Shadows on the Ivy (Antique Print #3) by Lea Wait

Maggie Summer has three loves: her antique print business, Shadows; her career as a community college professor in Somerset County, New Jersey; and the new man in her life, Will Brewer. Her biological clock is pushing her to decide whether she's ready to add a fourth love: an adopted child.Although Will is on the road just now, Maggie's life is full. She uses prints by Currier & Ives, Thomas Nast, and William Ludwell Sheppard to illustrate her lectures on American cultural history, and Oliver and Dorothy Whitcomb, a wealthy couple who are on the college board, are two of her best customers.

When the Whitcombs design and dedicate a special dormitory for single parents and their children, Maggie is thrilled to become the faculty adviser to the young parents. Her new assignment gives her plenty of time to think about what single parenthood would mean for her. Plenty of time -- until one of the young mothers is poisoned, and the web of danger at the dorm threatens to encircle Maggie.

There is a killer on campus. Is it an outsider or someone Maggie knows and trusts? Does someone want to destroy Whitcomb House or the college? And is Maggie in as much danger as her students?

As always, Maggie finds the answers to her questions in the antique prints she knows and loves. And this time, torn between her own needs and those of her students, the most important discoveries Maggie makes are about herself.

Rich with appealing characters and fascinating insiders' lore about antique prints, "Shadows on the Ivy" is the best yet in this award-nominated series from an author who brilliantly brings together her knowledge of prints and her love of storytelling.  (Summary via Goodreads)




I cannot get enough of the Antique Print Mystery series by Lea Wait !!  I fell in love with Shadows at the Fair, the first book in this series and was hooked when I read the second book, Shadows on the Coast of Maine and now after reading the third book, Shadows on the Ivy, I am a CRAZED fan !!

In Shadows on the Ivy we are hanging out with main character Maggie Summers in her hometown.  Things in this book allow the reader to get up close and personally with Maggie as she goes to Somerset Community College where she teaches as well as advises a house of single parents who attend the college under scholarships.  Even though Maggie is preparing for an antique show later in the week, that is not her main focus and this side of Maggie will have the reader loving her even more.  We found out in the second book that Maggie is feeling the tug of wanting to be a parent but no one would have thought that might happen when one of the single mothers in the Whitcomb House is poisoned !!  

Maggie is pulled in so many directions as she tries to find out who poisoned Sarah and why....and when another resident at the Whitcomb House is found dead in the kitchen, her need to help and protect goes full force !!!

Again author Lea Wait will have the reader on the edge of their seat turning the pages so fast, they may get a paper cut....but if they do, it will be well worth it !!!  Readers will love everything about this series and will want to continue hanging out with Maggie until the end !!  And after reading the LAST page, there will be no stopping !!!!


Review by Missi M.