Josie has settled in New Hampshire to recover from her own personal experience of no good deed going unpunished, as she tries to put the pieces of her life and career back together in the fallout from her blowing the whistle on a scamming boss at a big New York City antiques house. By this, the third book in the series, that recovery is well on its way. She's found she really likes living in New Hampshire, her business as an antiques appraiser and seller is doing really well, and she's developing some strong relationships that mean a lot to her.

Rosalie, one of those relationships, turns up dead just hours after she took Josie out to lunch, bubbling over with her usual joie de vivre and something extra because of a happy secret she just had to tell someone. Rosalie had also shared some unhappy secrets with Josie during their time together, and her suspicious death leaves Josie once again feeling torn apart over what to tell and what not to tell to whom. Bitter experience may leave her preferring to say nothing when it's all secrets and suppositions, but another of those important relationships is the police chief. Who is Josie's significant other, but only when not on duty, where he is a thoroughgoing professional who is not the sort to tolerate any kind of interference from amateurs. Add to the mix a stalker and Rosalie's heartbreakingly young and vulnerable baby sister, who had been living with Rosalie since their parents' deaths, something which echoes with Josie's own past, and Josie finds herself in a stew that she simply has to investigate her way out of.

This was a fast reading, fascinating story, full of suspense and well rounded characters you really care about. It's also nicely garnished with interesting information about the antiques business without any feeling that you're being educated rather than entertained. Compulsively readable and definitely recommended, I'm already looking forward to the next in this series.