False Picture

Abbot Agency #2

by Veronica Heley

An Abbot Agency Mystery - Velma is charm itself, especially when shes being inexact with the truth. Now she wants Bea, widowed owner of the Abbot Agency, to check up on her stepson Philip, as hes somehow acquired a valuable picture last seen in the flat of an elderly lady whos been murdered. However, a professional art thief is also after the picture. Can Bea locate Philip and the missing Millais without falling foul of someone who already has several murders to his credit?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Contemporary

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Veronica Heley has published more than fifty books, including crime fiction, historical, and children's titles. She is currently involved in the Ellie Quicke series of crime stories and a variety of other projects. A full-time writer, she has been married to a London probation officer since 1964, and has one musician daughter.

AKA Veronica Thorne

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I read False Charity, the debut novel featuring the intrepid English widow Bea Abbott, I kept thinking she reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t think of whom. In the middle of False Picture, it hit me: M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin — only not so pretentious or man-hungry or silly. So all the cleverness, all the humor, all the quirky characters, all the joy — and no downside!

Readers will love False Picture even more than False Charity. In this second novel, Mrs. Abbott sends the flighty Maggie to move into an apartment flat and discover what has become of Philip Weston, stepson of Mrs. Abbott’s oldest friend. After the murder of his wealthy godmother, both Philip and an oil painting by pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais have vanished. Did Philip have a hand in the miserly old lady’s death? Or was the old lady the victim of a ring of art thieves that have been terrorizing London?

False Picture, with its many sinister characters, proves more suspenseful than the previous novel — and even more delightful. False Charity resembled a cozier Ocean’s Eleven; False Picture instead sets Mrs. Abbott and her motley crew of Maggie and insecure computer whiz Oliver Ingraham to expose and capture a murderous art ring, with danger all along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken along for the ride.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the second edition of the Abbott Agency, we find mixing persons, smuggling, and murder and a mastermind of stolen art. Bea is asked by an old friend, Velma to locate her Stetson, Philip who has gone missing with a valuable picture which was possibly stolen. Maggie moved into the flat where Philip lived. Before you long Maggie is headed to Bruges carrying a present to some friend of a friend. She is unaware the present is stolen art. How will New solve this problem without the aid of the police? I recommend this book.

[Nana Patti · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author is in the wrong century, in my opinion. When she used the phrase “free, white, and twenty-one” to describe someone in her first book, I winced, but gave it a pass. But when she did it again in this book, I decided I’m done.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 3 out of 5]

As corny as Kansas in August..........absolutely absurd, take my word for it! All they do is eat, drink tea/coffee, worry about their make up, cry and bobble along in a blither. The plot has a good premise but is poorly executed.

I did enjoy learning about Millais, an artist I’d never heard of before. Also, all that praying is a big turn-off.

The characters are all screwballs, glad one was eliminated!

As I’ve asked before, are these books supposed to be spoofs or are they just silly? Will I read more in the series, yes, but not for awhile. Please don’t ask me why.

[Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

hardly addictive

The first one was tolerable, but this one is just plain awful. No character development. Completely unbelievable relationships, with characters lying to themselves and others. Writing is confusing.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reader of Heley, who is prolific. False Pictures is: worthwhile, suspenseful, quirky. But, though its book jacket advertises tracking a missing Millais painting, only about 220 sentences in a 178-page book refer to this Pre-Raphaelite painting and its location. Instead, it is a romp through Bruges with wacky, sometimes exasperatingly overdone, characters.

I learned nothing much about John Everett Millais at all. Anyone could have guessed where the missing son had gone to ground. But Bea Abbot remained appealing. Skimmed quickly over evil thoughts of killer, pattern of praying, found a cosy ending.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder and Mayhem

I love the wise and gutsy Bea Abbott - she is just selfish enough to be believable. So nice to have a protagonist in her sixties! But my favorite character is quiet young Oliver. He is so naive and tender-hearted, but like cream, he manages to rise to accomplish what each new crisis requires. Warning: this mystery will give you a good cardio workout! My pulse was thrumming throughout this murder mystery (and the first-person insights from Ralph made my blood run cold). Excellent series for Anglophiles.

[Debbie Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the story of this book but I HATE the characters. They are either rude or extremely selfish. Veronica seems to think all young adults are entitled and self centred. The main character is a snob. The only decent one out of the whole book is Oliver. Its a shame because I really enjoy the story line. 3.5 stars

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is tiresome. I thought I was getting the first book in the series, but ended up with number 2 instead. It reads, however, like the first book--Bea Abbott has just taken over the running of an agency following the death of her husband, and there's a whole lot of hype about "we don't do murders." But clearly they do, and if this is the second book in the series, one imagines they did in the first book. So is this gimmick carried out in every book? There's a ton of fuss and worry over money--huge tax bill due which can't be paid etc. (three years' worth of unpaid taxes while son, now in government [haha] was in charge). But Bea seems to be made of money--she funds trips to Belgium, clothes shopping, taxis and on and on and on. The whole ending is just way too pat. The murderer turns up to give himself away and then ends up dead--presumably killed by the insurance recovery-gangster guy???? The money problem is solved when it turns out that the son had put away plenty of money in a totally separate bank account that no one knew about. Why?? If the agency had the money, why didn't he just pay the taxes? And if he wasn't going to pay the taxes and squirrel the money away instead, why wouldn't he let his mother know that the account existed? Silly. None of these characters is particularly likeable, either. On top of all that, there is one really egregiously homophobic comment which cannot be forgiven even on the grounds of "character development." Author seems to think that the remark was just fine. I'm always on the lookout for a new mystery series, but this is not it. I won't be reading any more.

