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A Killer Collection

by J. B. Stanley

It's not often that I come across a book incorporating something I love besides murder mysteries – and I have to be careful to remain objective when I do. But in spite of extra-critical scrutiny, J. B. Stanley's A Killer Collection remains an outstanding prize. I happen to enjoy both pottery and antiques (among other things) and while I lived in Los Angeles I even took pottery lessons. So I totally understand when this author talks about the feelings of malleable clay. But – and this is a BIG but – J. B. Stanley also knows how to write, and write well in the murder mystery vein. With her first book in this series, Ms. Stanley has written what few novice authors in this genre accomplish; and that is a very good mystery story with all the accouterments of a seasoned pro.

True to her mother's antique-loving genes, Molly Appleby writes for an antique collector's mag. Her new assignment is to cover the kiln opening of a recent star in North Carolina's pottery making field. The kiln opening (kiln is pronounced kill) in that case was a free-for-all where potential buyers and collectors fight over securing and buying the piece of pottery they want, instead of letting fate decide who would choose first with numbers drawn for each customer from a receptacle.

George-Bradley Staunton, possessed of exquisite taste but known best for his obnoxious manners, is present – however, not for long. He collapses at the opening, and although his death is declared an accident, Molly suspects it's murder. She's right. Then Hillary Keane, a man suspected of stealing parts of George-Bradley's collection, disappears. Bunny Staunton, George-Bradley's widow, seems to care less about her former husband or his pottery collection and can't wait to rid herself of the pottery and take over the space it occupied.

A sub-plot concerns Molly's infatuation with Mark Harrison, a colleague at the magazine where she works, plus the information he's able to supply about the murdered man. Characters abound, and Molly manages to make use of them all. Then just when you think the murder has been solved and the culprit brought to justice, J. B. Stanley gives her plot a further twist and we're confronted with a totally different program.

A Killer Collection is J. B. Stanley's first entry into the very competitive murder-mystery book genre, but if her interesting sleuth turns into a series resembling this first book in any way, Ms. Stanley's place will be firmly established among the best of her peers.

Alan Paul Curtis

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