Absence of Alice by Sherry Harris

 

First Lines: Alice Krandle was breathing down my neck. Literally.

 

Even though she was offered a nice lump sum for her antiques, Alice Krandle believes she can make more money by selling them individually through Sarah Winston's garage sale services. Sarah happily takes on the task, but while she's in the midst of pricing each item for sale, her best friend, Stella, is kidnapped.

She's given a long set of instructions, with not talking to her district attorney boyfriend or her friends on the police force right at the top, so  Sarah's only source of help is her new friend Harriet-- who happens to be a former FBI hostage negotiator.

Even though she's alienating those nearest and dearest to her, Sarah has no choice but to keep them out of the loop if she wants to save her friend's life.

~

Wow! In Absence of Alice, Sherry Harris takes the standard framework of a cozy and turns it on its head, making it one of the best books I've read this year. Harris's Garage Sale series has become one of my go-to cozy series because of her cast of characters, her nuggets of garage sale information, and her intriguing mysteries, but this one is on a whole new level. I don't expect edge-of-your-seat suspense and tension when I read a cozy, but it's certainly front and center in Absence of Alice. I was genuinely worried about what was going to happen to Sarah's friend Stella. The kidnapper seemed to know everything Sarah did and everyone she spoke to, and Sarah's emotions at not being able to confide in her nearest and dearest touched my heart.

I was so happy to see that my wish came true after reading the previous book in the series, Sell Low, Sweet Harriet. I wanted more of Harriet, and I got it in Absence of Alice. And-- wonder of wonders-- Harris managed to distract me enough that when the kidnapper's identity was revealed, I was totally gobsmacked. That very seldom ever happens, so I'm always thrilled when it does.

Author Sherry Harris stretches the limits of the typical cozy mystery by putting her main character in an extraordinary position and making her fight her way to the conclusion, but she still remains true to the form. My eyes even welled with (happy) tears at the end, so be forewarned and have tissues handy. Don't worry if you haven't read a Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery before. Harris gives you the information you need to keep up with the story and let me tell you, this is a story that I don't want you to miss!

Absence of Alice by Sherry Harris

eISBN: 9781496722546

Kensington Books © 2020

eBook, 288 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #9 Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

Let's Fake a Deal by Sherry Harris

First Line: Two police cars squealed to a halt at the end of the driveway, lights flashing, front bumpers almost touching.

A hip young couple has moved to Sarah Winston's town in Massachusetts. Finding that the only house they could afford was too small, they hired Sarah to organize a yard sale so they could downsize. Or is that really what's going on?

On the first day of the sale, Sarah finds out that all the items are stolen and she's become an unwitting fence. While Sarah's trying to get herself out of hot water, she also has a friend who needs her help. Michelle, an up and coming officer in the Air Force is in line for promotion until she's hit with an anonymous discrimination complaint.  When one of the men Michelle suspects of filing the complaint is found dead in her car, her career is on the line.

So Sarah has to clear Michelle's name as well as her own and put together a huge sale of feline memorabilia for a crazy cat lady. No rest for the weary, eh?

Sherry Harris's Garage Sale mysteries continue to be one of my favorite cozy series and Let's Fake a Deal is the best yet. The opening scene when Sarah finds out she's selling stolen merchandise is superb-- I think I forgot to breathe a time or two while I was reading it. Things like this usually don't happen to the main character of a cozy series, and Harris pulls it off brilliantly.

There is plenty of humor in the book, especially concerning the cat woman and another person who bluntly states her opinion of people who prefer plain popcorn, but Harris also deals with serious topics like the fact that, in this day and age, small business owners really need to start doing background checks on their clients and-- even more importantly-- the issues women face in the military. The scam pulled on Sarah Winston was my favorite part of the mystery, and she's got to be one of my favorite cozy main characters because she always keeps the police and any relevant lawyers in the loop as she conducts her own investigation.

Yes, indeed. If you like your mysteries fortified with an interesting main character, strong stories, common sense, and humor, you can't go wrong with Sherry Harris's Garage Sale mysteries. They are good!

