Cape May Capers

I couldn't help but feel that reading Morgan Brice's new series intro, Treasure Trail, that the new characters and plotlines were less there for entertainment, but more to serve as a tentpole for a mege novel at some point, since again, more characters from series written under Brice and her Gail S. Martin characters show up at various point. Indeed, the epilogue includes a stinger on par with Samuel L. Jackson showing up and asking Iron Man about the Avengers Initiative.

But anyway, We're in Cape May, New Jersey, as former art fraud and art theft investigator Erik is preparing his new shop, Trinkets, for opening. He's also dealing with a pushy agent who wants him to narrate a PBS show dealing with art and antiquities fraud. He's a recent transplant, deciding to get out of his old business after a cursed Faberge Egg investigation in Flanders goes very badly, followed by walking in on his boyfriend at the time screwing his junior partner on the dining room table.

Then we meet Ben, the possible new owner of a local rental agency, who was formerly a Newark cop. Whose boyfriend also dumped him. Erik's aunt has semi retired, and her son doesn't want to run the business.

Eventually, the two meet, when Erik thinks his date is Ben. This does wind up working out, as they eventually do end up meeting under different circumstances as Ben and his cousin find a fake clock that's somehow wrapped up in a murder at a cursed local hotel that burned down prior to the start of the story. I shoudl mention here that Erik has a form of touch magic, where he can see glimpses of the past of objects and spirits attached to them, while Ben sees ghosts. It's a match made in Urban Romance heaven.

Anyway, it doesn't take long before a few people who showed up for a page start dying off, old Mafia hits start popping up as ghosts, and one of the pair winds up in serious danger.

I mean, it's a fun read, but I feel like we're really getting bones here instead of fully fleshed out characters, and even then, those bones are trying to support a larger support beam for some kind of paranormal romance meganovel.