So Faux, So Good

Den of Antiquity #4

by Tamar Myers

Every shroud has a silver lining

Abigail Timberlake, owner of the Den of Antiquity, has never been happier. She is about to marry the man of her dreams and has just outbid all other Charlotte, North Carolina, antique dealers for an exquisite English tea service. Then Mama (who is running off to be a nun) stops by to deliver an early wedding present, and it rains on Abby’s parade. The one-of-a-kind tea service Abby paid big bucks for has a twin. A frazzled Abby finds more trouble on her doorstep—literally—when a local auctioneer mysteriously collapses outside her shop and a press clipping of her engagement announcement turns up in the wallet of a dead man. (Obviously she won’t be getting a wedding present from him.)

Tracing the deceased to a small town in the Pennsylvania Dutch country, Abby heads above the Mason-Dixon Line to search for clues to the origins of faux tea services. Accompanied by a trio of eccentric dealers and her beloved but stressed-out cat, she longs for her Southern homeland as she confronts a menagerie of dubious characters. Digging for answers, Abby realizes that she might just be digging her own grave in—horrors!—Yankeeland.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Humor, Ebooks

245 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Tamar Myers was born and raised in the Belgian Congo (now just the Congo). Her parents were missionaries to a tribe which, at that time, were known as headhunters and used human skulls for drinking cups. Hers was the first white family ever to peacefully coexist with the tribe, and Tamar grew up fluent in the local trade language. Because of her pale blue eyes, Tamar’s nickname was Ugly Eyes.

Tamar grew up eating elephant, hippopotamus and even monkey. She attended a boarding school that was two days away by truck, and sometimes it was necessary to wade through crocodile infested waters to reach it. Other dangers she encountered as a child were cobras, deadly green mambas, and the voracious armies of driver ants that ate every animal (and human) that didn’t get out of their way.

In 1960 the Congo, which had been a Belgian colony, became an independent nation. There followed a period of retribution (for heinous crimes committed against the Congolese by the Belgians) in which many Whites were killed. Tamar and her family fled the Congo, but returned a year later. By then a number of civil wars were raging, and the family’s residence was often in the line of fire. In 1964, after living through three years of war, the family returned to the United States permanently.

Tamar was sixteen when her family settled in America, and she immediately underwent severe culture shock. She didn’t know how to dial a telephone, cross a street at a stoplight, or use a vending machine. She lucked out, however, by meeting her husband, Jeffrey, on her first day in an American high school. They literally bumped heads while he was leaving, and she entering, the Civics classroom.

Tamar now calls Charlotte, NC home. She lives with her husband, plus a Basenji dog named Pagan, a Bengal cat named Nkashama, and an orange tabby rescue cat named Dumpster Boy. She and her husband are of the Jewish faith, the animals are not.

Tamar enjoys gardening (she is a Master Gardner), bonsai, travel, painting and, of course, reading. She loves Thai and Indian food, and antique jewelry. She plans to visit Machu Pichu in the near future.

Series:
* Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery
* Den of Antiquity Mystery

Reviews

[Melki]

Oy! This one probably only deserves two stars, but I enjoyed the road trip to my home state of Pennsylvania.

What can I say - this is a fluffy palate-cleanser between books. I got the entire series for free when we withdrew them from the library, so I'll probably end up readin' 'em all.

[Laurel]

I would have given this cozy 3 1/2 stars, if possible. It was my first read by Tamar Myers. Her main character runs the Den of Antiquity, an antique store, in North Carolina. Tamar has written a whole series of cozies, starring an amateur sleuth/antiques expert, with wonderful puns used as titles. In fact, one of the elements I liked in this book was her use of puns and specific vocabulary to create humour. The main character has several eccentric friends who accompany her on her journey to the dreaded north, to Hernia, Penn., to track down the source of some expertly counterfeited silver tea sets. I found the friends a bit tiresome, but not having read the previous books, perhaps I was missing out on the inside jokes she uses when interacting with her friends. Additionally, the town of Hernia is peopled with all sorts of amusing characters, almost caricatures of people commonly found in cozies. Nevertheless, there were several times when I laughed out loud, so that result alone, ensures that I will read another of her books. Perhaps I will go back to the beginning of the series. Some of the funniest scenes involve her dealing with her mother, and her cat, Dmitri. I found this amateur sleuth to be a little irritating in how she speaks to people, not to mention that she calls everyone "dear", but that is part of what she frequently calls her "southern charm". For example, she does not perspire or sweat. Indeed, she "dews". This is satirical mystery writing, that will appeal to a reader who likes some chuckles mixed in with the murder case being solved.

[Debbie]

This series is so crazy. I really enjoyed this book because part of it took place about 70 miles from my home town. I love her terms, they sound pretty central Pennsylvania to me.

[Jennifer]

In this inane 4th entry in the Den of Antiquity series, Abby bids and wins a one of a kind silver service. Except that it isn't. Her mother (on her way to become a nun) gives Abby a service just like the one she bought. Can there possibly be two of a kind of a unique set? Probably not and Abby sets off with her friends to find out what is up. Add to that some fellow who dies with a copy of Abby's engagement announcement in his pocket, well you have a mystery.