[Nancy]

4.09 · Rating details · 282 ratings · 19 reviews
Meet Bea Abbot. Life in leafy Kensington should be all Georgian houses, beautiful parks and charming tea shops. But it turns out there are plenty of murders to solve for our amateur sleuth.

Wealthy widow Lady Farne is discovered stabbed to death in her lavish London apartment. One of her masterpieces is missing. And so is her caddish godson, Philip.

Philip’s stepmother is convinced he’s innocent. So she pleads with Bea to help clear his name.

But if he didn’t murder Lady Farne — who did?

Bea will have to call on her dear friends for help to crack the case: computer whiz Oliver; her unreliable but charming ex-husband Piers, and bossy, pink-haired, twenty-year-old Maggie. (less)

Good.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy Mystery

This time the trails Bea and her gang of character’s, strays, and housemates will keep you hopping as you put it all together. Cozy mystery for when you just want a relaxing read to curl up with and solve a mystery. The story travels with adventures involving stolen painting, gold boxes and more, determining friend or foe with each new face involved in the chase. Grab some tea, a warm blanket and escape for a bit with Mrs. Abbott and her trusted agency to get the job done, no matter what!

[Ann E. Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters are well written and conceived. They are growing and learning since the first book but still young and difficult for Bea to live with their values and understandings. They challenge her but she still continues to respond with kindness and to try to help them mature with good values and understandings. She has to set limits and finally blows her top and does it very specifically. Good for you Bea. It gets quite chaotic at times. Complex plots keep me reading to find out what happens.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great.

Interesting plot . Nice characters. Well written and a good read. No stupid scenarios to get you out of a dead end . As long as getting involved in murder art smuggling righting wrongs are that easy to get unentangled from . Still as with the previous book it just seems funny that porn is so shocking but murder is one of those things . Still loved reading it and hope there's more.

[Lois Baron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this series. The main attraction is Bea, a recently widowed owner of a services agency who feels grumpy about doing the right thing but does them anyway. The supporting cast is also made of well-rounded characters.

The plot is literally a little far afield this time, with a trip to Bruges, and one part of the mystery is resolved surprisingly and easily. But nothing I can't forgive. I'll read the next one happily.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the first in this series well enough but this one just didn't keep my attention. Partly it was the narrative style ... there's the main story from the investigator's point of view but at the end of each chapter there's a short section from the point of view of the guy who's obviously the main villian. So the point of reading the book is to see how the two things connect. But I found I just didn't care that much. So a DNF

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent new series

I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two, despite a developing underlying religious theme. No problem with religion, per se, but I'd rather not have it play too big a role in the novels I read. So far, so good.

The villain is revealed very early in the story, but this doesn't interfere with the plot. There are a lot of victims but, as this is a cozy mystery, there is very little descriptive violence. I am looking forward to the next one.

[John Heffernan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jessica Fletcher lives on.

This took me a while to get into unlike a previous title I read from the same series, but once the story started moving it had me hooked. I remained puzzled by the sneak peeks into the bad guys activities (always in italics). I now choose to ignore these interruptions, and read on. The story hangs together well without them, so why bother?

[Lynn W Stubenrauch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!

Book two was just as much fun as Book one was! It was hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Very exciting and some edge of the seat parts. Loved the characters, loved the plot. Highly entertaining, I highly recommend!

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy reading

Fun interesting characters. The mystery had lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed visiting the gang again and am glad to see them all evolving. Look forward to the next one.

[Lou Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book all about the irresponsible youth.

Bea has just got back from her husband’s final trip and was really in no shape to deal with tax payments or helping an old friend find her stepson. Things just go downhill from there.

[Vicki Cottingham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second book in the set of five I had bought. I read it in the hopes it would be better than the first one. It wasn't. I didn't connect with or particularly like Bea, the main character. The views of the author are outdated. I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Elainebowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Another cracking good read the characters are really well written and the description of the places are wonderful I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cosy mystery stories.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit of a slow start but then it took off on an international chase with stolen goods, masterminds, and murder. I literally could not put it down, staying up till 4:00 a.m. to see what happened.

[JA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

I love the stories and the characters and can't Wait for the next one. Oh please tell me there will be a next one.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent story

Although this book was even more confusing than the first book, the wavering strands of story finally wove themselves together and there wss a happy ending after all.

[Mrs Moya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept wanting to know more

If a book bores me I skip chunks of it. I didn't with this one! Will read more of hers.

[Jan Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book

This book was really fun to read even though the subject was serious. I would like to read more in this series as the characters are totally believable.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun

This series has relatable characters with personality, humor and we'll crafted plots. What else do you need? Grab a cup of tea and enjoy!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting series. Enjoying the growth of the main characters.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

A False Picture is a quick paced cozy mystery with great twists and turns. The characters are definitely engaging, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.