Death at the Auction by E.C. Bateman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Death at the Auction is the first book in what I am hoping will be a long-running Cozy Mystery series.
This story follows Felicia Grant. Felicia’s family owns a popular Auction House in her home village of Stamford. After a falling out with her father over the direction of the business, Felicia left the auction-life behind and moved to London, along with her son, Algernon.
When Felicia gets an early-morning call from her best friend, Cassie, back in Stamford, she knows it can’t be good news and it’s not.
Her father has had a fall. He’s okay, but pretty banged up and he’ll be unable to auctioneer at the auction set for that very day. Felicia is the only one with the knowledge and expertise to successfully fill in. There’s a lot on the line; a lot of money they can’t afford to lose.
Can she come right away?
Felicia agrees, packs Algie and off they go. She’s full of competing emotions as she heads to Stamford. It’s been a while. There’s estranged relationships to consider.
Additionally, she’s been out of the business for quite some time. Will her auctioneering skills have suffered?
Once the auction begins, Felicia slips into her old role with ease. It’s actually nice to see so many familiar faces and the buzz of the sale is contagious.
All is going swimmingly right up until the final lot. As it is open for bids, Felicia’s exuberant ex-husband Dexter bursts in, interrupting the entire process and then a body falls out of a large antique cupboard set at the back of the room.
The very dead body of one of her Dad’s greatest rivals.
As investigators begin to look into the crime, Felicia, Dexter and a whole-host of locals find themselves as suspects. Felicia, unable to leave well-enough alone, decides to do a little digging of her own. She’s determined to clear her name and lift the cloud from over the auction house.
Death at the Auction was a ton of fun. I loved the setting and the characters. It’s definitely a great start to a new series. I can’t wait to get to know them more.
Felicia was so great as a main. She’s extremely likable and I found her feelings and motivations easy to understand and relate to. The other characters were interesting as well.
Dexter, her ex, is quite the minx, adding a bit of humor to the story. Their son is sweet, precocious and wise beyond his years. There’s also Detective Pettifer, the intrepid investigator trying to get to the bottom of this mess.
One of the highlights for me was the relationship that develops between Felicia and Pettifer. He seems to take a bit of a shine to her and the two interact fairly frequently over the course of the investigation.
There’s definitely a budding friendship and I could totally see him consulting her on future cases. I loved their back-and-forth and the trust that started to build between them.
I also really enjoyed Felicia’s relationships with all of her family members. Her son is such a sweetheart. He’s very quiet, yet inquisitive. He sort of does what he likes, but I feel like it’s because Felicia has the confidence in him to give him a bit of independence.
Dexter and Felicia also have great banter and it was fun watching her interact with her grumpy Dad after such a long time. I want more!
Some of the extraneous variables of the mystery I found a little hard to track, but overall I had so much fun with this. It’s a great foundation to build many more mysteries from. I am certainly looking forward to being reunited with Felicia and friends.
Thank you so much to the publisher, One More Chapter, for providing me with a copy to read and review. If you love a solid Cozy, with a fun group of characters and compelling mystery, you should absolutely give this one a shot!
