The Antique Store Detective and the Deadly Inheritance is Book 3 in the charming Bella Winter Mystery series by Clare Chase!
Title: The Antique Store Detective and the Deadly Inheritance
Author: Clare Chase
Series: Bella Winter Mysteries #3
First Published: August 28, 2025
Publisher: Bookouture
Genres: mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Bookouture, for providing me with an ebook via Netgalley for review purposes. ***
Clemmie Crowe had been ill for a long time so no one was surprised when she passed away but Bella Winter isn’t sure it’s as simple as it seems. Why was Clemmie so agitated the day she died – and why did she ask a local policeman to call on her? Bella’s certain Clemmie knew something about her relatives, the powerful Powell family. They used to own half of Hope Eaton, but now they’re planning to sell what remains… Including the Steps Café, owned by Bella’s best friends.
The sale has to be stopped. Perhaps Clemmie’s secret will be enough to put a spanner in the works. So when matriarch Althea Powell invites her to value their possessions, Bella jumps at the chance. She can find some gems, investigate Clemmie’s death, and stymie the sale all at once.
It seems to be going swimmingly… until it’s proved that Clemmie was murdered, and Althea’s priceless ruby necklace vanishes. The list of suspects is as long as Bella’s arm. Was it Althea’s shady stepson, desperate for cash? His older brother, who wants to sell up? Or even her husband, who keeps changing his will?
Then Bella finds the necklace in the last place she expects, upsetting everything she thought she knew. Where there’s a will, there’s bound to be a quarrel. But can Bella figure out whose inheritance means murder, before things turn deadly for her?
I love Bella Winter and her friends
I love going back to back to Hope Eaton and re-visiting the characters in this series – Bella & her friends have become a real joy to read and I always look forward to another adventure with them.
While many murder mysteries have victims that are so awful that I don’t really miss them when they’re gone, this book had not one but two victims that were really good, kind people that made the story more poignant. It makes the solving of the murder much more urgent, in some way.
While this is technically Bella’s series, so many of the recurring townsfolk join in to help her solve the mystery – I have such a great time seeing them all get involved. Especially Matt – talk about a SUPER SLOW burn.
And while I adore many of the recurring characters (and, of course, Bella, it was Althea Powell that stole my heart in this story – she was a wonderfully complex and complicated character and I loved every minute that she was on the page.
The story itself zips along at the perfect pace – Bella is a competent amateur sleuth without being too risky. She’s someone I could definitely see myself being friends with. Overall, it was a good, solid mystery with lots of twists and red herrings and a with a satisfying conclusion.
