Monet Talks by Tamar Myers
Den of Antiquity, book 5
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Charleston antiques dealer Abigail Timberlake Washburn is thrilled by her recent estate auction purchase of a spectacular bejeweled birdcage from India, but not so much by its occupant, a mouthy mynah named Monet. Still, her customers at the Den of Antiquity seem charmed by the insufferable birdbrain, so Abby figures she’s stuck with him. That is, until she finds a stuffed starling resting on his usual perch with a ransom note demanding a real Monet (the painted variety) in exchange for her purloined pet.

Since she doesn’t happen to have a priceless masterpiece on hand — and since a mynahless existence isn’t all that distasteful a prospect — Abby figures she’ll let the thief keep the annoying avian. But when her mama Mozella is abducted by the craven birdnapper, Abby must leap into the fray to rescue mater and mynah alike … before the feathers really start to fly!

A missing bird, a crazy fancy Taj Mahal and a mystery. This one will be a tough one to crack!

I picked this book up, first because of the orange cat on the front and, second because I like a good cozy mystery. I’d never read a book by Tamar Myers, so this was a good introduction to her work. The story flew by, pardon the pun, and it had moments of great flash.

I did like that there is a cat in this story. Sometimes the books are marketed with having an animal that never actually shows up, so that was a plus for me. The main character, Abby, owns an antique shop and one of the things that goes missing is the Taj Mahal, the mynah bird that lived in it and her cat! So, I rooted for Abby to get the cat back.

One of the things that lowered enjoyment of this story for me was the sheer number of characters. I got so confused at times as to who is who and finally realized this is the fifth book in a series. It would probably help the reader to start at the beginning of the series in order to keep everyone straight. Another thing that sort of irritated me was the way the mystery took a backseat to the rest of the action. There’s also a lot of talk about just how hot it is in Charleston, SC, and that got a bit redundant, too.

Still, this is a good afternoon read and the conclusion of the mystery is worth the effort. You’ll want to pick this one up!