Dead Men Don't Decorate

by Cordy Abbott

Overview

Art, murder, and a secret dating back centuries collide in Cordy Abbott’s delightful cozy mystery series debut, perfect for fans of Jane K. Cleland.

Roberto Fratelli, proprietor of the antiques store Waited4You, is the meanest man in Marthasville, Virginia. So when he puts the business up for sale, the other merchants in town are overjoyed. And now the business has a prospective buyer: local resident and the newly elected mayor's mom, Camille Benson, who’s thrilled at the prospect of getting into the antiques business. During a celebration in honor of Camille’s new venture, her best friend, Opal, tells her about finding a letter, purportedly from Sally Fairfax to George Washington, dated 1756, hidden under a chair in the shop. When they return to retrieve the cache, they find Roberto’s lifeless body on the floor and no letter.

Police question Ella Coleman, Roberto’s ex-wife, and discover that her current husband supplied Roberto with oh-so-faux Victorian furniture. Did the two cheat the wrong customer? Or could the murder be connected to an earlier theft of rare books from the shop—a theft Roberto never reported?

As Camille prepares to confront these questions and investigate the murder, she knows she might become the latest knock-off.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639101252
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Series:	An Old Town Antique Mystery , #1
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,161,171
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Proud baby boomer and dog mom, Cordy Abbott, is the author of the Old Town Mystery series. She, her husband, and their Standard Schnauzer have lived in Alexandria, Virginia for over two decades. Because she enjoys everything about the city, she can’t wait to share it with readers, even a fictionalized version.

When not writing she enjoys characteristic baby boomer pursuits: golf, traveling and volunteering for good causes, like American Association of University Women of Alexandria and Northern Virginia Community College’s Braden Center for Women, Gender and Social Equity.

She has a post-graduate certificate in Antiquities Theft and Art Crime.

Editorial Reviews

09/05/2022

Abbott debuts with a charming series launch set in Marthasville, Va., a stand-in for Alexandria, Va. At 55, Camille Benson wants a life change when she hears Waited4You, the antique store her parents used to own in Marthasville, is for sale. Camille jumps at the opportunity to buy the store from Roberto Fratelli, known as the meanest man in town. After a night of celebrating her first day of ownership, she and her best friend, Opal Wells, go back to the store only to find Roberto lying in a pool of blood and a valuable piece of inventory missing, a leather case that had been taped under a chair, in which Opal had earlier found a letter dating to the mid–18th century. Could it be a clue to the murder? More crimes ensue, including the kidnapping of a police detective, as well as revelations of a messy political entanglement involving the local newspaper and the town’s police chief. Abbott lovingly depicts Marthasville and its appealing residents while keeping the reader guessing whodunit. Cozy fans are in for a treat. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Agency. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Dead Men Don’t Decorate:
“A charming series launch . . . Cozy fans are in for a treat.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A delightful and refreshing start to small town mysteries.”
—Red Carpet Crash

“A delightful start to a new series with a mystery full of twists, sleuthing antics, and new beginnings.”
—San Francisco Book Review, 5 star review

“Superbly crafted and original cozy mystery . . . [A] fun read from first page to last.”
—Midwest Book Review

“Anyone with a lifelong bestie will recognise the sparks and snarks of Camille and Opal in Cordy Abbott's delightful series debut. But the real treasure in Dead Men Don’t Decorate is how the antiques business (with a side of design) is stitched right into the twisty plot, fascinating and authentic. A winner!”
—Catriona McPherson, award-winning and national bestselling author of the Dandy Gilver series

“Combining new clues and historical keepsakes, Cordy Abbot crafts a charming debut cozy. The antique shop premise promises new mysteries around every corner, and the characters feel like old friends. Don't let the dust settle on your empty bookshelves—decorate with this series starter today!”
—Diane Vallere, national bestselling author of the Costume Shop mysteries. 

“Readers will have a fun time getting to know the characters in Abbott’s new series, including shopkeeper Camille and her best friend Opal. The ladies square off against the local police chief when the former owner of Camille’s antique shop turns up dead, and a possibly valuable letter goes missing. With quirky characters, a delightful small-town setting, and a realistic murder on the books, Dead Men Don’t Decorate layers on the charm.”
—Sandra Bretting, bestselling author of The Missy DuBois Mystery Series

“Cordy Abbott delivers a don't-miss, delightful series debut.”
—Elizabeth Spann Craig, bestselling author of the Myrtle Clover Cozy Mysteries

“Antiques, history, and more than one mystery keep Camille Benson and her friends on the run in Dead Men Don’t Decorate. A little romance, humor, and a delectable fictional version of historic Alexandria, Virginia will keep readers turning pages to the very last one.” 
—Sherry Harris, award nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale and Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries

“A fun thrill ride laced with antiques, design, and nostalgic nineties music, as seen through the eyes of smart, sensible Camille and her plucky wing woman Opal. Dead Men Don't Decorate is packed full of charming characters along with plot twists and turns that will captivate the reader in this delightful series debut.”
—Tracy Gardner, award-nominated author of Peril at Pennington Manor

“Dead Men Don’t Decorate by Cordy Abbott is a delightful cozy mystery with a charming setting, a dash of romance, and a fifty-something main character who jumps in to find a killer after making a late life career change. When Camille Benson hears an antique shop that formally belonged to her parents is being sold by its unpleasant current owner, Roberto, she decides to leave her job at a local university and buy the store. But Camille doesn’t even have time to revitalize the business and ready it for the upcoming Christmas holiday season before she discovers Roberto’s dead body, laying in the middle of the closed shop. From there, the mystery takes off with loads of fun characters, clues, dead ends, and enough trouble to make Camille fear she may not be able to untangle all the trouble in time to save the business. Dead Men Don’t Decorate is an entertaining first installment to a new cozy series with an engaging main character, twisty mystery, and immersive Virginia setting that begs to be savored.”
—Trish Esden, author of the Scandal Mountain Antiques Mystery series

From the Publisher

2022-09-10
When the inventory of an antiques shop turns up not only fraud, but also a letter that, if authentic, could shake a nation, the new proprietor digs deeper.

Camille Benson must strike a deal with Roberto Fratelli, the meanest man in Marthasville, Virginia, in order to buy Waited4You, his antiques store. Well, it’s only been his antiques store for a few years; before that, it belonged to Camille’s family. Buying Waited4You seems like her fate, especially now that her most recent project of managing her son Paul’s mayoral run has come to a successful end. With the encouragement of her nearest and dearest friend, Opal Wells, Camille prepares to make the deal. The other local merchants are excited about the potential change—apparently Roberto’s reputation was well earned—and Camille has a million ideas to restore the place to its former glory. In between rounds of planning, celebrating, and taking inventory, Camille and Opal start to wonder if all of Roberto’s business dealings were really aboveboard, particularly when Opal discovers a letter addressed to George Washington from Sally Fairfax, apparently written after his marriage to Martha. Scandal! If the letter proves real, it could upset history as we know it, but when Camille and Opal try to retrieve the letter from Waited4You, it’s gone. Instead, they find Roberto’s corpse on the floor. His murder convinces Camille that there’s something seriously amiss and that Roberto may have served as a front for someone trying to trick him and the business—but who?

It’s hard to say what’s special about this debut, which seems like a bit of a knockoff.

Kirkus Reviews