Home Repair is Homicide #7
Bantam
November 2004
On Sale: October 26, 2004
Featuring: Jacobia Tiptree; Ellie White
368 pages ISBN: 0553585770 EAN: 9780553585773 Paperback Add to Wish List
Jacobia βJakeβ Tiptree left her high-powered career for a dilapidated fixer-upper and the dream of a quiet existence in the quaint town of Eastport, Maine. But she found that no matter how carefully you remodel your life, murder can take up residence anywhere.
Itβs Eastportβs most notorious landmark: the old Harlequin House. Named for the disgraced physician Chester Harlequin, it was used as a hideout for gunshot gangsters and their molls during Prohibitionβs heyday. Now fixer-upper enthusiast Jake Tiptree and Harlequinβs only living descendant, Ellie White, are refurbishing the mansard-roofed mansion to host the local Historical Societyβs upcoming gala. But when stripping down old wallpaper reveals a secret door to a room containing not one but two corpses, Jake and Ellie once again find home repair leading to homicide.
One of the bodies is a skeleton dressed in 1920s flapper chic. But the other is that of real-estate mogul Hector Gosling, and in his pocket is a paper bearing the single word βGuilty.β The less-than-scrupulous tycoon has been poisoned, and when itβs learned that the offending substance is the poison that Ellieβs husband George has been using to kill red ants, he is immediately taken into custody. Then it develops that George had recently accused Gosling of a scheme to scam Georgeβs vulnerable old aunt out of her life savingsβand George out of his inheritance. With George held for murder, Jake and a pregnant Ellie swing into action.
In between Ellieβs Lamaze sessions, baby showers, and CPR classes taught by Jakeβs ex-husband Victor, the two amateur sleuths must sift their way through a trail of seemingly contradictory clues. Then another corpse surfaces and suddenly Jake and Ellie realize they must find this killer fast. A clever culprit is not only building an airtight case against Ellieβs husband. Heβor sheβis planning to nail everyone who stands in the way.
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