Death by demo

Because of a prenuptial agreement, Jaime Moore lost her half of King Contractors, the construction--interior design company she helped to build, in her divorce, leaving her with only a white elephant of an old house. Determined to rebuild her life and start a new business, Jaime decides to renovate and flip the house. Unfortunately, the first wall she brings down reveals a body--high-school acquaintance Cilla Price. To get her renovation time line back on track and because of Cilla's kindness to her in high school, Jaime decides it's up to her to find Cilla's murderer. She investigates numerous suspects including her father's best friend, her ex-husband, and her hunky new neighbor, putting herself in grave danger. The well-drawn Jaime's confidence grows as she begins to assert herself, realizing her opinions matter and that she was a big part of King Contractors' success. Framed by details of home renovation, this first in a new cozy mystery series will appeal to fans of Sarah Graves' Home Repair Is Homicide series.

A North Carolina home renovator loses her business but gets a chance to find something more important: a killer. Jaime Moore has lost it all--some bad, like losing her half-ownership in King Contractors, her construction/interior design business, and some good, like losing Henry, her cheating now-ex-husband and former business partner. The only thing she has left in the world is a Queen Anne fixer-upper that's more fixer than upper. But a Moore never gives up. So, true to her family motto, Jaime does what she does best and starts to renovate the Perkins County dwelling. Her streak of bad luck continues when her demolition reveals a dead body in the wall. And the body isn't just a body. Det. Scoles tells Jaime that the deceased is none other than Cilla Price, whom Jaime remembers as someone who showed her kindness even though she was two years ahead of Jaime back in high school. Scoles further informs Jaime that there's evidence Cilla has been murdered, which moves her to investigate and get Cilla the justice she deserves. Well, that and the fact that the home reno can't be completed as long as it's an active crime scene. When Jaime tries to find the killer, she's stumped, not only because Cilla was so well liked but also because anyone in their small town would have had access to the house to stash Cilla's body. But maybe solving the murder will help Jaime feel that she can restore a sense of justice in a world in which she's gotten short shrift. Broadly drawn characters add little to the market value of a property that has all the personality of new construction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.