Another Man's Treasure

I was immediately drawn into this mystery. The main character, Audrey, has an interesting business in estate sales. The characters are complex and the plot kept me guessing until the end. Love the author's voice and writing style. This is the first in a series and I will definitely check out more of these books.

Another Man's Treasure by S. W. HubbardI just read this terrific new book by S.W. (Susan) Hubbard, "Another Man's Treasure" (AMT). I will disclose that even though she was my college roommate, my recommendation is based on thoroughly enjoying this engrossing page-turner suspense novel. Hubbard's previous three books, the Adirondack Trout Run series featuring Frank Bennett, published by Pocket Books, came to a premature close when Pocket decided to close down its mystery line. Though I loved her first series (Take The Bait, Swallow The Hook, and Blood Knot) - think British style mystery in an American regional setting - I was delighted to enter into a new space and place with the release of Another Man's Treasure. Set in New Jersey with the backdrop of an estate sale business, Audrey Nealon, the sassy, entrepreneurial, protagonist of AMT is on a quest to find answers about her childhood and her family by resolving the disappearance of her mother thirty years ago.The novel is fast-paced and full of quirky, cleverly described characters. Audrey's two young assistants, Tyshaun, a young man with street cred and a criminal record is highly believable and is as accurately drawn as Jill, the other assistant who wears a post-punk crew cut, a tongue stud and Doc Martens. And then there is the cold, cerebral math whiz father who has (conveniently) suffered a stroke, the handsome political operative Cal, the burly, magnetically attractive Detective Coughlin, the loyal mutt Ethel, and numerous other characters that are part of the estate sale scenes, the political campaign for the New Jersey governorship, and the Manor View Senior Living facility. The author has a keen eye for the details and nuances that make these various worlds real and seamlessly intersects them culminating in a very unexpected ending.I love to read and I admit that reading mysteries is one of my secret guilty pleasures. It shouldn't be, but it isn't all that easy to find books like AMT that are well written and intelligent, as well as just fun with "who done-it" suspense-filled plot twists and a literary allusion to Proust's Madeleine. ATM is a little hard to characterize - the author has settled on "personal journey thriller" - and I can't argue with this description. Audrey has never really accepted the disappearance of her mother and estrangement from her father. When she discovers a ring that belonged to her mother as she prepares for one of her estate sales, the story launches into a tale that touches on art, antiques, street drugs, political ambition, family bonds, and personal growth and acceptance. Not bad for a fun page-turning mystery that you will still feel good about reading when you are done.This book is interesting in another way. Numerous publishing houses really liked it but because the plot didn't fit into any really neat genres or categories, they weren't quite sure how to market it and as a result didn't accept it for publishing. So the author went on and published it herself through Amazon and is now hoping that personal recommendations via word of mouth will push out sales to a larger audience.I highly recommend this book and if you like it, tell others about it too!ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE by S. W. Hubbard, is available on Kindle, Nook, iPad and paperback via Amazon only.Visit [...] to read the first chapter.

I have to say this is one of the best books I have read so good I ordered another in the series

When we first meet Audrey Nealon, she tells us "..the scent of a house pretty much tells me what I'll find inside." It struck me that the same could be said of a novel. The first page of this novel told me that I would enjoy reading it, and I was not disappointed. The plot is deftly constructed; the characters are believable; and the dialogue is fast moving and entertaining.The mystery begins when Audrey finds her mother's ring at an estate sale. Her mother, who disappeared thirty years before and is presumed dead, always wore the ring. How did it come to be in a stranger's house? The path that leads to the answer is full of twists and turns.Audrey is an appealing character--enterprising, resilient, very funny, and vulnerable. She was raised by an emotionally distant father and her only friends are her two quirky employees, so when Cal Tremaine, an attractive high-powered attorney, courts her, she is swept up in the relationship. The relationship grows in parallel with the mystery of the ring.I don't know if this is the first in a series of novels starring Audrey, but I hope so.

Loved this book. Couldn’t put it down!Can’t wait to order rest of series (10 books)