A Fatal Appraisal — J.B. Stanley

Amateur sleuth Molly Appleby has a keen knowledge of antiques, a special fondness for collectibles, and a canny acquaintance with the criminal mind...

A writer for Collector's Weekly, Molly Appleby is in Richmond, Virginia, to cover a taping of the hit antiques show, Hidden Treasures. The program features an exhibit of Civil War memorabilia, and crowds are lining up to make a killing with their old junk.

But there are some real divas in the antiques world, and Hidden Treasures's main appraiser, Frank Sterling, is one of them. After he inspects a beautiful eighteenth-century desk with unique secret compartments, Molly finds Frank in his car--as dead as Stonewall Jackson. Molly thinks that the antique desk holds the key to this twenty-first-century crime. And when a second murder occurs, it's up to her to collect the clues before more new blood is shed over old rarities...