house flippers – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Batten Down the Belfry review

February 20, 2022February 20, 2022 Tari Hann

This is the fourth book in the House-Flipper Mysteries by Diane Kelly who has other cozy mystery series under her belt as well as a couple of new ones. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read so far by her even though I haven’t dipped into the older series yet. I just love the characters in the House-Flipper series and hope she continues writing it at least as long as she did Paw Enforcement. Little Sawdust is so cute on all these book covers in this series, and he even gets featured in several short chapters giving a cat’s-eye-view of what’s going on.

My Goodreads review:

Batten Down the Belfry by Diane Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It looked like Whit and Buck had scored themselves another nice property, and with all the ideas they collectively had for it, it promised to be a good profit and future moneymaker for them. Only the one little problem of the body in the bell tower needed to be addressed first. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was another death on the property after that.

I loved the idea Collette came up with for having a cafe to go along with the theater venue building. It was cute how she and Buck were getting closer. I like where Whitney and Collin are in their relationship. He finally realized she’s useful to investigations, and it doesn’t do any good to tell her to keep away anyhow.

The showdown was crazy exciting! Sawdust got to play a part, and that old bell in the church definitely came in handy! The very ending was so sweet and now I can’t wait for the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC provided by St. Martin’s via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own. This book comes out March 1, 2022.

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The Body in the Wetlands–review

May 3, 2019 Tari Hann

This is the second cozy mystery in the Jazzi Zanders series by Judi Lynn, who is usually a romance writer. It’s always interesting to see what kind of house flip that Jazzi and her cousin Jerod are working on, along with Jazzi’s hot boyfriend, Ansel who longs to be so much more than just a live-in boyfriend. The mystery again was very good and I hadn’t figured it out due to the great red herrings the author planted. I like Jazzi a lot. She’s a strong character, doesn’t take garbage from anyone–and she’s smart enough to always set her security system and lock doors. I’ve already preordered book 3! Oh, George the pug got a couple of tiny roommates in this book. No worries, he likes cats. 😉

My Goodreads review:

The Body in the Wetlands by Judi Lynn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jazzi Zanders had hoped that finding a body in the attic of their last renovation house was the last time that would happen, but of course, no such luck. When an elderly neighbor of her sister’s disappeared, his dog led Jazzi to a shallow grave of two other people, one of whom had been missing for a few weeks. It was only a guess as to what could have happened to the older man. Once again, Jazzi was called on by Det. Gaff to go with him and ask questions. He does seem like a detective who is easy to please, but he’s no slacker on his job and shows up promptly when Jazzi needs to talk to him. It was cute how he and his wife came to Jazzi’s pond to go swimming.

I hadn’t really guessed completely who the killer was, but by the near-showdown, I knew although I still didn’t know why. Thanks to a smart move by Jazzi, nothing happened. I kind of like when the arrest is made off-screen so to speak. It’s a little different. Everything was neatly wrapped up and the good detective once again thanked Jazzi, Ansel and Jerod. It seems odd that Gaff doesn’t have an actual police partner, but hey it’s fiction and it’s different and a little unique. These characters are becoming like old friends to return to. I especially like the Sunday meals that Jazzi and her family shares at her house. I’m looking forward to the next book!

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Dead as a Door Knocker–review

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 Tari Hann

Dead as a Door Knocker by Diane Kelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the cool things about this book is that just as you don’t want it to end, there’s a little sneak preview of the next book at the end! It goes right into the same time of year too. I’m so anxious to find out when that next book is coming out!

Whitney Whitaker was a carpenter and a property manager who was about to become a real estate agent and a house flipper with her cousin Buck as her partner, after her real estate agency’s biggest client offered her a house for a steal of a deal. The house quickly became a huge source of trouble, starting with Sawdust her cat finding a dead body in the flower bed. Since Whitney’s hammer was the weapon, she became the main person of interest, so she knew she had another job cut out for her: prove her own innocence or go down for something she didn’t do. Her good friend Colette and her cousin Buck for always up for adventures!

The suspenseful scene that took place before there was a showdown was pretty cool, and Sawdust got to have a major part in that–way to go, sweet kitty! When Whitney insisted on going with Det. Flynn to the showdown with the killer, she somewhat came in handy. I had another person pegged for this murder, although I’d made a random comment early in the book for no reason whatsoever of “oh, I wonder if s0-and-so did it.” There were good red herrings and secrets along the way. Now that I’ve read the little preview for the next book that comes at the end of this one, I’m probably going to be checking Amazon regularly to see when it comes to presale! Hopefully getting the author’s newsletter will take care of that though.

I just fell in love with these characters! Mr. and Mrs. Hartley were the nicest people, who wouldn’t want to have bosses just like that. Buck was a hoot and I’m wondering if he and Whit’s friend Colette might get together eventually. I loved the camaraderie of the three of them. Whit actually had a great relationship with her parents–I’m always a fan of that! They weren’t in it a lot, but they were super nice people. I’m not really a fan of the neighbor of the house they were flipping though. Patty seems like nothing but a complainer. And of course there’s Det. Flynn who is a cat person like Whitney–I really hope they get together eventually! Last but not least whatsoever, Sawdust the cat was such a sweetheart! I thought it was fun how every so often there was a one or two-page chapter coming from his view-point, third person as written, but still giving the cat’s thoughts–especially about a one-eyed mechanical demon that came to life when Whitney was gone!

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The Body in the Attic–review

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 Tari Hann

This is the first book in a brand new series called Jazzi Zanders just released in November. The author is Judi Lynn, and when went to leave the Amazon review, I noticed she’s normally a romance author, it made a lot more sense to me now why there were so many everyday life details given for Jazzi, Jerod and Ansel. Not super long details, just more of a fleshed-out version of what the characters actually do besides trying to solve a mystery. It was fun seeing them gut and fix up a house. I liked these characters and will be preordering the second book due out in April.

Wow this is the 4th book I’ve read recently that features a cute little pug dog. George was so cool, he was like a little human!

My Goodreads review:

The Body in the Attic by Judi Lynn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a different cozy, but different in a good way meaning it wasn’t the usual formula most people expect in a cozy. Instead of Jazzi bugging the detective for clues, he was very willing to share with her what he found out and almost treated her like a colleague instead of a civilian. And the two murders were technically cold cases…but there was at least one, possibly two killers that were still very much alive.

I loved the house-flipper job that Jazzi had. Working with her cousin was probably a lot of fun. Jerod was like the brother she’d never had. And their contractor Ansel was so handsome that Jazzi couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was in a bad relationship which finally got resolved the way it should. I liked that aside from the threatening phone calls, Jazzi was never really in any danger and she was smart enough to have a security system in place and always lock her doors.

This makes the 4th book I’ve read recently that has a cute and personable little pug in it. This one was named George and he was almost human. He went with Ansel everywhere he went. Everything seemed to work out so well in this book, and for once there wasn’t a bunch of arguing or romantic tension. I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series.

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