I’m Molly Appleby, former middle school schoolteacher turned reporter. I work for an antiques and collectibles newspaper called Collector’s Weekly and drive all over the South covering auctions, interviewing collectors and museum curators, attending famous antique shows and, more often than I’d like, stumbling upon dead bodies.

I never thought I’d be involved in a murder case. After all, I live a pretty quiet life in my little house with my two cats, Merlin and Griffin. I’m really close to my mom, Clara, who’s the floor manager for Lex Lewis Auction Gallery and always knows the latest dirt on the area collectors. And I have a big crush on one of my coworkers, Matt Harrison. He’s tall and smart and handsome. I’m not sure if I have a shot, seeing as I have a real love affair with sweets and am therefore pleasantly plump, but I’m going to do my best to make that man mine.

Right now I have three adventures that have just been rewritten and published as e-books.

• In A Killer Collection, I stay in my home state of North Carolina and learn about the crazy world of southern pottery. People will kill for this stuff. Literally!
• In A Fatal Appraisal, I drive north to Richmond, VA where I attend a taping of Hidden Treasures, which is a TV program just like Antiques Roadshow. I learn a great deal about secret niches in antique furniture as well as the secrets people will commit murder over.
• By the time Clara and I fly to Nashville to attend the Heart of Dixie Antique Show in A Deadly Dealer, I believe I’ve seen the most gruesome side of the collecting world, but I am very, very wrong. Sometimes, the desire to own an object makes people do horrible things.

So my job is more exciting than I’d like at times and I am forced to eat half of my meals in the car or at restaurants, and I’m constantly trying to save money to buy myself a cool antique or two. And while I learn more than I’d care to about human nature, I also learn that I’m worthy of the position of Senior Staff Writer and a place at Matt Harrison’s side.

Now it’s your turn. Do you collect anything?

You can read more about Molly in A Killer Collection, the first book in the “Collectible” mystery series. Other books in the series are “A Fatal Appraisal” and “A Deadly Dealer”.

The life and times of Molly Appleby is written by J. B. Stanley who grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Stanley has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia.

Books are available at online booksellers.