When I go visit my widowed cousin, especially in the holiday season, we watch Hallmark movies together. A lot of Hallmark movies. That's what this book feels like, except with a blood-soaked murder tossed in. I don't normally read cozy mysteries and I didn't know anything about the Josie Prescott series. My mistake.

Josie is a frighteningly successful antiques dealer who has been able to make an excellent living even though she abandoned the big city for the wilds of New Hampshire. As this is book 13 of the series I won't make any comments on how plausible I think that is. It works for the fans.

Josie buys a big new house from Maud, an elderly woman of 67! Maud's rapacious nieces are after some antiques that elderly, forgetful Maud, forgot when she packed out. (Ask your aunts if they are frail, elderly, and forgetful at 67 and they will bite your head off.) Josie stumbles on these treasures, documents the find, and sends them over to Maud. A murder ensues and off we go.

As with Hallmark movies, small towns are excessively clean, most people have sparkling wit, hired help with strong skills are easy to find, life is astonishingly good, and our sophisticated lady saves the day.

I received a review copy of Hidden Treasure by Jane K. Cleland from Minotaur Books through Gumshoe Review where this review originally appeared online in the April 2021 issue. http://gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6718 ( )

Hidden Treasure by Jane K. Cleland has Josie Prescott and her husband, Ty purchasing their dream home in Rocky Point. It is a gorgeous Victorian named “Gingerbread House” that needs some work before the couple move in. Josie receives a call from Celia, a niece of the former owner, stating that her aunt has gotten forgetful in her age. Celia claims that her aunt, Maudie Wilson left behind a trunk containing a valuable family heirloom. Josie promises to keep an eye out. Josie is going through the house when Maudie’s other niece, Stacy arrives inquiring about the trunk. Stacy wishes to look around the house one more time, but she has no luck even in the far recesses of the attic. When the trunk is finally located, Josie will only turn it over to Maudie who is rightful owner. She finds Maudie to be active, bright woman who regrets letting others push her into doing things such as moving into the retirement facility. If the item in the trunk is as valuable as Josie expects, it will allow Maudie to travel as she has always dreamed (instead of handing it over to her greedy nieces). Josie responds to a phone call to return to Maudie’s apartment where she finds a woman dead and Maudie has disappeared. Josie sets out to solve the crime. I thought Hidden Treasure was well-written with developed, realistic characters. When not sleuthing, Josie is running her antiques business which allows us to get reacquainted with her staff, spending time with friends (Zoe needs her), dealing with the renovations of her new home, and spending time with her husband. I enjoyed solving this entertaining whodunit. There were viable suspects and good clues. I liked the author’s descriptive writing that allowed me to visualize the characters and scenes. The author provided just the right amount of detail (not too much to bog down the book nor too little). I found the information provided on the antiques to be interesting. Hidden Treasure is the 13th A Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery. While this is the 13th book in the series, it can be read as a standalone if you are new to the series, but it will take you a couple of chapters to get acclimated. This was a fast paced and engaging cozy mystery. Hidden Treasure is a charming tale with covetous kin, renovation realties, a cat carving, a lost trunk, an absent aunt, and an anxious antiques authority. ( )

cozy-mystery, murder, amateur-sleuth, suspense, small-business, small-town*****

This is the first I've read in this series but it was easy to gather relevant relationships and threads so I wasn't lost in any way. There is a large contingent of characters in this one and the descriptives are excellent not only of the physical but also the undercurrents. There are a couple of characters who are so untrustworthy I would have kicked them to the curb a fourth of the way in. Oh well, in general it was a good solid plot complete with twists and red herrings as well as insights into the antiques business. I loved it!
T requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )