Book ~ "The Sayers Swindle" (2013) Victoria Abbott

From Goodreads ~ Jordan Kelly is delighted to make money tracking down rare and valuable mystery novels for her employer, Vera Van Alst, an avid collector and the most difficult woman in Harrison Falls, New York. But now her boss’s complete set of Dorothy Sayers is missing and finding them may lead Jordan to a murder suitable for Sayers’s esteemed sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey.

When Jordan manages to locate her boss’s missing books, they are in the possession of Randolph Adams, an elderly man in a nearby town. Offering a valuable Hemingway first edition as an incentive, Jordan thinks she’s about to seal the deal - but some of Randolph’s relatives think he should hold out for more.

Then the entire family disappears - and a dead body shows up. It’s up to Jordan to collect the clues - and make sure a killer gets booked.

Jordan has a job buying and reselling books for an older crusty recluse, Vera Van Alst.  Vera's mint Dorothy Sayer books were stolen and sold to Karen, a bookseller, who in turn sold them not knowing they were stolen.  Karen wants to make things right but because of a head injury she recently had, her memory comes and goes.  She remembers she sold the collection to an elderly man in another town in a specific style of house.  Vera is depending on Jordan to get the books back, even though they were stolen before Jordan came to work for her.  

Jordan tracks down the house and the man but his wife and grandson put up resistance when Karen offers to swap the collection for a more valuable book.  Jordan is determined to make this happen ... but then the family disappears and a man is found dead nearby.  Fearing the unidentified man is either her Uncle Kevin, who is hiding out from from bad guys, or a Officer Smiley, an officer she's recently gotten to know, she befriends Officer Candy so she can find out information while she is still on the hunt for the missing books.

Though this is the second in the Book Collector Mystery series, it works as a stand alone.    I liked the writing style and the characters.  It is written in first person perspective in Jordan's voice.  As it's a cozy mystery (so there is no swearing, violence or adult activity), it was a quick easy read.  There are recipes at the end.  There was a lot talk about characters from I'm assuming Dorothy Sayer's books ... I didn't know who they were so that was dead space for me and I skipped over these references.