By: Sarah Graves
Genres: Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Hobbies
Posted: December 7, 2005
When the body of Eugene Dibble is found in the shed behind Jake and Ellie's house, the local cops suspect he was murdered for a batch of oxycontin pills in a spat between two partners. But why would the murderer have come back for the mute girl, Wanda Cathart?
As Jake investigates, she's drawn into an increasingly miasmic situation -- was Mac Rickert, the local mountain man, Dibble's partner? If so, why did he kidnap Wanda? What do the current tenants have to hide, and why is Greg Brand so jumpy when questioned?
This is an easy read and a really fun cozy mystery. I could relate to the fact that Jake has a nickname, has been previously married and has a son by that marriage, is into guns and home repair, and continuously gets into scary situations. The story line is solid, while not oversimplified. NAIL BITER is a good, well-written book.
Book Summary
Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree took the dangerous plunge from Wall
Street power broker–to homeowner! Now the do-it-yourself
enthusiast is about to discover that her own dream house is
built on a foundation of murder.
Buying a beachfront
fixer-upper to lease out to Eastport, Maine’s, burgeoning
tourist crowd seems like a good idea to Jake Tiptree and her
best friend, Ellie White. But working double-time as
landladies to a coven of wannabe witches isn’t what they had
in mind. And it only gets worse when Jake is called out one
stormy night to make a repair–and stumbles on a dead body in
the utility shed.
A small-time thief and street
preacher with a particularly violent message, the deceased
was no favorite of Jake’s–nor of anyone else in Eastport.
But what’s he doing shot to death on Jake’s property?
Jake’s bewitching tenants–including an ex-cop, a con man,
and a mute teenage girl–claim to have been too busy
conjuring spells to have heard or seen a thing. Then a
member of the coven disappears without a trace and Jake
doesn’t think it’s a case of witchcraft–but a
kidnapping...or worse.
Scandal, secrets, and a
mysterious box buried deep in the foundation of her own home
are just the beginning of a mystery that threatens to bring
Jake’s house–and life–crashing down. Now she and Ellie are
racing to find a missing girl who may be the key to it
all...or lead them to a killer holding the final nails to
their coffins.
by: Sarah Graves
Bantam
December 1, 2005
Featuring: Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree
272 pages
ISBN: 0553803107
EAN: 9780553803105
Hardcover