The Big Steal

May 4, 2009
At the behest of an insurance company, Sterling Glass investigates the aftermath of a museum robbery in Jenkins's intriguing second mystery to feature the antiques expert (after 2005's Stealing with Style)
. Located in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Wynderly, “a museum teetering on the edge of bankruptcy,” was once the baronial home of Mazie and Hoyt Wyndfield, a wealthy couple who died childless. At first awed by the vast number of antiques in every room, Sterling begins to doubt the authenticity of a collection of Tang horses and suspects other items are merely replicas. As she gets to know members of Wynderly's board of directors and discovers secret rooms and diaries, Sterling unravels long-hidden deceptions. Jenkins, an antiques appraiser, is also the author of a number of nonfiction titles, including The Book of American Traditions
and From Storebought to Homemade
.

June 1, 2009
An antiques appraiser hired by an insurance company finds the job taking her down some decidedly unexpected paths.

Sterling Glass arrives at Wynderly, a magnificent house in rural Virginia, to value items stolen and destroyed in a robbery. The house, which has been run as a museum, is closed while board members wrangle over its fate. Sterling's curiosity is aroused when she realizes that among the valuable antiques are numerous reproductions being passed off as the real thing. A trip to the huge attic uncovers some hidden rooms and the diaries of Mazie Wyndfield, the Louisiana girl who married handsome, dashing Hoyt Wyndfield and traveled the world with him collecting antiques. Mazie's diaries reveal her deep love and loyalty to Hoyt, even when she discovers that he's selling off multiple reproductions of genuine antiques at a steep profit. Sterling's detective instincts keep her on Mazie's trail even though this isn't the job she was hired to do. She learns a great deal from conversations with an elderly friend of Mazie, an uneducated curator who loves the house, and a wealthy woman who may rescue Wynderly. The sins of the past turn out to be linked to more than one present-day illegal plan.

Sterling's second (Stealing with Style, 2005) is more puzzle than mystery, a leisurely, genteel story packed with information sure to please antiques lovers.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2009
Antiques expert and appraiser Sterling Glass ("Stealing with Style") travels to Virginia to appraise antiques stolen from the house. The directors who oversee the estate are a strange bunch, and Sterling soon finds hidden motives for thievery. VERDICT Sure to appeal to cozy readers, especially those who enjoy Jane K. Cleland's antiques series.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2009
In her second book, followingStealing with Style (2005), real-life antiques appraiser Jenkins againimbues her sleuth, Sterling Glass, withknowledge and curiosity in equal parts, making thisstory as informative as it layered.Glass, who writes a question-and-answer column about antiques, is sent bya (handsome) insurance adjuster to sort outthe value of what has been stolen from a Virginia estate. ButWynderly is not the sort ofgracious country home for which rural Virginia is noted. Built by a devoted couple, it is more of a curiosity, filled with antiques and collectibles from their many trips andopen to visitors since their death. But now the house is closed, and funds are scarce. Sterling is soon up to her ears in antiques (real and fake), board members (wise and annoying), and questions, plenty of questions. The mystery is thoroughly involving, but the real fun is the characters: both Sterling and the supporting cast are well drawn and engaging. That Sterling, divorced and middle-aged, is still juggling men with panache adds anextra fillip of je ne sais quoi.And dont forget the fascinating question-and-answers, drawn from Sterlings antiques column, that begin each chapter. If you like light and breezy (but not silly), this ones for you.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)