I am reading this series out-of-order which is causing some ho-hum moments.

At times a little boring or rather monotonous as there are several threads running. And, while Ms Graves is developing these multiple threads there is little forward motion. But, all of a sudden, everything speeds thru at once. ( )

I love reading mysteries for relaxation and entertainment. This one is only okay at best. I think the author is trying to do too much in this series. I'll try one more. ( )

Jacobia Tiptree and her best friend Ellie find the body of Ellie's high school boyfriend washed up on shore. Then his father is murdered and the two of them begin investigasting. There are a lot of strands to the story which do get too neatly tied together. I really can't stand Victor, Jake's exhusband, and if he's going to be more of a main character I might skip the next in the series. ( )

I'll start with my problem with the beginning of the story. This is the second book in the Home Repair is Homicide series, but when I started reading it seemed as though I had missed a book. Some of the secondary characters situations were totally different from the first book. It was a little jarring.

Aside from that I Thought it was a pretty good novel. Again, Ellie and Jake manage to stumble onto not one, but two dead bodies. (Although they find each body at a different point in the story). There's also quite a bit of --exciting-- boating in this one for sure. And then there's the stuff with Victor, Jake's ex-husband, and Sam's father. While the mystery was good it was never too much of a head-scratcher when it came to me figuring out who did it. But the relationship tap dance between Jake and Victor was at times really interesting and at other times wicked annoying. That subplot I had no clue how it would turn out though, and I will say that it will be interesting to see what happens in the next book too.

And then there were the shutters and other house stuff. I learned why radiators are painted different colors and way way way more than I ever wanted to know about authentic shutters. It was also cool that those parts of the story played parts in the bigger story in general. The whole novel fit together like a finely made jigsaw puzzle.

Oh, and as an aside, she used the word 'wicked' in its correct New England usage. That made me way happier than it should have. ( )

Hard to get a hold of - thank heavens for interlibrary loan! The interplay between Jake and her ex-husband heats up when Victor considers moving to Eastport. I think Victor is nuts and sometimes I wonder if Jake puts up with too much for the sake of her son. The mystery was entertaining, and I enjoyed seeing the main characters developed more. ( )