Book 25, 2020

Dead as a Door Knocker by Diane Kelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Last night I finished reading Dead as a Door Knocker by Diane Kelly. It's book 1 in the "House-Flipper" mystery series, featuring Whitney Whitaker and her cat, Sawdust.

Whitney works for a company that manages properties, and she also does construction and restoration. When a real estate mogul offers her a fixer-upper at a great price, Whitney pounces on the offer. She knows that she and her cousin, Buck, can turn the home into a showplace and sell it quickly and at a good profit. However, the very night she closes on the house, a fire breaks out in one of the smaller bedrooms. That's only the first thing to go wrong. Whitney begins to suspect she's been sold a lemon, and she confronts Rick Dunaway, the man who sold it to her. He agrees to cover the cost of her insurance deductible, but when Dunaway is later found dead outside Whitney's new house, she becomes a prime suspect in his murder. Now she has police detective Collin Flynn dogging her every move, an evicted tenant out for her blood, the media hounding her, and a real estate exam to study for. Whitney knows she'll never get this house fixed up and sold until Dunaway's murder is solved, and she takes it upon herself to launch her own investigation. What she turns up, however, may get her killed.

I'm on the fence about this one. Whitney was an engaging character, and other characters were done well. I liked the fact that she doesn't have a run-of-the-mill job, like so many heroines of cozies, but once again, the potential love interest is in law enforcement. Yawn. And, might I add, I am having trouble accepting Collin as a romantic interest for Whitney. He basically humiliated her and all but ruined her career, and she still gets all tingly around him? You can tell she's not Irish; we hold grudges for-ev-er. I also didn't like Whitney's "investigative" tactics, which amounted to confronting people. It's a wonder she didn't end up murdered. Sheesh. Another thing I disliked was that Collin was so forthcoming in sharing information with Whitney. Uh, no. The police aren't going to show their hand to a prime suspect.

Favorite line: "In a pickle, aren't you?"

The story was mildly interesting, but too much of it was implausible and difficult to accept. I might read the next one in the series, just to see if some of my suspicions about this one are correct. Average score.