Bidding for Revenge (A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Cotswolds, England
Kanga Press (August 12, 2022)
Paperback : 218 pages
ISBN-10 : 1915413044
ISBN-13 : 978-1915413048
Kindle ASIN : B09VQWZJGW
Stolen antiques. An unexplained death. Can an amateur sleuth tell a fake from the real deal and solve a curio of a murder?
Trainee antiques expert, Dotty Sayers, is nervous but excited about buying period furniture for a local celebrity. During the quiet summer months, she’s persuaded to join her company’s triathlon team for a charity competition in Britain’s picturesque Cotswolds. But she realises all that glitters is not gold when a fellow competitor collapses and dies.
With only a young sergeant concerned about the athletic woman’s death, Dotty focuses on the sale of counterfeit furniture. She informs the police about a suspicious phone call but is horrified when her information puts an innocent life at risk.
Can Dotty see through the sham and acquire the clues to ensure justice is served?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Dotty Sayers is taking on more responsibilities at Akemans Auction House. She has been tasked with furnishing a massive home for a local celebrity. This means traveling to several auctions to find the perfect period furnishings her new client desires. She gets to know the man quite well especially after he agrees to hold a charity triathlon competition on his property. Dotty has been swimming every morning to prepare for being part of the Akeman’s team.
The big day arrives and everything is in place to have a successful event until one of the competitors collapses and dies at the end of the course.
In addition to the suspicious death, Aunt Beanie is on a case tracking down counterfeit furniture and Dotty is on board to help her especially after she learns she finds out one of her recent purchases was a forgery.
Dotty truly has her hands full as both mysteries play out and collide in dangerous ways.
I have enjoyed every book in this series and I really enjoy the way Dotty has emerged over the course of these books. Going off on her own to auctions was a big step and she handled it so well. Ms. Tait has given her an excellent group of friends and colleagues to support her. Living with Aunt Beanie and Uncle Cliff is beneficial for everyone. Cliff is failing more each day and due to an event in this story, Beanie needs assistance as well. It also gives Dotty a home base she can afford. She is growing closer to her workmates as well, they are quickly becoming friends. She has a great friendship building with Constable Keya Varma too. I love the multigenerational aspect of this series and the way Dotty interacts with everyone. She still has her moments when she reverts back to her quiet self but that makes her growth more real.
The author introduces some very interesting new characters in this story as well. Jay Newton, an aging rock star, who has bought Windrush Hall and Dotty’s new client, his bandmate Tracy, and an auctioneer who is very close to the rocker. These three seem to be hiding something which really piques Dotty’s interest.
Ms. Tait’s descriptive writing style lends itself well to this story. Dotty travels to several places in her quest to find just the right pieces to furnish Windrush Hall in the more historical way it deserves and to do a little sleuthing. Each place she visited was described wonderfully to create vivid pictures in my mind. The character’s dialogues and situations also felt genuine and true to life.
The mystery was very well-plotted, Dotty takes some real risks to find the truth. The cause of death was unique and unexpected. I did figure out part of the mystery before it was revealed but that did not deter my enjoyment of this story at all. I do love the way Victoria Tait tells a story!
Bidding for Revenge
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About Victoria Tait
I was born and raised in Yorkshire, UK, and never expected to travel the world. But I fell for an Army Officer, and I’ve followed him from Northern Ireland, up to the Scottish Highlands, across to Africa and the Kenyan Savannah, back to the British Cotswolds, and we are now living in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Southern Europe.
I never expected to be an author, but all this moving is not ideal for holding down a job. Instead, I’ve taken the experiences of the places I’ve lived to write vivid and evocative cozy mystery books with determined female sleuths.
I have two fast-growing teenage boys, and together we’ve learnt to ski on the Bosnian mountains. I also enjoy horse riding, mountain biking and I’ve started running as a way to improve my physical fitness, mental wellbeing and shed some excess pounds.
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Coming November 4, 2022
Also by Victoria Tait
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
This looks like a fun series. I need to check it out. Thanks for sharing!