Whisper of Treasure and Lies by Trish Esden ~ Spotlight

Posted May 17, 2025 by karenbaron in Blog Tour, Contest - Giveaway, Spotlight / 1 Comment

Whisper of Treasure and Lies

Series: Scandal Mountain Antiques Mystery #3

Author: Trish Esden

Genre: Traditional Mystery

Setting: Vermont

Release Date: April 14, 2025, by Independently Published

Pages: 306

Summary:

Some secrets die with their owners. Others hide in silence, waiting to be set free.

Edie Brown despises the bigwig antique and art dealer Felix Graham. She even suspects he had a hand in her mom being set up for the art forgery charge that sent her to prison. However, when Graham is drugged and robbed after purchasing a valuable antique bottle and a box of local historical items, Edie agrees to hunt down the thieves for him. In payment, she wants one thing: everything Graham knows about her mom being set up—who was involved, how they did it…all the information that could lead to her mom’s freedom.

But the number of possible thieves is as plentiful as the potential motives. Graham’s womanizing ways and slippery business practices barely outweigh the stolen pieces’ rarity and value. As Edie, her uncle Tuck, and enigmatic employee, Kala, dive into the dangerous search, evidence that the crime is tied to the stolen pieces’ history surface. Both the bottle—known as the Glass Widow—and the box of ephemera are related to a tragedy that occurred the night before the grand opening of a Victorian-era hydropathic resort, a shocking fragment of Vermont history that involved a peculiar dowry, concealed murder, and a fire that claimed lives and gutted the lavish resort.

With her mom’s mental health rapidly declining in prison, Edie must fight against the clock to expose the thieves by untangling a mystery with roots that stretch from the Victorian-era to the recent robbery, and perhaps into Edie’s own past as well.

Excerpt

“You okay?”

My uncle Tuck rested a hand against the small of my back, a comforting gesture as we joined the crowd flooding toward the old feedstore building, currently home to Fisher’s Auction House.

“I’m fine,” I said. In truth, sadness pinched at the back of my throat instead of the jittering excitement I usually felt when attending an auction. I loved antiques and art. I lived for auctions. I craved the adrenaline rush of bidding.

Tuck hushed his voice even further. “Seriously, Edie. I don’t mind if we skip this.”

I managed a smile. “I want to stay. It just feels…”

“Like the end of an era?”

I nodded. Today, Bucky Sander’s estate was going on the auction block. Bucky had been a renowned Vermont antique dealer and one of my grandparents’ closest friends. I’d learned most of what I knew about antique bottles from him—historical flasks, medicines, poisons, mineral spring bottles…the rare and the common. It’d been over ten years now since we’d lost my grandparents. Bucky had passed five years after that. His collections, mountains of antique inventory, as well as the accumulated contents of the farmhouse he shared with his wife had sat untouched until recently when she put their home on the market and moved into a smaller place.

Tuck’s hand left my back. He chuckled. “Bucky was quite the character.”

Scandal Mountain Antiques Mystery Series

About the Author

Trish Esden is an award-winning author of mystery novels that deliver feisty heroines, devious criminals, and as many twists as a back-country road. Set in contemporary, small-town New England, Trish’s stories promise skillfully-crafted whodunnits fraught with secrets, cunning schemes, and sometimes a touch of romance. Though a dead body or two might surface, Trish’s novels tend to focus on crimes other than murder. If you’re a fan of traditional mysteries with a diverse cast of friends and adversaries, you are in the right place. Immerse yourself today in an atmospheric world where danger, mystery, and a passion for justice collide.

Giveaway

Prize: A Signed Hardcover Copy of Art of the Decoy, Scandal Mountain Antiques Mystery #1 and a Signed Hardcover Copy of A Wealth of Deception, Scandal Mountain Antiques Mystery #2 / including swag and download for coloring pages that go with each book (US shipping only)

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