Thursday, March 01, 2018

I Know What You Bid Last Summer by Sherry Harris


First Line: "I need your help, Sarah," Angelo said to me.

Sarah Winston knows all about how to run a successful garage sale, and she also believes in giving back to the community, so she agrees to manage an athletic equipment swap at a local school. What she doesn't expect is to arrive at the school to check that everything's ready for the swap and be attacked, have several items stolen, and-- much, much worse-- learn that the school superintendent has been found dead in the gymnasium.

As Sarah starts trying to track down the stolen items, she learns that the murder suspects all seem to be on the school board, including the husband of an extremely difficult client Sarah is working for. She slowly gathers clues in an effort to see who wanted to teach the superintendent a lesson, but there's a problem with that-- there's a killer who wants her to mind her own business, and this person isn't shy about forcing the issue.

Sherry Harris has produced another well-written mystery starring my favorite garage sale expert, Sarah Winston. I Know What You Bid Last Summer shows quite a range of the author's writing skills, from the truly scary scene in the gym when Sarah is attacked to the humor surrounding her working undercover for friends who are entered in an all-important-to-them lasagna contest.

I also like the things I learn about the different kinds of garage sales, how to prepare for them, how to run them, and how to stock them. Who knows? Harris and her main character may even get me to visit a garage sale one of these days.

The mystery takes a while to solve, and it's got everything to do with perspective. I was looking at things from the wrong angle for most of the book, so I really enjoyed the deductive exercise. With knowledge to be gained, humor to enjoy, a main character to cheer on, and a good mystery to solve, there's a lot to like about this fifth book in Sherry Harris's charming series. If this type of book is your cup of tea, I certainly hope you'll give it a try.


I Know What You Bid Last Summer by Sherry Harris
eISBN: 9781496707543
Kensington Books © 2018
eBook, 320 pages

Cozy Mystery, #5 Garage Sale mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Net Galley


4 comments:

  1. Garage sales are an interesting context for a series, Cathy. And it sounds as though this is a solid one. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  2. I love garage sales so this book is right up my alley! My mom loved them too. Her and my dad took a few road trips across the U.S., and
    every time they saw a yard sale he'd pull over so she could check it out. She always came home with some interesting stuff.

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    1. Too bad we couldn't've done something similar when my mother, grandparents, and I took a cross-country drive. Unfortunately, my grandfather was too set on reaching each day's destination, so there was very little time for stops along the way (unless we'd already planned for them).

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