It’s bad enough when your business partner buys a property without consulting you, but when she accidentally acquires a brothel, it’s enough to make Rowena Summerfield want to throw away her hammer. Still, the house is a bargain, and maybe it’s just what Ro and her daughter need to turn around their home renovation business. As Ro, a former homicide detective, comes to terms with the deal, she gets a shock when the former owner—and madam—turns up dead. Soon someone from Ro’s past shows up at the work site: her ex-partner, who needs a temporary sidekick to help him solve the case. Reviving their investigative team isn’t easy, especially when Herc gets jealous of the hunky deli owner who takes an interest in widow Rowena. Until now, she was fine with one man in her life—her cuddly cat, Jason. Ro and Herc discover the previous residents of the house, including the victim’s daughter, have less than fond memories of their former boss. The bordello’s old customers have a lot to lose if their secrets surface, and the unhappy neighbors still bear a grudge. As the sleuths dig deeper, they unearth a flimsy foundation of anger, greed and fear framing the walls the suspects have built around themselves. Can Ro and Herc find the culprit before someone plays another deadly trick?
Featured Series
1 primary bookNailed It Home Reno Mysteries is a 1-book series first released in 2022 with contributions by Barbara Barrett.
Reviews with the most likes.
I really do not think this should be sold as a “Cozy Mystery” or assumed by the reader that it is!
I fell for the good rating, nice cover & book 1 of a series thinking this was.
This is a good mystery about a mother and daughter who buys houses, repairs them and resells them.
The daughter buys a former “Bordello” and a few days later the “Madam” who use to run the house turns up dead.
The book was still a cozy mystery until interviews with some of the former ladies working at the house went into a little more detail of their jobs then was needed!
I have read about 60 Cozy Mysteries and this is the 1st time I've seen phrases such are used in this book.
I still gave it a 4 for the mystery part and lots of suspects but you be the judge if this is a Cozy Mystery or just on the edge of Cozy or Regular Mystery! David N.