That was a debut novel? Darling, C.L. Miller is going to be fabulous! Common advice to authors is ‘write what you know.’ Miller comes from an antiques background, making this field a natural attraction for her. Plus, international art crime is right up there with illegal arms, drugs, endangered animals and their parts, and human trafficking as a high stakes business. This lends weight to the dangers faced by our main character, Freya Lockwood.
Miller doesn't confine herself to just one narrator, though. We get information from several view points, filling in the reader without having to have Freya witness every little thing. Although the murder of Arthur Crockleford and the settling of Marc Metcalf's estate are ostensibly the centre of the plot, the heart of things is truly Freya's shattered trust and her frozen emotional state. Arthur knew that she needed to escape from a bad marriage and the anchor of the marital home, to find out what truly happened in the past to estrange the two of them, and to regain her thrill in the adventure of life.
His method is complex and complete. Arthur has complete confidence in his former protégé and her aunt and his beloved friend, Carole. If Freya is an avenging angel, Carole is an aging glamour girl with definite ideas about how life should be lived, that is to say to its fullest. They may seem mismatched but they complement each other nicely.
There is nothing yet to indicate that there will be a series, but these characters are too good to abandon now. Especially with the promise of further antique expert roles for Freya and her inheritance of Arthur's shop. Not to mention the notice of a certain FBI agent. I do hope there will be more adventures featuring Freya and Carole. I, for one, will be signed up to enjoy them.
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