Antiques Disposal: A Trash ’n’ Treasures Mystery

Near the start of Allan’s zany sixth antiques mystery set in the Mississippi River town of Serenity (after 2011’s Antiques Knock-Off), dotty Vivian Borne and her long-suffering daughter, Brandy, set off for Lucky Four Leaf Storage, whose owner, Big Jim Bob, is auctioning off the unknown contents of one of his units in default. Undaunted by the mouse droppings covering the cardboard boxes in the unit, Vivian wins the auction with her $100 bid. Unfortunately, when mother and daughter return to pick up the boxes, the storage unit is empty, except for a rolled-up rug containing Big Jim Bob’s dead body. Might Big Jim Bob’s demise be connected to a Bix Beiderbecke cornet later discovered in one of the boxes? A classic gathering of suspects, under the guise of auctioning off the cornet, leads to an unexpected denouement. Allan is the pseudonym of married couple Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (May)