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Tamar Myers, whose parents were missionaries in the Belgian Congo, was born and lived the first sixteen years of her life in a remote tribal outpost. She is of Amish background and now lives in South Carolina with her husband, children, and two cats.
| Den of Antiquity Mysteries | |||||
| 1. "Larceny and Old Lace" | 2. "Gilt by Association" | 3. "The Ming and I" | |||
| 4. "So Faux, So Good" | 5. "Baroque and Desperate" | 6. "Estate of Mind"
| 7. "A Penny Urned"
| 8. "Nightmare in Shining Armor"
| 9. "Splendor in the Glass"
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"Larceny and Old Lace"
Avon Books, June 1996 Reviewed on 7/13/99 | |||||
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As owner of the Den of Antiquity, recently divorced (but never bitter!) Abigail Timberlake
is accustomed to delving into the past, searching for lost treasures, and navigating the cutthroat world of rival dealers
at flea markets and auctions. Still, she never thought she'd be putting her expertise in mayhem and detection to other
use - until crotchety "junque" dealer, Abby's aunt Eulonia Wiggins, was found murdered! Although Abigail is puzzled
by the instrument of death - an exquisite antique bell pull that Aunt Eulonia never would have had the taste
to acquire - she's willing to let the authorities find the culprit. But now, Auntie's priceless lace collection is missing,
and somebody's threatened Abby's most priceless possession: her son, Charlie. It's up to Abby to put the murderer
"on the block."
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"Gilt by Association"
Avon Books, December 1996 Reviewed on 7/22/99 | |||||
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Petite, indomitable North Carolinian Abigail Timberlake rose gloriously up from the ashes
of divorce - parlaying her savvy about exquisite old things into a thriving antiques enterprise: the Den of Antiquity.
Now she's a force to be reckoned with in Charlotte's close-knit world of mavens, eccentrics and cutthroat dealers.
But a superb, gilt-edged 18th-century French armoire she purchased for a song at estate auction has just arrived
along with something she didn't pay for: a dead body. Suddenly her shop is a crime scene - and closed to the public
during the busiest shopping season of the year - so Abigail is determined to speed the lumbering police investigation
along. But amateur sleuthing is leading the feisty antiques expert into a murderous mess of dysfunctional family
secrets. And the next cadaver found stuffed into fine old furniture could wind up being Abigail's own.
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"The Ming and I"
Avon Books, November 1997 Reviewed on 7/26/99 | |||||
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North Carolina native Abigail Timberlake, owner of the Den of Antiquity, is quick to dismiss
the seller of a hideous old vase - until the poor lady comes hurtling back through the shop window minutes later, the
victim of a fatal hit-and-run. Tall, dark, and handsome Homicide investigator Greg Washburn - who just happens to
be Abby's boyfriend - is frustrated by conflicting accounts from eyewitnesses. And he's just short of furious with
his ever-Lovin', when he learns it was a valuable Ming vase, and Abby let it vanish from the crime scene. Abby decides
she had better find out for herself what happened to the treasure - and to the lady who was dying to get rid of it. It
turns out the victim had a lineage that would make a Daughter of the Confederacy green with envy, and her connection
with the historic old Roselawn Plantation makes that a good place to start sleuthing. Thanks to her own mama's impeccable
southern credentials, Abby is granted an appointment with the board members - but no one gives her permission to
snoop. And digging into the long-festering secrets of a proud family of the Old South turns out to be a breach of
good manners that could land Abby six feet under in the family plot.
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"So Faux, So Good"
Avon Books, June 1998 Reviewed on 7/26/99 | |||||
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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. (Tamar Myers interweaves her two different series in this book. Abby Timberlake meets Magdalena
Yoder and some of the other characters from Tamar's Penn-Dutch Mysteries series.)
