| When I started writing, another author with good | | | | get the moody pre-teen to help them with their antique |
| intentions told me that parentheses should rarely be | | | | booth. She tussles with her (much older) big sister's |
| used "as in never". But Barbara Allan makes frequent | | | | best friend. Mom snoops between gossip sessions |
| and liberal use of them in her funny story Antiques | | | | with her girlfriends and just carrying on like a big diva. |
| Maul with hilarious results. I liked the novel as a comedy | | | | Antiques Maul focuses mainly on Brandy, Vivian and |
| but not as a mystery. | | | | Jake through their adventures, buying merchandise, |
| Barbara Allan is the pseudonym of writing duo Barbara | | | | setting up shop and interacting with the locals in |
| Collins and Max Allan Collins. Their sleuth (or main | | | | Serenity, where everybody knows everybody else's |
| character, to be more exact) is Brandy Borne (oops! | | | | business. The mystery barely rates as a subplot. |
| There I go. Using parentheses.) She and her overly | | | | There are only hints to a mystery for more than two |
| dramatic mother decide to set up a booth at the local | | | | thirds of the book as Vivian insists to anyone who will |
| antique mall. Brandy's mother Vivian is sorely put out | | | | pretend to listen that Brad Pit Bull did not kill his owner. |
| after being passed over for the position of director of | | | | When Jake disappears from a haunted house |
| the local theatre group. | | | | attraction, Brandy, close to hysterics, calls her |
| Adding insult to injury, her best friend (albeit now | | | | ex-husband in from Chicago for help. Only after the |
| former best friend) got the position. The antique booth | | | | kidnapper and accomplice are unmasked is the entire |
| is Brandy's way of keeping Vivian occupied. However, | | | | mystery (for real, now) laid out for the reader. |
| when the owner of the mall is brutally murdered, | | | | Everything is played out in retrospect much like the |
| there's no stopping Mother. | | | | Hardy Boys or Scooby-Doo. Where there was no |
| The police think that the mall owner was attacked by | | | | mystery, now there is. |
| her dog, Brad Pit Bull, but Vivian is not convinced. | | | | If you love a comedy, this book is for you. If you love a |
| Everyone writes her off as a nutcase. | | | | great whodunit, this isn't. |
| The story drags on. Brandy's ten year-old son Jake | | | | By the way, loafers aren't a giveaway anymore, guys. |
| comes to visit during a school break. She manages to | | | | |