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Molly Doyle #3
Deadly Collection
The third page-turning installment in the acclaimed mystery series featuring striking, sarcastic antique dealer Molly Doyle, set in picturesque Carmel, California. Mackie O'Brien, an accomplished Carmel artist, has recently returned from a painting retreat in France after learning her parents died in an auto accident. An only child, Mackie is the heir to the small but exclusive Inn her parents owned, along with their stunning Spanish style seaside villa, Casa Del Alegria. The O'Brien's were former Hollywood set designers and their home is filled to the rafters with antiques and movie memorabilia worth a fortune. Distraught over her the death of her parents, Mackie decides not to live in the house as it's too full of memories. She calls upon Molly to create a register of the contents of the home for an estate sale. While cataloging the items, Molly discovers more than priceless antiques and movie memorabilia. The mummified body of Hillary Thornton, a local fledging actress last seen at the villa decades earlier greets Molly when she has a gigantic bibliotheque unbolted from a wall in the home.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 27, 2005
9 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Flinn
6 books7 followersElaine Flinn, a former Bay Area antiques dealer, created Molly Doyle, a Carmel, CA, antiques dealer in Dealing in Murder, her 2003 debut novel that was nominated for an Agatha, Gumshoe, Barry and Anthony (2003). Tagged for Murder (2004) won the Barry Award. Two more Molly Doyle novels--Deadly Collection and Deadly Vintage followed.
Flin was one of the founding members of Murderati. And, it was during her time at Murderati that Flinn developed the Evil-E persona for which she became so well-known.
Series:
* Molly Doyle
Flin was one of the founding members of Murderati. And, it was during her time at Murderati that Flinn developed the Evil-E persona for which she became so well-known.
Series:
* Molly Doyle
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 15, 2020
SPOILER ALERT. I do this summary for my own memory, and it reveals much of the mystery.
Molly Doyle hates estate sales, they are labor intensive and working with the owners is often tense. But when Frances O'Brien offers her the sale of the contents of her parents magnificent home she reconsiders (and reconsiders several times during the process). Frances is not unlike other prima donnas and orders Molly around like a servant, but the contents of beautiful antique furniture, dishes, statues, Hollywood memorabilia, and art looks like a $100k commission. During the moving of a bibliotechque a mover and Randall go through the flimsy faux wall and find another room and a coffin with a skeleton. Jason Lerner says its a prop, but it proves to be real and Randall is on the hunt for missing women from years before. The house is reputed to have been won by Jack O'Brien from Marius Lerner in a poker game. However, after investigation by Molly it is revealed that there is serious blackmail involved...probably involving the dead girl. The O'Brien's who were set designers were not doing some of the work for which they got credit. The Lerners were not writing all their own scripts. There had been decades of wild parties at the house, with celebrities and drugs and women. So there is a lot of room for suspects. Jason and Steffi, producers, appear on the scene and it puts Daria DeMarco on edge. She had been involved with them in LA when her husband, Vince Mazzeo, had been killed by Jason who had got away with the crime. It appears that these siblings are looking at finding a way to halt the outflow of money that is going to Francis O'Brien. When both Jason and Steffi are murdered the case changes and Randall, Lucero, the DA for Monterey County, and Molly are looking at someone who is out for revenge. During the murder of Jason a large fire on the main floor destroys evidence and some of the beautiful items, and Francces is burned. Molly had witnessed some of the altercation, in which Daria had been present. Enter Eve Jensen, who runs a gallery of contemporary art, into the mix. She is the sister of the dead girl, Hillary Thornton. Revenge is the motive. Eve has been looking for her sister for years. Among the sale merch were hundreds of photos, two that have the girl in the beaded dress at a party, and another that shows her dead on the tiles in the salon. Emma had taken a Bible she had found in the bedrooms, home, and Molly sees some writing in Latin in the front, she requests help in translating it from Sister Phil. That same quote appears in part in the painting in the master bedroom in the famous Coolidge painting, a repro by Molly's relative Amand, of dogs playing poker and with other evidence they set up a sting for Eve.
I love this series. It is fun and is filled with delicious information on the world of antiques. The characters are fascinating, especially Emma, who as Molly's precocious 12 year old niece with total recall, is soaking up the business and providing comic relief. All of the other characters play off of her from time to time and are taken with her. She is charming and quirky. Only one more installment of this series and that makes me sad.