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"Baroque and Desperate"
Avon Books, March 1999 Reviewed on 7/26/99 | |||||
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Unflappable and resourceful, Abigail Timberlake, antique dealer and owner of Charlotte, North
Carolina's Den of antiquity, relies on her knowledge and savvy to authenticate the fact from the fakes when it comes
to either curios or people. Her expertise makes Abby invaluable to exceptionally handsome Tradd Maxwell Burton,
wealthy scion of the reknowned Lantham family. He needs her to determine the most priceless item in the Lantham
mansion and then split the proceeds of it with her. A treasure hunt in an antique-filled mansion? All Abby can say is
"let the games begin." Accompanied by her best girlfriend, C.J., Abby arrives at the estate and is met with cool reserve,
if not downright rudeness, from the members of the Lantham clan. Trying to carry out Tradd's request, Abby finds
that she could cut the household tension with a knife. But someone has beaten her to it by stabbing a maid to death
with an ancient kris (knife). Suddenly all eyes are on C.J., whose fingerprints happen to be all over the murder weapon.
It's up to Abby to use her knack for detecting forgeries to expose the fake alibi of the genuine killer.
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"Estate of Mind"
Avon Books, December 1999 Reviewed on 4/24/00 | |||||
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When North Carolina antique dealer Abigail Timberlake makes a bid of $150.99 on a truely
awful copy of Van Gogh's The Starry Night, she's just trying to win Mama's approval by supporting the church
auction. Hopefully, she'll make her money back on the beautiful gold anitique frame. Little does she except she's
bought herself a fortune... and a ton of trouble. When her ex-boyfriend shows up and offers ten bucks for the ugly
Starry Night, Abby pops the frame and is stunned to discover hidden behind the faux Van Gogh canvas a mutli-
million dollar lost art treasure. Suddenly she's a popular lady in her old hometown, and her first visit is from Gilbert
Sweeney, her schoolyard sweetheart (according to him), who claims the family's painting was donated by mistake.
But social calls quickly turn from nice to nasty as it's revealed that the mysterious masterpiece conceals a dark and
deadly past and some modern-day misconduct that threatens to rock the Rock Hill social structure to its core. Someone
apparently thinks the art is worth killing for, and Abby knows she better get to the bottom of the secret scandal and
multiple murders before she ends up buried six feet under a starry night.
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"A Penny Urned"
Avon Books, September 2000 Reviewed on 2/20/01 | |||||
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All that remains of Lula Mae Wiggins - who drowned in a bathtub of cheap champagne on New Year's Eve - now sits in an
alleged Etrucan urn in Savannah, Georgia. Further north, at the Den of Antiquity antique shop in Charlotte, North Carolina,
plucky proprietor Abilgail Timberlake is astonished to learn that she is the sole inheritor of the Wiggins estate. Late Aunt
Lula Mae was, after all, as distant a relative as kin can get. Arriving in picturesque Savannah, Abby makes a couple of
startling discoveries. First, that Lula Mae's final resting pot is more American cheap than Italian antique. And second,
that there was a very valuable 1793 one-cent piece taped to the inside lid. Perhaps a coin collection worth millions is hidden
among the deceased's worldly possessions - making Lula's passing more suspicious than originally surmised. With the
strange appearance of a voodoo prietess coupled with the disappearance of a loved one - and with nasty family skeletons
tumbling from the trees like acorns - Abby needs to find her penny auntie's killer p.d.q... or she'll be up to her ashes in
serious trouble!
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"Nightmare in Shining Armor"
Avon Books, August 2001 Reviewed on 10/31/02 | |||||
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Den of Antiquity proprietress Abigail Timberlake's Halloween costume party is a roaring success - until an unexpected
fire sends the panicked guests fleeing from Abby's emporium. One exiting reveler she is only too happy to see the back
of is Tweetie "Little Boo Peep" Timberlake - unfaithful wife of Abby's faithless ex, Buford. But not long after the conflagration
is brought under control, the former Mrs. T. discovers an unfamiliar suit of armor in her house. And stuffed inside is the
heavily siliconed, no-longer-living bady of the current Mrs. T. Certainly some enraged collector of medieval chain mail has
sent Abby this deadly delivery. But diving into their eccentric ranks could prove a lethal proposition fot the plucky antiques
dealer/amateur sleuth. And even a metal suit mat not be enough to protect Abby from the vicious and vindictive attentions
of a crazed killer.
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"Splendor in the Glass"
Avon Books, August 2002 Reviewed on 10/31/02 | |||||
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Antiques dealer Abby Timberlake Washburn is thrilled when the Mrs. Amelia Shadbark - doyenne of Charleston society -
invites her to broker a pricey collection of lalque glass scuplture. These treasures will certainly boost business at the Den
of Antiquity, and maybe hoist Abby into the upper crust - which would please her class-conscious mom, Mozella, no end.
