Jacobia is at it again, this time investigating a particularly sadistic murder in an incongruously cheerful holiday setting. Wade, Victor, Sam, and all the rest are back to help with solving the case and keeping the house in one piece as Jacobia and Ellie race to find the culprit before their friend is convicted of a murder they believe she didn't commit.I have enjoyed the Home Repair is Homicide series so far because of the character development and the suspenseful writing, but I have noticed in the last couple of books that my ability to suspend my disbelief has been stretched to the breaking point. Some of the medical-related plot points in this book are entirely absurd. Jacobia has been involved in at least a half-dozen murder investigations, and yet here she repeatedly puts herself in harm's way to to have long, drawn-out, private conversations with people who she suspects of murder! Without giving anything away, I was completely dissatisfied by the ending. A good mystery should provide clues that, even if they don't enable you to solve the crime yourself, should at least lay bare the path that leads to the conclusion. This murderer appeared to be chosen entirely at random, and the convoluted denouement was preposterous.Finally, what's up with all the cars backfiring?! I'm thirty years old, and I have never heard a car backfire in my life. The fact that nearly every vehicle mentioned in this book backfires copiously is distracting and dumb. I'm going to need a long time to forget this installment if I have any hope of getting this series another chance.
This was just ok. It took a long time to figure out who was who in this town. In the opening pages you learn how awful Jake's ex-husband is and how she left NYC but then there he is in her Maine house? And he continues to just wander in and out throughout the story despite her son being away at college and Jake having remarried. Just odd. The main character talks in flashback a lot and then is back in the present and then off speculating and it is hard to keep track of whether the dialogue is actually happening or a recollection.The author tries to throw a lot of red herrings into the mix but they aren't very plausible. It's enough to send Jake and her friend off running in the snow to check out these leads though. They are reckless and probably should have just frozen to death halfway through the book.
I enjoy this series.There was less actual home repair being done here. But something is really bothering the dog.Primarily Jake and her friend Ellie were busy running around trying to track down who killed Faye Ann's husband Merle. The question who would like to see Merle dead but who wouldn't want to see Merle dead. But he was killed and disposed of in a particularly grisly and kind of north woodsy manner.And, of course, the bodies keep mounting.It is also a Christmas book, as though that wasn't evident from the title.
—Jan C
Okay,I've been enjoying this series, but Jacobia Tiptree and her friend Ellie White are starting to act stupidly and very recklessly in their investigations. While Ellie's motivation is to help a childhood friend that she does not think is guilty of killing her abusive husband, Jacobia is going along to support her best friend Ellie. Even though the setting is a mall island town in Maine, and Ellie is local, born and bred, their talking to the neighbors is not an unusual act on their part and may help dig important information to assist the town sheriff; in this book they also go off and confront people they think may be the killer. Even through they are going together and not on their own, as some cozy heroines do, I still this this is a stupid and reckless on their parts. I've lost a bit of respect for these characters.I do think the characters and stories are well written, so I'm not ready to give up on them yet. However, I hope Jake and Ellie show more common sense in the next book.
—Barbara
This is an early book in the series. Blood is the big factor in this book. The murders & attempted murders have plenty of it! The author deals with the theme of people are not what they may seem. The Maine winter is described in detail, especially the drive to/from Mickey Jean's cabin. Graves's description of the bleak, but beautiful Maine landscape is extraordinary! Despite Jacobia's fumbling through an explanation near the end, the plot is explained and the proper person in custody before another murder can occur.
—Marcia
