Hidden Riches

Dora Conroy has a new tenant for the apartment above her antiques and curiosities shop. Jed Skimmerhorm was a police captain who has given up his badge after he kills the man who, aiming for him, set a car bomb that murdered his sister. Independently wealthy, Jed is content to do nothing except exercise and stew in his guilt.

When Dora returns home from her buying trip, she meets the man her actor father chose for her new tenant. Banter ensues with Dora being friendly and Jed being grouchy.

Meanwhile, a wealthy, murderous and insane collector receives a package which doesn't contain the goods he purchased. He sends his henchman to find and recover his missing pieces which are the same goods Dora bought. He learns that the shipping show more company mislabeled the shipments and, starting at the auction house, beings to track them down killing anyone who gets in his way.

Dora's shop is burglarized but she and Jed manage to chase away the burglar after some shots are fired. Jed finds himself pulled back into police work as he tries to find out who tried to burglarize Dora's shop and why.

As the book progresses, the viewpoints alternate and the danger creeps ever closer to Dora. And Dora and Jed are falling love with Dora being the open-hearted one and Jed the more reluctant because his abuse childhood made him very suspicious of love.

The story was fast paced. It was also an intense thriller and intense though not graphic love story. I liked that Dora's family and Jed's friends were both pushing the couple together while providing strong support for both characters.

Published in 1994, the only things that made it seem dated were the lack of cellphones and the prevalence of characters who smoked. I enjoyed this one very much. show less

When the quarantine ends I may be a little embarrassed by how many Nora Roberts books I read. Maybe :) Hidden Riches is from the 90's, and many of her books from this time period do not age well, in terms of the chauvinistic attitudes of the male leads and their overbearing actions towards the heroines (and how the heroines all seem to like that sort of thing). But this one isn't bad, and has a strong feminist heroine who can hold her own in a fight. Plus it has charming period details like trying to find a quarter to call the police and asking if one can use one's credit card to make a long distance call.

I enjoyed Dora and her family, the various other characters, and the antiques storyline. I couldn’t get past Jed though. What the author seems to have intended as "fascinatingly taciturn" I just found to be rude and immature. And Jed doesn’t limit himself to behaving like a churlish teenager, he escalates to physical violence. I don't care what happened in Jed's life, his behaviour throughout the book is in no way justified, alluring or romantic. I would have evicted him before even signing the lease agreement.

I always enjoy Nora Roberts' books. This one centers around an endearing antiques dealer named Dora who inadvertently buys smuggled goods at auction.

Although acting and drama run through her blood, Isadora Conroy has created a successful business selling antiques and frivolous knick-knacks. Enchanted with a modern art painting full of energy and a ceramic basset hound, Dora bids on a lot that has just arrived at an auction house. Then, to cap off her day, she meets her unfriendly new tenant, Jedidiah Skimmerhorn. Jed is a police chief driven by guilt to contemplate retirement. When the purchaser of the ceramic basset hound is robbed and hospitalized, Dora grieves for the woman's family. But when a fellow antiques' dealer is found dead, and Dora's shop is burglarized, Dora becomes angry and concerned. Meanwhile Jed finds himself irresistibly drawn into the case, as well as show more irresistibly drawn to Dora's positive personality and energy. However, to secure a future with Dora, Jed will have to do more than solve the cases. He will also have to come to terms with the wounds remaining from a neglected childhood. Overall, a satisfying, albeit early, romantic suspense novel by the infamous Nora Roberts. show less

Isadora 'Dora' Conroy comes from a family of actors, she herself is the owner of an Antiques shop overflowing with beautiful things. She likes her life. She goes to an auction and buys some items that catch her eye, nothing unusual until some of the other buyers start dying.

Her new tenant and next-door neighbour is Jed Skimmerhorn, trying to decide if he's going to go back to working with the police, his recent experiences have left him scarred, his life has left him scarred. But the attraction between the two of them is working it's way under both of their skins and making them wonder about a long-term realtionship. Things will change when danger gets closer.

I really enjoyed it, finished it with a smile on my face, really what more can show more you ask from from a book? show less

Burned out cop Jed Skimmerhorn isn't looking for anything but peace and quiet when he rents a room above an antique shop from a little old man with a hip flask.

Dora Conroy isn't looking for much out of her new tenant except a steady rent check . But when a buying expedition and a series of robberies point to something shady, Dora and Jed are thrown together in a race to discover who's behind the attacks and why.

This is classic Roberts - Dora is adorable, and Jed is typical steely-nerved hero on the ragged-edge material. Lots of fun.