J. B. STANLEY – A Fatal Appraisal. Berkley Prime Crime, pb original, Oct 2006.

      — A Deadly Dealer. Berkley Prime Crime, pbo, August 2007.

   Molly Appleby is a writer for Collector’s Weekly, and in the second of the series (I’ve not read the first, A Killer Collection, Jan 2006) she’s sent by her irascible editor to Richmond, to cover a taping of the TV series, “Hidden Treasures,” which lands her in the middle of an investigation of the murder of two of the show’s appraisers.

   Stanley seems knowledgeable about antiques, but there’s little to distinguish this from any of the several other similar series that have recently been popular. In fact, it was so unmemorable that I was well into a second reading before I stopped short, realizing that I had already read it within the last six months.

   Never noted for my consistency, I bought A Deadly Dealer, the third in the series and discovered, to my surprise, that I was thoroughly enjoying the book.

   The antiques that fuel this enjoyable outing are an eighteenth-century desk whose ownership is contested by two dealers and an early 19th century walking cane that conceals a deadly secret.

   Molly’s relationship with her domineering mother bothers me somewhat, but there was just the right mix of antiques lore and crime narrative to engage my attention.

   Now, maybe I will go back and look up the first book in the series.

EDITORIAL COMMENT. From all appearances, these three books are all there’s going to be in the Molly Appleby series. J. B. Stanley is having a much greater success with her “Supper Club Mystery series,” of which there are now five, the most recent being The Battered Body, which came out in March 2009.