Or at least, you'd hope you have a mystery. In this case, it's a hodge-podge of supposed witticisms, over the top characters, and an ending that came absolutely out of nowhere. I keep promising myself that I will stop reading Tamar Myers (her Penn Dutch series is a doppelganger for this one) but when I see one for $1 in the bargain box I grab one up for BINGO. My bad.

[Linda]

Nice little mystery that was a cross over of the author's two series. It was kind of fun to see Abby on a road trip. I felt like the murderer came out of left field, so I guess it was no surprise that I had no clue who it was until the reveal.

[Sheila]

Another fun book with a surprise murderer!!

[Stephanie Thompson]

I have only read this one in the series. I will not read anymore. The character development is almost non-existent. I felt my intelligence insulted. Interesting word play at points, some meaningless diversions added. The worst part were the many cliches. The only highlight for me was the location - Charlotte, NC south to Rock Hill, SC.

[Joy Gerbode]

I really didn't care for this book because of all the corny puns and jokes, the insane characters (and that was the good guys) and just the general absurdity of it all. The actual mystery was pretty good, and I was certainly surprised by the ending.

[Shelby]

This is the weakest of the series I've read thus far. Note,I'm not reading in order. The first half isn't bad, set in our heroine's hometown in NC. The entire road trip to Pennsylvania stretches my limit of believability. I wanted to like this cozy much more than I did.

[Vernell Schutte]

If Tamar Meyers lead characters call another person "dear"..... So annoying!!

[Kathy Bartlett]

To me, this one jumped the shark. I am done with the series.

[JL Salty]

R: sexual situation / discussion; language

[Tommie Nicholas]

Eh! I don't think that the mix of the Den of Antiquity and the PennDutch series was a poor idea.

[Ppcfransen]

Liked Abby Timberlake from the start.

Didn't seem to take itself too seriously as a cozy. Sagged a bit towards the end.

[Lyn Soulia-Smith]

Abigail finds herself in the mix of things as usual. Fun cozy mystery. Good characters.

[jackie]

A cozy.

[C-shaw]

This novel was dripping with so many of the author's idea of witty Southernisms, similes, and metaphors, as to distract from the story line. There were some implausibilities in the story, plus I thought it false advertising that the cat on the cover was a black and white piebald, yet the cat in the book was yellow, a minor point but one which I thought the editor should have caught. Interaction between the heroine and her cat didn't ring true to a real cat person, and characters were more caricatures of Southern women than realistic portrayals. Is Ms. Myers really a Southerner, or is her intent to make fun of us?? You may wonder why I even completed the book: The writing was good enough to continue reading. She does have talent, but I wish Ms. Myers would can the silliness and write a real, likeable mystery.

[Ed]

#4 in the Den of Antiquity series. Author Myers has two long running series and the protagonists meet in this entry.Abigail Timberlake owns an antique shop in Charlotte, NC in this series and Magdelena Yoder runs the PennDutch Inn in Hernia, PA in the Pennsylvania Dutch series.

Den of Antiquity series - Abby buys an expensive silver serving set and then receives an exact duplicate from her mother as a gift. A traffic fatality from Hernia, PA has her engagement announcement in his wallet. Abby and friends drive to Hernia to investigate and meet Magdelena Yoder. Abby's romance with Greg may be cooling off as he goes fishing in FL.

[Dolores of Course]

One of the most aggravating books I've ever read. I shouldn't have finished it, but I was determined it had to get better. It didnt. I bought a stack of the Antiquity series books because the descriptions looked interesting and am now donating all of them to the library. The story slogs along in the marsh of idioms that are on every single page. It's like reading que cards for Hee Haw. If I read "dear" one more time, I would have screamed. The ending climax is set at the New River Gorge in WV. Not four pages later, she calls it the Red River Gorge which is in KY! I almost threw the book out my car window.

[VJ]

More continuity errors. Mama seems to have grown a few inches for this book! Kitty now only eats liver flavored wet food and still has his claws. The ring Abby once kept licked away in a safe deposit box is now being worn and it is lost to save her life.

The writing isn't bad enough for me to stop reading. It's actually humorous, and only a few giggles are due to mistakes in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and lack of continuity. The majority of the giggles are for the writing.

[Leah]

Ever since I spotted it once walking through the library years ago I have wanted to read this book. That title is so clever, I have been thinking of it forever.

I was really let down by this book. Maybe it is because I couldn't find the first three books and am coming in at book 4, but I really didn't like it. I thought the characters were horribly written and couldn't connect to them at all.

Her cute wit in creating titles, failed her everywhere else.

[Margaret]

not the best. The characters were just too cutesy-exaggerated-faux Southern (really, a man named Brando Marlon?!) and the story was a little less than believeable to me. I probably won't read any other "Den of Antiquity" mysteries by this author but I may try a book or two of her other series before totally omitting her from my list :)

[ChrisGA]

I enjoyed this one more than the last. Abby goes to Hernia, Pennsylvania, the setting of the PennDutch series and meets the characters of the Magdalena books. This one was fun and filled with crazy situations that made Abby much more human and vulnerable.

[Cindy]

I was very surprise by the ending. This was comical but not very suspenseful.

[Catsalive]

This didn't grab me. It was all a bit twee for me. I enjoy a good cosy but cutesy isn't my thing.

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