Abby's fragile dream is soom shattered when Mrs. Shadbark meets a foul, untimely end. And as the known visitor to the
victim's palatial abode, Abby's being pegged by the local law as suspect Numero Uno. Of course there are other possibile
killers - including several dysfunctional offspring and a handyman who may have been doing more for the late Mrs. S than
fixing her leaky faucets. But Abby's the one who'll have to piece the shards of this deadly puzzle together - or else face
a fate far worse than a mere seven years of bad luck!
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| Pennsylvania-Dutch Mysteries with Recipes | |||||||||
| 1. "Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth" | 2. "Parsely, Sage, Rosemary and Crime"
| 3. "No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk"
| 4. "Just Plain Pickled to Death"
| 5. "Between a Wok and a Hard Place"
| 6. "Eat, Drink and Be Wary"
| 7. "Play it Again, Spam®"
| 8. "The Hand that Rocks the Ladle"
| 9. "The Crepes of Wrath"
| 10. "Gruel and Unusual Punishment"
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"Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth"
Signet, August 1995 Reviewed on 5/2/00 | |||||
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When a new guest takes a fatal fall down the little PennDutch Inn's quaintly steep stairs, Miss
Magdalena Yoder, the no-nonsense owner, is more worried about a lawsuit than foul play. Magdalena also has a bushel
of other troubles: An arrogant congressman and his wife check in for deer hunting, offending the other guests who
are animal-rights activists. Her Amish cook up and quits when vegetarians refuse to eat her hearty Pennsylvania-Dutch
cooking. But when a second guest is found stiff, cold, and dead on Magdalena's handmade quilt, she's sure there's
a killer somewhere on the premises.
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"Parsely, Sage, Rosmary and Crime"
Signet, July 1996 Reviewed on 5/3/00 | |||||
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Hollywood comes to picturesque Amish country when a film crew goes on location at Magdalena
Yoder's quaint PennDutch Inn. But after the excitement of an "open casting" has even the staid Amish battling for
bit parts, the filming hits a snag - a body in Magdalena's barn impaled to the post with a pitchfork. The dead man is
the film's assisstant director, and the not-too-swift local sheriff definately rules out suicide. The number one suspect,
he decides, is Magdalena. Shocked to find her reputation at stake, Magdalena is in a scramble to track down the real
killer. What a stew to be in - especially since her only clue is a grocery list headed by "parsely." It's not much to
go on, but Magdalena has a nose for sniffing out the truth. she knows the lay of the land, the chacter of the people -
and she knows the disagreeable ingrediants that can stir up murder!
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"No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk"
Signet, March 1997 Reviewed on 5/12/00 | |||||
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Magdalena Yoder is out from behind the counter of the PennDutch Inn, and into hot milk -
uh, water. Yost Yoder, her second cousin twice removed, has been found naked, floating in a tank of unpasteurized
milk, and Magdalena knows it's murder. Amish men just don't go swimming in milk in the middle of February. Loading
up her car with her free-spirited sister and her fickle cook, she heads to Farmersburg, Ohio, for the funeral... and gallons
of trouble. She learns that not a week earlier another Amish man met his untimely death. Something is truely rotton
in Farmersburg, and it smells a lot like cheese. When a war between powerful cheese makers erupts, Magdalena
uncovers the startling thuth about what's churning in this once peaceful town.
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"Just Plain Pickled to Death"
Signet, October 1997 Reviewed on 5/12/00 | |||||
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A twenty-year-old barrel of genuine Pennsylvania Dutch sauerkraut isn't Magdalena Yoder's
idea of a great wedding present form her future father-in-law. Especially when it has a corpse in it. And is sure puts
Mennonite-born Magdalena, owner of the pictueresque PennDutch Inn, in a pickle. She has just a week before she
ties the know with the man of her dreams - and this bride of forty-four will allow nothing mto delay her nuptials,
even murder. Of course, Magdalena recognizes the victim, who is as well preserved as a gherkin. It's her fiané's
cousin Sarah, who's been missing for years. Soon Magdalena's inn is filled with unwanted guests - eccentric aunts
and loopy uncles of the deceased. And Magdalena - swerd as she is peppery - suspects one of them is the killer.
