Retro Reading: Going Through the Notions by Cate Price

When you start a new series, you never really know what you’re in for. Sometimes, you get a homerun and other times it’s best to sit on the bench.

The latter is kind of how I felt after finishing the first book in this series.

Former New York City teacher Daisy Buchanan and her husband Joe, have retired to their cottage in Pennsylvania. Joe enjoys fixing things up, while Daisy has opened up an antique notions store.

On their way to an auction one night, they find out that their friend and auctioneer, Angus Backstead has been arrested for the murder of Jimmy Kratz. Angus has no memory of it since he was in an alcohol induced blackout.

Daisy knows something isn’t right and finds out some rare pens had gone missing prior to the auction. She later learns that Jimmy had been hired by an anonymous estate company to bid on them and the company would turn around and resell them at a higher amount.

While Angus is in prison, she looks at her best friend in a different light as she notices how he has been forgetting things more and more.

There are numerous characters which slowed the pace and it seemed as this may have worked as a novella rather than a full novel. The characters are okay in their own right, but sometimes Daisy did come across as a little selfish when it came to the unexpected arrival of her daughter, Sarah. Even though they butt heads, I think Price did a good with the tension between mother and daughter and the relationship between father and daughter.

With so many characters and events happening at the beginning of the book, I felt as Price started grasping at straws. A great subplot started to blossom near the end and it would have been good to explore earlier.

A word of caution though.

Avoid reading this during a heatwave, since there’s a heatwave in the book and even the characters are uncomfortable!