

This was an awesome Christmas novella! The main characters were well-written and very funny. I want to read the whole series now!

[Kelly Kosinski]

Very cute cover!

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short story

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandy and Vivian

Another Brandy and Vivian mystery. I like the characters but could do without the descriptions of designers clothes and the side conversations! They are TOO cutesy and do NOTHING to enhance thestories

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute read, odd writing style

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this yesterday on my lunch hour at work. Apparently it is part of a series where the main character runs an antique shop. This is just a short (~60 p.) story about a year when the main character, Brandy Borne, is recruited to help her mother, Vivian Borne, with a local theatre production that the mother has written, is producing, and directing. In spite of the fact that it is Christmastime, Brandy agrees to help, because she doesn't feel like fighting with her mother about any of it.

When the leading lady drops dead during the dress rehearsal, seemingly from eating a piece of a fruitcake made as a prop, Brandy and her mother have to determine what happened, and of course the show must go on.

This was entertaining for a lunchtime read. Not engaging enough for me to want to run out and read any of the other in the series, but a nice short amusing story.

[Paula Ratcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so much it is filled with everything humor, mystery, drama. This book follows Brandy and her mother Vivian as they are working on a play to help benefit people during the holiday season.

Early on in the this book Madeline winds up dead and there really are no shortage of suspects could it have been her understudy or a few of the men she had tyrsts with? Or could it be a costume designer she threatened to report? Or is the culprit someone else who had been abused by Madeline?

While this is a short novella it still held the whole murder/mystery aspect and I have to say my favorite part is what we find when Brandy/Vivian/Editor go at it never leaves me without a mad case of the giggles.

[Linda Langford · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short Christmas novella, Brandy Borne is glum because she let her mother, Vivan, talk her into helping with the annual Christmas play at the Playhouse. Living in beautiful Serenity,Iowa, Vivian has written and is directing this years play, The Fruitcake That Saved Christmas, and tonight is dress rehearsal. The leading lady, Madeline, is a drama queen, and about to run everyone else nuts. Vivian has baked two fruitcakes for the run through, and when Madeline eats a bite of cake; it's her final curtain call. As Vivian helps the Sheriff solve the murder, they retrace the evenings timeline and all the player's moves until they have their killer behind bars.

[Daniell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do enjoy these silly books. The characters crack me up they always create their own soap opera. They live and love in their own special way which is quite entertaining. A fun little read that is perfect for,the holiday season.

[Linda Smatzny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute short novella. Read on a kindle. It is a Christmas story about a play written and directed by Brandy's mother. Of course a murder happens but is solved and the play goes on. It was a quick easy read.

[L.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The construction/organization of this story was unique. I enjoyed the format and the story had a nice twist. It's difficult to make a compelling mystery in so few pages but the way this story was laid out lent itself well to that.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story but okay read

One of the shortest stories I've read, but the characters were cute. Fast read. Not great, but good enough if you're just looking for a cute little book to pass the time.

[Steven Vaughan-Nichols · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's a silly mystery novella, but hey it has a shih tzu in it and it's set in a small town theater. works for me!

[Erlyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet mini-mystery featuring the mother/daughter Borne ladies and the always adorable Sushi. A must-read for fans of the series.

[Mary Schildman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short

Good mystery, but a short story not "book" mystery. Very fast read, good characters , and healthy puppy ! Hoping next story is a BOOK. Have pre-order it

[Cathyann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little Christmas story with a flavor of little theater. Barbara Allan tells her stories with a touch of humor which I find enjoyable.

[Laura Landis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick novelette. Glad I got to read this on my Kindle!