Kate Holmes, author of a number of nonfiction books related to the consignment shop industry, such as Secrets of Successful Retailers and 109 Promotion Ideas Especially for Resale Shops, and a longtime owner of her own consignment shop, has expanded her writing horizon to include mystery fiction, beginning with THE PICKER WHO PERISHED.

Wendy Sam Miller (read that “Wendy Sam” as her unusual first name), lives in Sarasota, Florida, where she had moved from Up North for early retirement. Despite this, Wendy Sam had un-retired herself and was owner of Too Good To Be Threw, a consignment shop in Sarasota. She had developed close friendships with a group of other women who met each Monday for a Girls Night Out. It was just one such evening that revealed the beginnings of unease between two of Wendy Sam's friends, and before long, one of the two of them, specifically, Ilene the Picker, ends up dead in what seem to be mysterious circumstances to Wendy Sam.

In the course of the brief police investigation into what was officially labeled an accidental death of her friend, Wendy Sam meets Detective Tom Litwin, a man about her age, and the two form a friendship of good-natured adversity. Wendy Sam is out to prove her friend was murdered and Detective Litwin ostensibly remains in the picture to help the amateur sleuth. As it turns out, there is a chemistry brewing between these two middle-aged, single adults, and as the story progresses, the sparks fly!

There is lots going on in THE PICKER WHO PERISHED. The reader is introduced not only to Wendy Sam and her friends in their leisure life, but also in their roles in the resale shop community, herbal medicine, and other unique and interesting vocations. There is also a fair amount of senior citizens with whom Wendy Sam and friends interact, and of course, the various suspects along the way. The author gives a realistic glimpse into life in Sarasota, Florida in both description and plot action. The foray into consignment shop background proved interesting as well.

It looks as if Kate Holmes has a winner in her book, THE PICKER WHO PERISHED, and she doesn't even have to wait to find it on consignment.