Diane Kelly

Four-Alarm Homicide is the sixth book in the House Flipper Mystery series by Diane Kelly. A cozy mystery filled with suspects, construction, and wedding planning, this was something a little different in the cozy world, and it totally works!

This is not your average cozy with a baker or coffee shop owner, this main female character is a hands-on house flipper along with her cousin, Buck. When they buy an old fire house and decide to remodel it into a family home, they had no idea what they would be getting themselves into. Within hours, two neighbors show up, asking them to look at a run-down townhouse. Wanting to be neighborly, they go and take a look, deciding it would be their next project, once they can get the family members to sign off on the purchase. Not long after, Joanna, who owns the other half of the townhouse and has quickly become a friend of Whitney and Buck's, shows up at the fire house disoriented and soon collapses. It's soon discovered that Joanna's death wasn't natural, and Whitney is determined to figure out who would kill this friendly grandmother...before the police decide to arrest her for it!

The book went pretty quickly into the story without too much preamble, getting me interested from the start. There are a lot of characters, and sometimes I got a little confused on who was who, but if you have a mind for names, you should be fine (or write them down for your reference later 😁). There were a few times when Whitney was trying to put all the puzzle pieces together that I kept thinking she's an idiot, but if she would have figured it out to quickly there wouldn't have been a book! About halfway through I thought for sure I knew who the culprit was, but after some surprises, I realized I had named the wrong person. Good luck figuring it out!

All in all, a great cozy mystery with a female protagonist who isn't afraid of hard work or confronting suspects, all while planning her wedding. Plus, this was told in two viewpoints, Whitney and Sawdust...the cat.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @StMartinsPress for a digital copy for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.… (más)

The sixth in the House Flippers series has Whitney and her cousin Beau renovating an old fire station in Germantown, a Nashville suburb. This leads them to a townhouse around the corner from the fire station which is owned by a bunch of feuding siblings. The owner of the attached townhouse - widowed Joanna Hartzell - is afraid that the neglected building is bringing down her property values.

After some legal manipulations, including quit claim deeds, Whitney and Beau add the townhouse to their slate of renovations. But arson at the fire station, vandalism in the townhouse, and the suspicious death of Joana are delaying their renovations plans. Whitney needs to solve the murder and get the reno done at the fire station because she and her fiancé detective Collin are planning to use it as the venue for their upcoming wedding.

With a wide variety of suspects including the arguing siblings, the man across the street who wants to buy the newly renovated townhouse, the victim's daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, and the family from across the street who also really want to move into the renovated townhouse, Whitney has plenty of people to investigate.

This was an entertaining cozy mystery. I enjoyed the chapters told by Sawdust, Whitney's cat.… (más)

This cozy mystery is a quick read but lacks nothing. Entertaining, intriguing, clever, and even humorous at times, it still manages moments of suspense. A resort developer is staying at Misty’s lodge, pitching his concept of a new resort to wealthy investors. It doesn’t turn out well for him, as Misty’s sons accidentally discover when they accidentally uncover a rock that is shaped like a nose. Only, it’s not a rock. This is the third installment in this lovely series, sure to please regular readers as well as those readers new to the series. Don’t skip the chapters from the cat’s point of view - they are quite entertaining.… (más)

Four-Alarm Homicide by Diane Kelly is the sixth A House Flipper Mystery. It can be read as a standalone for those who are new to the series or who may have missed a book along the way. Whitney Whitaker and her cousin, Buck are remodeling an old firehouse into a single-family home and a townhouse. Whitney and Buck need to stock up on the aspirin because these projects are going to be nothing but headaches. I like that the story begins with an amusing scene. Whitney and Buck are cousins, friends, and business partners (as you can imagine, they like to egg each other and compete against each other). When working in a neighborhood, you get to meet the neighbors. As you can imagine, there are an assortment of characters. Whitney and Buck have their hands full. I found the story to be easy to read. It is an active story with two renovations, a murder, wedding planning, the engaged couple need to decide where to live, and so much more. The mystery was interesting. I enjoyed joining Whitney as she searched for clues and asked questions. I like noticing those tiny details that lead to the killer. The method of murder was particularly unique. Whitney’s cat, Sawdust, is cute and helpful. The chapters from Sawdust’s point of view are cute. You can tell that the author has been around cats. The author includes information about home renovations (the various projects that Whitney and Buck tackle), mortgages, loans, home ownership difficulties in an easy-to-understand manner. The ending left me smiling. The one thing I did not like is the repetition of information (a pet peeve). I do not feel that key details need to be repeated several times. I look forward to Whitney and Buck’s next project. Four-Alarm Homicide is a makeover mystery with lingering neighbors, a mystifying murder, planning nuptials, kitty discoveries, mouthwatering morsels, and flipping properties.… (más)