Victoria Abbott – The Christie Curse

The first book in the Book Collector Mystery series, published March 5, 2013.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: nice. But my book has the smaller cover, with the rescued dog in it.



In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared - making headlines across the world - only to show up eleven days later at a spa under an assumed name. During those eleven days, did she have time to write a play?
Jordan Kelly needs a new job and a new place to live. She's back in Harrison Falls, New York, living with her not so law-abiding uncles, in debt thanks to a credit card - stealing ex and pending grad school loans.
Enter the perfect job, a research position that includes room and board, which will allow her to spend her days hunting down rare mysteries for an avid book collector. There's just one problem: her employer, Vera Van Alst - the most hated citizen of Harrison Falls.
Jordan's first assignment is to track down a rumored Agatha Christie play. It seems easy enough, but Jordan soon finds out that her predecessor was killed while looking for it, and there is still someone out there willing to murder to keep the play out of Vera's hands. Jordan's new job is good...but is it worth her life?


I had this series on my wishlist for a while, and now that Victoria Abbott has joined my favourite cozy authors’ blog, The Cozy Chicks, I really wanted to read it. So I was glad when I found a copy recently.

I really like Jordan, the heroine in this series. She has a very quirky background, she grew up with a lot of uncles who don’t take the laws very seriously. And she has some skills herself along that line. She loves vintage clothing and has an awesome car.
Jordan is confident, and I absolutely loved how she treated the cranky Vera van Alst, her new employer, and did her job as well as possible, and also looking for the killer of her predecessor, when she became the number one suspect in a murder attempt on a new acquaintance. She found things out, and was not stupid in taking care of herself.

She also took care of Karen’s dog while his mistress is in the hospital. And it was so much fun to see how quickly her uncles bonded with this dog and spoil it rotten, while as a child Jordan was not allowed a pet.

Jordan is staying with Vera van Alst in her mansion, with her aging housekeeper who is a fiend in the kitchen and always stuffing them with delicious food and coffee. Vera doesn’t hardly touch her food, but Jordan certainly appreciates it! Her uncles are not of the cooking kind, and warming something out of a can is about all they manage.

And then there is that strange cop that keeps showing up everywhere that Jordan does, helping her out in a tight spot or two, but with her family background, Jordan does not trust a cop. What he is hiding? And why is he so often out of his jurisdiction?

The murder mystery was a very good one, I did not see that coming at all. Ofcourse I know Agatha Christy, I have read a few of her books and I am a big fan of the Hercule Poirot tv series with David Suget. In other books I recently read, there was also the issue of her short disappearance, using her husband’s mistress’ name in a hotel that was a stroke of fun and revenge. And perhaps she really did write a play that is yet to surface, who knows.

I do look forward to reading the next book in the series.

8 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian