Book Review: Consigned to Death by Jane K. Cleland (Josie Prescott #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fast start, strong characters

Cons: Weak ending

The Bottom Line:

Debut shows promise

Unfortunately weak ending

Should have been better

Promising Beginning; Disappointing Climax

Josie Prescott is finally starting to get her life back on track. Two years after leaving New York, her new antique auction house in New Hampshire is beginning to do a brisk business.

Things take a turn for the worse when Police Chief Alverez shows up in her warehouse one day. Nathaniel Grant, an elderly potential client, has been found murdered. Josie had an appointment with him that morning, but he wasn't home. Now, she's a suspect. Things get even worse then her fingerprints are found on the murder weapon.

Josie is not going to prison for something she didn't do. In fact, she thought Mr. Grant was a nice, jolly man. She can't see why anyone would want to kill him.

Poking around a little, she begins to hear rumors of more items he had for sale. Why hadn't Josie heard about them? Where are they now? What does it all mean?

This book jumps right into the story. On page one, Mr. Grant is already dead, so all the reader knows about him is the impressions we get from the other characters. Things move along rapidly with several nice surprises and complications coming at a steady pace. There are several suspects, and the spotlight shifts to all of them at various points. I didn't have things figured out until the very end.

Adding to that are the characters. All of them are well drawn and feel very real. Josie is a strong woman in spite of some emotional things she has been through in the last few years. Her employees at the auction house are fun. I wanted to get to spend more time with them and hope future books focus on them more. And, of course, the love interest is present. There's just a hint of romance in this book, with tantalizing promises of more to come.

All this is enhanced by the strong writing style. The prose flow well, and the first person narration helps us know Josie better.

The problems come in the second half. Antiques are not an area that interests me greatly, and they seemed to be more of the focus later in the book, slowing the story down. The real flaw, however, is the climax. After the wonderful build up, it's a little anti-climatic. Probably realistic, but disappointing.

I like Josie and her friends enough to pay them a return visit. Unfortunately, Consigned to Death isn't as strong as the first half promises it will be.