Molly Doyle hates estate sales, they are labor intensive and working with the owners is often tense. But when Frances O'Brien offers her the sale of the contents of her parents magnificent home she reconsiders (and reconsiders several times during the process). Frances is not unlike other prima donnas and orders Molly around like a servant, but the contents of beautiful antique furniture, dishes, statues, Hollywood memorabilia, and art looks like a $100k commission. During the moving of a bibliotechque a mover and Randall go through the flimsy faux wall and find another room and a coffin with a skeleton. Jason Lerner says its a prop, but it proves to be real and Randall is on the hunt for missing women from years before. The house is reputed to have been won by Jack O'Brien from Marius Lerner in a poker game. However, after investigation by Molly it is revealed that there is serious blackmail involved...probably involving the dead girl. The O'Brien's who were set designers were not doing some of the work for which they got credit. The Lerners were not writing all their own scripts. There had been decades of wild parties at the house, with celebrities and drugs and women. So there is a lot of room for suspects. Jason and Steffi, producers, appear on the scene and it puts Daria DeMarco on edge. She had been involved with them in LA when her husband, Vince Mazzeo, had been killed by Jason who had got away with the crime. It appears that these siblings are looking at finding a way to halt the outflow of money that is going to Francis O'Brien. When both Jason and Steffi are murdered the case changes and Randall, Lucero, the DA for Monterey County, and Molly are looking at someone who is out for revenge. During the murder of Jason a large fire on the main floor destroys evidence and some of the beautiful items, and Francces is burned. Molly had witnessed some of the altercation, in which Daria had been present. Enter Eve Jensen, who runs a gallery of contemporary art, into the mix. She is the sister of the dead girl, Hillary Thornton. Revenge is the motive. Eve has been looking for her sister for years. Among the sale merch were hundreds of photos, two that have the girl in the beaded dress at a party, and another that shows her dead on the tiles in the salon. Emma had taken a Bible she had found in the bedrooms, home, and Molly sees some writing in Latin in the front, she requests help in translating it from Sister Phil. That same quote appears in part in the painting in the master bedroom in the famous Coolidge painting, a repro by Molly's relative Amand, of dogs playing poker and with other evidence they set up a sting for Eve.
I love this series. It is fun and is filled with delicious information on the world of antiques. The characters are fascinating, especially Emma, who as Molly's precocious 12 year old niece with total recall, is soaking up the business and providing comic relief. All of the other characters play off of her from time to time and are taken with her. She is charming and quirky. Only one more installment of this series and that makes me sad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2023
Enjoying the characters in this series as I reread them all back-to-back. It’s just a fun, light-hearted series.
July 15, 2015
I picked this book up on a whim at the local library.
Apparently, it's the third book in a series. So, I had no feel for the relationships between the characters and very little information was provided to help a first time reader pick up the back story. That made it hard for me to understand why certain characters bickered so much, or why some people seemed to rub other people the wrong way. I got really tired of the discussions of "merch". The mystery itself was okay, a little stretched in my opinion, but okay.
I may be missing something wonderful, but I didn't care enough about any of these people to want to go back and read the first two books to find out why Molly's niece is living with her, why Molly and Randall snark at each other, or why Molly continues to be friends with Bitsy who seemed like a real pain.
Apparently, it's the third book in a series. So, I had no feel for the relationships between the characters and very little information was provided to help a first time reader pick up the back story. That made it hard for me to understand why certain characters bickered so much, or why some people seemed to rub other people the wrong way. I got really tired of the discussions of "merch". The mystery itself was okay, a little stretched in my opinion, but okay.
I may be missing something wonderful, but I didn't care enough about any of these people to want to go back and read the first two books to find out why Molly's niece is living with her, why Molly and Randall snark at each other, or why Molly continues to be friends with Bitsy who seemed like a real pain.
April 16, 2011
I started this series years ago, and then fell out of touch with it so I was pleased to find this book second hand. It took me no time at all to re-acquaint myself with the characters and I fell right into the story, even though I guessed the culprit long before the end. I'm looking forward to reading the last book in this series and I'm sorry that it's the last book - this was a good series.
October 14, 2016
Good, but being 3rd in a series when I hadn't read the earlier ones really interfered with the ability to understand all the sub-text with the characters. Molly gets the gig to arrange the sale of an estate (La Casa) but the discovery of a long-dead young lady in an Egyptian coffin complicates every thing.
October 24, 2007
This whole series is delightful. Set in Carmel, CA, it involes an antiques dealer who is picking up the pieces from a failed marriage and business partnership. There are a lot of interesting tidbits about antiques and the antique business in these novels.
February 29, 2008
This is a good series, especially if you like antiques. My only gripe is that Emma, the 12 year old niece, acts more like the grown up than her aunt does. She's far too mature and smarter than any 12 year old I know.
June 2, 2008
I accidentally read this book last year and reread it today for my June book a day challenge. Nonetheless, this is a book I forgot to add in my Read list here, and it's a great cozy with mystery, suspense and intrigue.
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August 7, 2010#3 Molly Doyle book. Carmel antiques dealer hired to assess and sell contents of home late parents of heiress. Corpse found in Egyptian coffin. Brother and sister murdered by other antiques dealer because their father killed her sister whose body was buried in coffin.
August 11, 2010
High-end Carmel antiques dealer Molly Doyle finds more than she bargained for when asked to sell off the estate of two former Hollywood set designers for their artist daughter. One mummified corpse is just the beginning...
March 8, 2008
not very escapist or fun
May 12, 2011
Molly is asked to sell an estate - what a surprise when a body is found!
May 4, 2012
This wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first two, for me.
December 10, 2012
Good book, I enjoyed it very much - wish there were more details about antiques or the business at least.
June 12, 2020
Nice, complicated plot and interesting characters with plenty of past in their past.
I love these books. Not nearly enough of them in the series.
I love these books. Not nearly enough of them in the series.
January 11, 2015
This is the 3rd book in the series. I have to say this has been my favorite. I'm only sorry that there is only one book left. Going to start it tonight :)
October 4, 2014
Very enjoyable mystery mixing together a body from the 1970's with a current day murder. The characters are very likeable and I love the way they trade barbs with each other.
October 29, 2014
Molly Doyle Mystery
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews