I was in the mood for something light and fluffy...Vivian acting as Nero Wolfe was fun! ( )

I was in the mood for something light and fluffy...Vivian acting as Nero Wolfe was fun! ( )

Almost didn't make it past the first page. Characters who narrate the story, talk directly to the reader and are aware that they are characters in a book are annoying. Every single page is full of asides, remarks, quotes, homilies, italics, parenthesis, arguments between the characters about who should write the next chapter, little dialogs between the characters and the editor of the book and everything else you can think of. If all the garbage were edited out, the book would be maybe 10 pages long. I will quote only two that are particularly apt.

Page 27: "Keith Larson was right '(A good writer doesn't overuse parentheses.)'"

Page 122: However -- Brandy insists a sign of a bad writer is if he/she begins a sentence with "however," saying that word belongs in the middle of a sentence, though I could care less (Brandy also insists it's "couldn't care less," which just doesn't sound right) (but I digress) -- "

I know that there are stand-up comics who base their humor on their own illnesses and disabilities but I apparently don't find clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and diabetic retinopathy, as funny as the authors do. ( )

4 STARS This is my first book of Trash to Treasure series I have read. I liked it but did not really connect to the characters. Sometimes it was charming. Sometimes silly. With two different writers made it interesting. I did not figure out who the killer was and why he did it. Vivian Borne is the mother-grandmother who buys the auction of a storage contents for her business. She has been a widow for decades. Had many men through the years. Her oldest daughter Peggy Sue just became a widow and found out that she was in debt and had to move back in with her mother. Brandy Borne was divorced and moved back with her mom-grandmother the last 2 years. I guess in a previous book found out that her sister was actually her mother and her father was now a Senator. She joins in business with her mom-grandmother selling stuff they find at a booth in antique mall. So Vivian and Brandy win the bid on the contents of a storage unit. Vivian cheated and made people think it was full of mice.(threw chocolate sprinkles around). They have 24 hrs to get contents moved. On the second trip to the storage unit they found the rest of the unit was stolen and owner dead body was left in it. When they finally get through with the police that night thier house was broke into. Peggy Sue was knocked out and Brandy's blind dog was kicked and stopped breathing. Thier old cornet was stolem from the music room. The cornet from the storage unit was in the garage. So why was the cornet stolen. This is the 5th book in the series and does stand alone but I think it would be better if you have read the previous books. I was given Antiques Disposal from Librarything and asked in return to give honest review. May 2012 PUB. Kensington Puboishing Corp 232 pages Authors Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins ( )

I snagged this book as an early reviewer. I have read this author (actually two well know authors under one pseudonym) and enjoyed them all.
Since I was reviewing this title I wanted to have the time to really read it and enjoy it and I did.
This title is so up to date. I especially liked the mother/daughter's first foray into, you guessed it bidding on a storage unit that went in arrears. I love the way Mother gets to win the bid by her own brand of persuasion, besides giving us (the reader) a good tip on how to win the bid for the storage unit, you have to read it to find out exactly what Mother does. This title starts off differently from the others but the real life situation between Mother and Brandy is not compromised. I would say that this title is right up to date with the storage unit bidding and of course the prerequisite murder, and the subsequent solving of the murder might be a little bit of a surprise I know it was for me. I give this title a 5 out of 5 for readability, and being current and up to date as well as a great read.