When carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck discover an historical fire station in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood…and are able to buy it…they’re ecstatic. But they’ve barely begun renovations when a neighbor Joanna Hartzell shows up asking for their help. She owns a townhouse just around the corner. She lives in one half and keeps it in perfect condition, but the other side is owned by seven siblings who inherited it and haven’t lifted a finger in years to do upkeep or maintenance. Whitney and Buck manage to acquire the rundown townhouse and it quickly becomes apparent that there are several other neighborhood members besides Joanna who would like to buy the property once Whitney and Buck make all the repairs and renovations.
All seems to be going smoothly working on the two projects until one day Joanna shows up at the fire station confused and rambling before she collapses and later passes away. Whitney decides to find out what happened, since something about Joanna’s death seems off to her. As she investigates, plenty of suspects pop up — the man across the street who wants to buy the property, a young couple with a baby on the way and desperate for a home of their own, some of the former owners and even relatives of Joanna. And the killer isn’t averse to killing again to get what they want…and stop Whitney.
This is the sixth in a series and is easily readable as a stand-alone. The characters are charismatic and fun to get to know if this is your first book in this series, as was the case for me. There are plenty of “could be” suspects which will keep you reading to see if your theory is right. There is a furry protagonist named Sawdust and we get occasional chapters in his perspective. It didn’t work for me, but many may enjoy this.
4 stars
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