Priceless Betrayal:
A British Cozy Murder Mystery with a Female Amateur Sleuth
(A Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in Series
Setting – Cotswolds, England
Kanga Press (March 16, 2023)
Paperback : 222 pages
ISBN-10 : 1915413192
ISBN-13 : 978-1915413192
Kindle ASIN : B0BPPV74CV
A victim who dies twice. A web of deceit. With the help of her friends, can an amateur sleuth crack the case, or will she pay the ultimate price?
Trainee antique expert, Dotty Sayers, knows she’s in trouble when a dead body disappears. She’s relieved to hear the victim is alive, but her confusion turns to alarm when she finds him dead, again.
It’s all smoke and mirrors as evidence mounts against this amateur detective, and convinced she’s deceived them, her police associates turn their backs on her. With only her close friends believing she’s innocent, she’s determined to clear her name.
Can Dotty uncover the truth before she’s stabbed in the back?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Priceless Betrayal picks up right where Antique Tragedy leaves off. Dotty Sayers is arrested when stolen artifacts are found in her luggage while boarding a plane headed to Istanbul for an International Antique Fair. People who she trusted turned their backs on her.
Her close friends are able to get her released but then she finds herself in hot water again when she goes to pick up a painting and finds a dead body. When the authorities arrive both the body and the painting are missing. So Dottie is arrested again for theft of the missing painting. Without much to hold her on she is again released.
But when sent out again on another work errand she finds another dead body, well it is the same body, really dead this time. Arrested again, and there is no getting her out this time. She has a few people who know she is innocent and they are working hard to prove it. She has clearly been framed but will she be able to find the truth that will set her free?
If you read my review of Antique Tragedy you know we were left hanging at the end so I was excited to dive into Priceless Betrayal and Victoria Tait didn’t disappoint. With protagonist Dotty Sayers arrested for crime after crime and the way she was being treated by key individuals, readers could see there was much more afoot than a few missing artifacts and a dead body. Keya, Aunt Beanie, Norman, and Ryan really had to pull out the stops to help Dotty find the truth.
I really enjoyed that this book took a second look at things that had happened in previous stories and found a thread of connection to the current cases. While digging into all the clues some very surprising things were revealed. The “betrayal” was indeed “priceless” and it ran deep.
The plot drew on thefts of artifacts from Iraq during the war in 2003 and the lengths people would go to in efforts to retrieve or hide these treasures. It was interesting to learn the steps to authenticate the items and all the protocols that needed to be followed. I always love to learn new things and I appreciate being to do that even while reading a fictional story.
Priceless Betrayal wraps up most of the hanging threads in this series and its ending leaves Dotty in flux. She was clearly shaken by the events in this story. What is next on the horizon for her? She has a plan for the short term but I am sure there will be more mysteries in her future. Keya is embarking on something new that will keep her very busy and keep readers in touch with some of the favorites from this series. Earl Grey and Shallow Graves: A British Cozy Murder Mystery with a Female Sleuth (A Waterwheel Cafe Mystery Book 1) will be released on May 19, 2023. I am really looking forward to seeing what the author has in store for Keya.
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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 well-being and shed some excess pounds.
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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.”