Shadows at the Fair [by] Lea Wait
New York; Scribner [2002]
0-7432-2553-8; $24.00
Maggie Summer became a widow after Christmas last year, and is now trying to put her life back together. She’s still teaching at Somerset County College in New Jersey, where she lives, but she’s actively building her antique print business, Shadows, by attending more antique fairs. As the book opens, she is just pulling into the parking lot at the Rensslaer County Spring Antiques Fair.
As she unloads her wares and sets up her booth, she learns that there have been several deaths at the shows she’d missed, including the Westchester Show last weekend. Although she is able to greet the Wyndhams and her friend Gussie and Gussie’s nephew Ben, things are different with some of the other people with booths nearby. Will Brewer’s booth is taking the space of the fellow who died at the last show. Always considered one of the most congenial, and even model, couples, Susan and Harry Findley were not setting up their booth together as usual. In fact, Susan seemed to be spending a lot of time with Vince, who runs the shows. Harry was helping Joe Cousins unpack his First Editions. What is going on, Maggie and her friends wondered.
But the show got underway on time, with buyers walking around with drinks and snacks and sellers bustling to answer their questions, and, hopefully, get a sale. Gussie’s 20-year-old nephew chose to get out of the way and practice running on the track out beyond the parking and restrooms. He has Down’s Syndrome, and, although fairly high-functioning and quite charming to Maggie, he liked being by himself.
The buyers do come and buy, although some are buffaloed by their spouses into saying no, after they’ve said yes, so that all of the sales do not happen, Maggie is generally pleased with what’s going on. She also gets a hefty seller’s discount on a mirror she saw in another booth, so she’s very happy as she buys it and takes it back to the cabins on the property where she and her friend Gussie are staying. Gussie and Maggie visit and order pizza while waiting for Ben to return.
Ben interrupts them by rushing in, hysterical. He believes he has killed a man he thought was going to hit a woman. He ran over to stop him, and he pushed him down. The man didn’t get up. There was blood, even on Ben’s hand. The woman fled. Since Gussie is in a wheelchair, Maggie volunteers to go back to the fairgrounds with Ben to see about the man.
On the way, they pick up Will Brewer, who is staying on scene in a van. He’s new, but seems really nice, and is willing to help them look. They do not find a dead man where he should have been, and they start to walk back to the entrance. Ben describes the woman he saw with the man, and Maggie is pretty sure it’s Susan Findley, so they look for Susan’s van.
They are interrupted by a woman screaming and screaming. It is Susan, and Harry is lying at her feet – very much dead.
Needless to say, nobody gets out of the immediate area, so Maggie and Ben take potluck with Will, and then sleep in his van. A very upset Susan comes with them and Maggie tries to calm her down. They all get questioned by the police, and Ben is taken as Suspect #1. Maggie spends much of the next day trying to figure out where people were at the time, and the show goes on.
Maggie’s sleuthing also goes on, as she talks to others and puts things together, including who ate and drank what, who was sleeping with whom, what possible items could have been murder weapons, who owed whom money, etc. What she puts together almost gets her killed, but does unmask the murderers, gets Ben out of the cops’ clutches, and promises a brighter future for the antique business and even Maggie’s life. You learn quite a bit about the antique print business, as well as antiques in general, and you get to spend some time with wonderful characters. An enjoyable mystery. Highly recommended. ~ lss-r
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Library book.
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