Crafts and Life

Liz McCall has come to love running her father's vintage toyshop back home in East Aurora, NY, so when the Train and Toy Show comes to town, she's all aboard for a fun toy-filled weekend. The only hitch is that her childhood bully Craig McFadden, now local business rival, has set up a booth next to hers. But the fun and games are over when Craig falls from the ceiling in a publicity stunt gone wrong.
What was initially thought to be a fatal accident proves much more sinister. Pulled into the case by her feelings for both Ken, the police chief, and Jack, her high school sweetheart whose brother is one the prime suspects, Liz dives headfirst into the investigation. But as she digs deeper, she's shocked to learn her father may have been the intended target.
The trouble train is barreling down and Liz may have just bought herself a first class ticket in Murder on the Toy Town Express, Barbara Early's delightful second installment in her Vintage Toyshop mysteries.

Liz and her father (Hank) are working a booth at the Train and Toy Show, she was looking forward to a good weekend when she realises that their booth is next to a comic book booth, and whilst this would not normally be a problem (in fact it could be beneficial for both shops) this comic book store and therefore the booth is run by Liz's childhood nemesis Craig.  Even this wouldn't have been too much of a problem but the head of security is saying the comic books are obscene (thereby upsetting Craig's assistant) but then Craig does a swan dive from the gantry onto a large display of a model train set up!

When he ends up dying in the hospital later and it is discovered that it wasn't of natural causes Liz finds herself looking into what happened, as it seems that he had been drugged, but it was Hank's coffee he had drunk so was Hank the intended victim?  Add in theft of some expensive comic books (with Jack's brother being a suspect in the theft) and Ken unable to investigate as he was there at one of the times when the coffee could have been doctored and Liz is finding that childhood dreams can turn into nightmares very quickly!