The Hidden Treasure Files. Martin Herman

This is the second in the current series of Will James mystery novels, this time, the anti- establishment private investigator and his crew are asked to help unravel a mystery that begins in a Brooklyn antique store and ends in the most unlikely of locations. <br><br>Every Sunday morning, precisely at 10:30 sharp, there is an auction held in a sparsely furnished back room of Better Times Remembered, a small neighborhood antique store in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Albert Froog, the owner of the store and self declared auctioneer, personally chooses the items for each week&#39;s auction. Generally these items are fairly ordinary but become more interesting because of the back story he is able to weave around them. At times there is even a speck of truth in the story he tells. <br><br>At this particular Sunday morning auction, one of the items he offers up is a prohibition era permit in a battered old wooden frame authorizing the manufacture of alcohol. It was one of many items he acquired in an estate purchase. On his inventory sheet he has assigned a value of 50 cents to one dollar for this item because so many similar permits were issued during prohibition and the frame is of little or no value. <br><br>Hoping he will wind up with something between 50 cents and a dollar he starts the bidding at $2.00. <br><br>To his surprise and amazement two separate people quickly bid the price up to $100,000. <br><br>&quot;Who would pay $100,000 for this piece of junk?&quot; Froog asks himself. &quot;What do they know that I don&#39;t?&quot; <br><br>When the head of the New York Mafia family also shows interest in the item Froog becomes doubly convinced that he really has a hidden treasure on his hands. If you think you know how this will all end you are so very, very wrong. <br><br>As with all Will James Mysteries, the numerous twists and turns will keep you reading and guessing until the very last page.