Let's Fake a Deal by Sherry Harris

eISBN: 9781496716996

Kensington Books © 2019

eBook, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #7 Sarah Winston Garage Sale mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Net Galley


 

The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris

First Line: A drop of sweat rolled down my back as I rang the doorbell of the mansion.

A wealthy elderly widow has asked Sarah Winston to catalog and sell her massive collection of mysteries so that the money can be donated to charity. While sorting through piles of books stashed in the attic, Sarah is thunderstruck when she finds a case of lost Hemingway stories which were stolen from a train in Paris back in 1922. How on earth did they wind up in this attic in Massachusetts almost a century later?

Before Sarah can get any answers, the widow is assaulted, the case is stolen, and a maid is killed. Then the rumor starts that the widow also has a limited edition of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Sarah finds herself surrounded by reporters and treasure seekers and has to go to extraordinary measures to avoid them while she searches for the person who's willing to kill for the Hemingway goodies.

I found myself stumbling across this series midway through, and I've really been enjoying it. With a plot that includes hundreds (if not thousands) of mysteries tucked away in an attic and a treasure trove containing a Hemingway rare edition and those lost letters, The Gun Also Rises was guaranteed to keep me turning the pages.

Not only was I wanting to be turned loose in that house of books (it's also got rooms of first editions), I had a very good mystery to solve. There's plenty of misdirection to keep readers guessing, and Sarah always includes the local police whenever she finds anything. I like that. Nothing can make me grind my teeth faster than an amateur sleuth who insists on sneaking around a perfectly capable police force.

However, in many ways, the part of the book that had my sympathies working overtime was when Harris describes the hell Sarah Winston must go through in order to avoid all the reporters, paparazzi, and treasure hunters who think nothing of making her life a misery. I felt Sarah's pain and really wanted to help in some way.

I really like Sarah Winston, and I really like the mysteries Sherry Harris concocts for her heroine to solve. Long may her Garage Sale mysteries continue!

The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris

eISBN: 9781496716972

Kensington Books © 2019

eBook, 288 pages

Cozy Mystery, #6 Garage Sale mystery

Rating: B+

Source: NetGalley


 

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

A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris

First Line: Love fades.

Sarah Winston hasn't seen her brother Luke in twenty years, and when he shows up on her doorstep, it couldn't be at a worse time. Just hours earlier, the garage sale Sarah was running was taped off as a crime scene after the discovery of a murdered Vietnam vet and his gravely injured wife-- Sarah's clients, the Spencers. Now Luke is here, asking her not to tell anyone in town, even her ex-husband the chief of police.

All Sarah knows is that Luke is undercover and investigating a story. Then he vanishes. As she searches for clues to where Luke may be hiding, Sarah comes across a list of veterans and realizes that she's going to have to find out who killed Mr. Spencer in order to find her brother. And all without telling her ex.

Although this is Sherry Harris's fourth Garage Sale mystery, it's the first one I've read, and I'm happy to say that A Good Day to Buy works very well as a standalone. I didn't feel lost once, nor did I feel bogged down in backstory. I was a bit reluctant to read a book that focuses on garage sales, but Sarah Winston doesn't focus on just those. We also read about her attendance at estate sales as well as working with art and antiques. So it's not just about people's "cast-off junk." (I think Harris also managed to raise my opinion of garage sales as I read.)

This is an excellent, multi-layered mystery that revolves around Sarah's estranged brother. It's a chance for readers to learn some of the main character's family dynamics... speaking of which, the relationship she has with her ex-husband is an interesting one. Sarah Winston is a main character I rapidly grew to like, and I had to smile when her friend Gennie laid down the law and insisted Sarah learn self-defense after finding herself in a dangerous situation once again. I know of several other main characters in cozy mystery series who should do the same thing. Gennie could have a flourishing career.

The mystery is solved in A Good Day to Buy, but the book ends on a cliffhanger with Sarah's personal life. I was very impressed with my first Garage Sale mystery, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I visit Sarah Winston again-- especially to see how that cliffhanger turns out.
 

A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris

eISBN: 9781496707529

Kensington Books © 2017

eBook, 288 pages

Cozy Mystery, #4 Garage Sale mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley