Melanie Turner may well be one of the most exciting, smart, and funny heroines currently in any books series. Mel, as she's called, runs Turner Construction, a company that specializes in remodeling and restoring historic houses in the San Francisco area. She has just partnered with a friend, Matt Addax, to remodel some homes and flip them. Matt is an aging singer and uses his celebrity status to get high society people interested in buying these remodeled homes. The morning after a "Do It Yourself Remodeling Party," Mel shows up to find Matt passed out on a couch amid an unbelievable mess inside the latest house they're trying to fix up. Apparently, this party got out of hand and went on for hours into the night and early morning with plenty of drinking. No one is left on the premises except Matt, though.

When he comes to, he and Mel look over the house to see what other damage was done only to have the bloody image of another colleague appear before them. Kenneth Kostow had been shot many times with a nail gun and is missing a hand. He's so out of his mind from pain and blood loss that he can't really tell them anything. He later dies at the hospital, but that doesn't stop him from appearing to Mel. It seems that she can see and communicate with dead people, much to her chagrin.

Kenneth wants Mel to try to help him solve his murder but he can't remember anything important that happened just before his death. After a few odd break-ins surrounding everywhere Mel goes, she starts to realize that Kenneth's death was definitely a murder. On top of her having to investigate the murder of a ghost, a heartthrob from years ago re-enters her life. Graham Donovan is still just as hot as he ever was and he's making Mel's heart do funny flip flops.

Is Mel going to solve the murder of Kenneth? Will she and Graham finally get together? The journey on the way to these answers is well worth the trip.

Juliet Blackwell has a wonderful new series in the Haunted Homes Renovation Mystery books. This was a quick read mainly because I just had to keep going to find out what was going to happen next. There's enough excitement to keep you reading until late in the night.

Book Summary

Melanie Turner has made quite a name for herself remodeling historic houses in the San Francisco Bay Area. But now her reputation may be on the line.

At her newest project, a run-down Pacific Heights mansion, Mel is visited by the ghost of a colleague who recently met a bad end with power tools. Mel hopes that by nailing the killer, she can rid herself of the ghostly presence of the murdered man-and not end up a construction casualty herself...

Read an Excerpt