Book 26, 2022

[chez_jae]

Dead in the Doorway by Diane Kelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Last night, I finished the book Dead in the Doorway by Diane Kelly. This is the second book in the "House-Flipper" mystery series. The protagonist is Whitney Whitaker, who works as a property manager and flips houses on the side.

Whitney and her cousin and partner, Buck, have purchased a home in need of updating and renovation. Whitney is excited to tackle a new project...that is, until she enters the home and finds a dead woman at the foot of the stairs. Whitney has no idea who the woman is, nor who the young man that's been squatting in the house is, either. Dakota says he's the previous owner's grandson, and he needed a place to stay. Whitney is content to let the police and the coroner do their thing, but when they discover Nelda Dolan was murdered, Whitney is anxious to get the case solved before it ruins her chance to sell the home. To that end, she delves into some sleuthing of her own, much to the chagrin of Detective Collin Flynn. As Whitney uncovers clues and motives, she learns the killer may be closer than any of them thought.

Ho hum, just your average cozy mystery with a spunky female lead and a romantic interest who's involved in law enforcement. Oh, and a cat as a side-kick. At least Whitney has an uncommon job. For me, the biggest turn off was wondering why she inserted herself into the investigation at all. The author played it off as Whitney being concerned about the sale-ability of the house, but she took some rather foolish risks for such a pithy reason. I didn't like that Whitney held onto some evidence until she had a chance to follow up on it. Annoying.

Favorite lines:
♣ Boxed mac and cheese marked the pinnacle of my culinary skills.
♣ "Full moons bring out the crazy in people."
♣ But could there really be a future for two people who'd met over a dead body? It wasn't exactly a meet-cute story.
♣ "Housekeeping is heck on a manicure."
♣ Despite what the song says, not everybody was kung fu fighting.
♣ "I'll make you a deal. If I get murdered in the flip house, you can say, 'I told you so.' Okay?"
♣ I was fairly certain I was so far off base that I wasn't even on the field anymore.

The book was oka-aay. Average read, average score.