The Majolica Murders by Deborah Morgan (2006)

This is the fifth in a series of murder mysteries with the ex-FBI agent (now antique picker), Jeff Talbot as the protagonist. Living in the Queen Anne family homestead mansion in rainy Seattle (the general setting for all of Deborah Morgan's mysteries)having just found and rennovated the conservatory to the house so his Agoraphobic wife, Sheila, can grow herbs and other plants inside for her special cooking recipes, Jeff finds himself in the middle of the murder of an older antiques dealer and his former FBI informanent/now fellow antique picker friend, Lanny, (John Smith) being accused of her murder. Jeff gets him bailed out as not being a flight risk, and the two set out to solve the mystery and recover the majolica pieces Jeff wants to buy for his wife and the one piece Lanny wants that ties him to his childhood sweetheart and teen wife (wedding annulled)and hopefully will lead him to her whereabouts and the re-uniting of the couple. All of Deborah Morgan's novels make for excellent reading, especially if you love antiques as I do. She gives the reader a thrill seeker mystery to help solve as well as much information about antiques. I highly recommend this and the other four of her previous novels.