Summer

13 December 2011

MORTAR AND MURDER: A DIY Mystery - Jennie Bentley

From the back of the book: Avery Baker was once a New York textile designer, but inheriting her aunt's old Maine cottage has led her down a new career path----home renovation. Finding a property's hidden potential has rewards and challenges---especially when a mystery surfaces from behind the walls....


Avery and her boyfriend, Derek, are renovating a magnificent 225-year-old Colonial on Rowanberry Island, just off the coast of Maine. The DIY is going great even if the neighbor, a reclusive thriller writer, seems as strange and mysterious as his fiction. But his reputation seems in perfect keeping with what Derek and Avery discover next....


The body of an unidentified woman with a piece of paper in her pocket bearing the address of Derek and Avery's Realtor is found floating in the sea near the island. then a second woman is retrieved like jetsam from the harbor. But it's not until Avery discovers a secret room in the house, and learns about Rowanberry Island's long tradition of smuggling, that a bizarre link is made between the dead women---and if it foretells anything, it's that things on the island are only going to get deadlier.

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I love learning things as I read. Cozies with recipes or helpful tips in the back of the book are fab and this series is one of those. There are how-to's on creating your own stencils and an authentic canvas floor cloth like they did back in the day when rugs were prohibitively costly for the average Joe.


Add that to a really well done mystery with characters to get into in a location where I'd like to live (if it weren't for all the dead bodies) and you have a swell cozy mystery series.

I've not read the series in order and I'm not sure it's necessary. Not that the books are stand-alones, but they can be enjoyed on their own.


Avery is tenacious in her search for who the dead women are and I like how she keeps searching for their identity as well as who the killer might be. And what is the mystery behind the famous writer in the twin house to the one Avery and Derek are working on? She doesn't let the mystery get in the way of her relationship with Derek nor with their work.


I have another in the series on the nightstand to read and look forward to getting and reading more about Avery and Derek and their DIY-in'.


Visit Jennie Bentley:http://jennabennett.com/


Five DIY in New England beans.....


3 comments:

Aurian said...

Okay, that is a new series for my wishlist, haven't read about this one before.

Sherri said...

Sounds like a good series!! I would love to trade with you Vickie if you own this one. Let me know!

Vickie said...

Aurian: It's a really good series. I am pretty sure you will like it. Neat tips at the end of each book and a good story.

Sherri: I can send this one to you, absolutely. Send me an email to remind me.
VWinship at aol dot com