Review - Four-Alarm Homicide

Title:   Four-Alarm Homicide
Author: Diane Kelly
Series: House Flipper Mystery #6
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Format: Kindle ARC
No. of Pages: 304
Date of Publication: April 23, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Some properties are too hot to handle...

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are hot for a historical property that has just come on the market—a fire station in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood that was built nearly a century ago.

The cousins have just begun the interior demolition work at the fire station when Joanna Hartzell, who lives in a townhouse around the corner, comes by with a plea for help. Joanna owns the right half of her building, which she proudly maintains in perfect condition, while the left side falls into disrepair: the seven adult children who inherited it years ago refuse to lift a finger on repairs. Never one to turn down a challenge, Whitney and Buck manage to acquire the rundown townhouse—though it turns out Joanna is only one of the many neighbors interested in buying the property once they’ve worked their magic.

Then Joanna shows up at the fire station confused and rambling, then collapses, never to recover. Alarm bells go off for Whitney: she suspects something—and someone—evil could be the real cause. Can she and Collin put the clues together and smoke out a killer?

https://amzn.to/3JtyW8F

MY THOUGHTS:

Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are really hoping that they will win the bid for a historical property, a fire station that they want to turn into a nice family home. After making the purchase and beginning the renovation, Joanna, the owner of a townhouse just around the corner inform encourage them to buy the left side of the townhome, which has fallen into disrepair. The owner has long since passed away, and none of their seven adult children have done anything to maintain the property.

So, Whitney and Buck just might have two properties that they could be working on at the same time - if they can convince each adult child to sign a quit-claim deed for a set amount of money for each of them. Now with the two projects going on at once, their next challenge is the fact that more than one person is interested in purchasing the townhouse, and the pressure is on.

Shockingly, after coming to the firehouse one day, Joanna suddenly drops dead. As she was one of the eager would-be purchaser of the townhouse, and it doesn’t take Whitney long at all to know that this must be a case of foul play. With more than one suspect that could be responsible, work on their two projects is easily slowed down as Whitney strives to discover the killer. As this is the sixth book in a enjoyable cozy mystery series, it was very nice to revisit Whitney. She never missed a beat, all while the renovations were in progress, as well as planning her impending marriage. I sure hope that this series continues as Whitney is a delightful character. 

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Paperbacks and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A former tax advisor, Diane Kelly inadvertently worked with white-collar criminals more than once. Lest she end up in an orange jumpsuit, Diane decided self-employment would be a good idea. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her “Death and Taxes” romantic mystery series. A graduate of her hometown’s Citizen Police Academy, Diane Kelly, also writes the hilarious Paw Enforcement K-9 series, the Busted Female Motorcycle Cop series, the House Flipper series, the Southern Homebrew Moonshine series and the Mountain Lodge Mysteries series.

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