FOUR-ALARM HOMICIDE (House-Flipper Mystery #6) by Diane Kelly will be released on April 23, 2024 by St. Martin's Paperbacks.
House-flipper Whitney Whitaker and her cousin, Buck, take on a historical fire station in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood as their next remodel. While working on the fire station, they get roped into buying and rehabbing the rundown half of a nearby duplex. Taking on the duplex project puts them at odds with the former owners’ various children who could not agree what to do with their inherited property. Between battling with the angry siblings and dealing with issues at the fire station, Whitney and Buck have a lot of their hands. When the owner of the other half of the duplex, Joanna Hartzell, stumbles into the fire station and dies from mercury poisoning, Whitney finds herself caught up in a murder investigation.
Prior to reading FOUR-ALARM HOMCIDE, I binge read the other novels in the series. I currently working at a flooring store and I used to work for a home remodeler, so this series really appeals to me. It’s a very fun series with a cast of likeable characters—both human and feline. FOUR-ALARM HOMICIDE is a great addition to the series, though there were times when it seemed a bit disjointed. Between the two flips, the murder investigation, and Whitney’s upcoming wedding, there is a lot going on in the novel. There are a number of plausible suspects with solid motives. I was actually a little disappointed with the identity of the killer. It definitely was not what I was expecting. The sibling rivalry over the dilapidated duplex was both hilarious and bizarre. As an only-child, sibling rivalry is not something I’ve ever experienced firsthand, and I got a good laugh at the characters fighting over their shared ownership of their parents’ former home.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Paperbacks for the ARC.