Now she is over a barrel, blowing the lid off a mystery two decades old, and digging up a scandal that may shake
her Amish hometown to the bedrock and send her to a funeral - her own - instead of her wedding day!
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"Between a Wok and A Hard Place"
Signet, March 1998 Reviewed on 5/12/00 | |||||
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Ever since her brand-new husbamd flew the coop, Magdalena Yoder, owner of the quaint PennDutch
Inn, has had time to kill. And now the local amish community really has a murder in its midst: And Asian tourist found
strangled and run over by a horse and buggy. It isn't a crime police chief Melvin Stoltzfus can easily handle: after all,
he was once kicked in the head by a bull he was trying to milk. But he's smart enough to deputize Magdalena. Soon
Magdalena is off visiting the neatly kept farms of the Plain People in search of the truth. Although not an outsider,
she's about as welcome as a fox in a henhouse. Something dangerous is being concealed behind their dour faces and
determination to protect their own. And for Magdalena, finding the killer may just put her between a rock of faith
and a hard place called justice.
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"Eat, Drink, and Be Wary"
Signet, September 1998 Reviewed on 8/5/00 | |||||
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Tucked away in a picturesque corner of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Magdalena Yoder's PennDutch
Inn is a treat, and the perfect locale for a cooking contest. Unfortunately, as Magdalena discovers when a corpse is found
in the barn, some food is to die for. The killer is old Matilda, a cow accused of fatally kicking the CEO of the goarmet food
company sponsoring the contest. Melvin Stolzfus, the local police chief, locally known to be two eggs short of an omelet,
calls it accidental death. But Magdalena knows that a killer cow is a lot of bull. And when new evidence pins suspicion on
Freni, the inn's own cook - who hopes her bread pudding will win the grand prize - Magdalena starts sniffing about on her
own. But she'd better watch her back. The real killer has decided to cook another goose. And Magdalena may just be the
next course on a murderer's menu.
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"Play it Again, Spam®"
Signet, April 1999 Reviewed on 8/16/00 | |||||
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After discovering that her husband was a bigamist, and having a tornado destroy her Amish country
inn, Magdalena Yoder thought it couldn't get much worse. But it whas - her own sister has agreed to marry Magdalena's
sworn enemy, the dim-witted police chief. She busy enough as it is - putting the PennDutch Inn back on its feet, catering
to a group of visiting veterns... and finding new ways to use Spam® in the inn's simple country cuisine.
But now one of her guests is missing - and with the police chief stuck on cloud nine with her sister, it's up to Magdalena
to solve the mystery in time for a piece of wedding cake!
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"The Hand that Rocks the Ladle"
Signet, March 2000 Reviewed on 8/16/00 | |||||
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Barbara Hostetler was having triplets. And no one was more excited than wilt grandma-to-be Freni.
But when Barbara went into labor and only two were born, Freni couldn't accept that it was just a doctor's mistake. She
insisted on a recount. Now freni wants innkeeper Magdalena Yoder to find th elittle one. Magdalena decides to humor
her eccentric cook and start searching, but while questioning doctors and nurses, the strangest thing happens: Their
stories don't add up. And the only one who seems to ne making sense - is Freni. Magdalena better find answers quick
before the cradle robber strikes again.
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"The Crepes of Wrath"
Reviewed on | ||
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"Gruel and Unusual Punishment"
February 2002, HC Reviewed on 10/31/02 | |||||
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When imprisoned con man Clarence Webber meets his Maker after sampling a bowl of gruel laced with arsenic, it's cruel
and unusual punishment indeed. And since Magdalena provided the last meal, she's convinced that one of Clarence's
many visitors must have added the sinister secret ingredient. With the reputation of her establishment at stake, Magdalena
puts on her detective bonnet once again, determined to discover who in Hernia poisoned the porridge. But with a quartet
of quirky female suspects who all claim to be the victim's widow, a bumbling sheriff with political aspirations, and the appearance
of a young hellion with a ton of attitude who insists she is Magdalena's daughter, this is one grueling mystery the intrepid
innkeeper may be sorry she ever tried to solve.
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