Brandy Borne, seven months pregnant as a surrogate mom, dutifully monitors her own bipolar mother, Vivian, in Allan's quirky fifth Trash 'n' Treasures mystery set in the Midwestern Mississippi River town of Serenity (after 2010's Antiques Bizarre). Despite these obligations, Brandy manages to maintain an innocent romance with Tony Cassato, the Serenity police chief, as well as do a little antiquing and crime solving. When unlikable Connie Grimes, who once worked for Brandy's biological U.S. senator father, turns up dead with a knife in her chest, dotty Vivian confesses to the murder and goes to the slammer, where she meets a jailmate and potential witness to the real killer. And that's just one of the highlights. Throw in a touch of Mafia menace, a New Age hypnotist with a herd of cats, a very tasty recipe, and some smart tips on antique collecting, and you've got yourself a sure-fire winner. (Mar.)
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Brandy Borne is pretty sure her 'charmingly eccentric' mother Vivian didn't kill that viperous mousy-haired busybody Connie Grimes. Sure, the two women were in a scuffle in the clock repair shop the day before. An, ok, Vivian's prints were all over the murder weapon. And she has been off her medication lately. And then there's her guilty plea...Soon mother lets it slip that she's protecting someone by taking the blame. But who? With some moral support from Sushi, her pet shih tzu, Brandy goes digging for clues, and before long, she's up to her very pregnant waist in a scandal involving questionable antiques...and deep family secrets...