Backing up to Brandy III

OK, now I've had a chance to read Antiques Flee Market, the predecessor to Barbara Allan's Antiques Bizarre which I which I blogged about last week.

A great sigh of relief because here's the Brandy Borne I liked so much better. It's probably fitting I read these 2 entries in the Trash 'n' Treasures Mystery series out of order because I've been out of order all week long. The switch to DST derailed my adjustment from Central to Pacific Standard Time. You'd think that getting back an hour would have helped, but it hasn't so I'm going to blame it all on finishing Surely Your Joking, Mr. Feynman and The Beat of a Different Drum (more about those later.)

I loved Antiques Flee Market; I thought the whodunnit was better and appreciated hearing more about characters introduced in earlier books who were missing or walk-ons in Antiques Bizarre. Best of all, the 3rd volume showcased Brandy in all her relationship hits and misses, high-gear shopping expeditions, high-end designer name obsessions, Prozac insulation, etc., etc.

Giving Vivian 2 whole chapters in this book was super. Featuring her latest theatre production was so much better than just reading Brandy's acerbic comments on the doings at the local playhouse. Continuing on a theme, I loved having a map of Serenity (loosely based on the authors' hometown of Muscatine, IA?) as a frontispiece again. The church floorplan was ok but since the action happened on several different levels of that building, it wasn't much of a help. Since it was a library copy, I had to refrain from marking up which suspects were where.

Whatever the writing team of Max Allan and Barbara Collins have planned for their heroine's next adventure, I hope it gives readers more of the old self-absorbed Brandy (and correspondingly less new, nice Brandy). Perhaps, given Brandy's condition, the authors will have an excuse for letting Vivian Bourne share more of the story-telling.