Tool & Die

Sarah Graves piles on problems for Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree to solve in the re-located Wall Street executive's eighth mystery. Jake now lives in Eastport, Maine--"so far downeast that it's almost Canada." She spends her time fixing her old house and offering home repair hints for do-it-yourself buffs. However, small-town charm isn't exempt from big-city crime, and Jake finds herself tangled up in murder, money-laundering, and blackmail. Narrator Lindsay Ellison deals efficiently with ex-cons, ex-husbands, ex-girlfriends, and a housekeeper suffering from CCD--compulsive cleaning disorder--brought on by stress. Ellison switches from standard speech to a downeast accent without slipping into caricature. She's especially winning as Jake copes with exploding radiators, long-lost relatives, and moose puke in her kitchen. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2004
The endless task of restoring her 1823 Federal home in Eastport, Maine, is the least of amateur sleuth Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree's problems in Graves's eighth entertaining "Home Repair Is Homicide" mystery (after 2004's Mallets Aforethought
). Sullen son Sam has dumped supportive girlfriend Maggie in favor of crass, materialistic and calculating troublemaker Kris. Bella, the housekeeper whose services Jake won as a prize, is driving every member of the household batty with her cleaning zeal. Jake's ex-husband, Victor, is ever ready to offer unhelpful advice, while a moose on the loose is creating a nuisance. In an effort to solve most of her problems by bringing Bella under control, Jake confronts her housekeeper and learns that Bella has been receiving death threats. Putting an end to these threats, apparently from Bella's ex-con ex-husband, turns out to be more difficult than expected, and Jake and best friend Ellie White wade into another murderous and treacherous entanglement with a clever, determined killer. A nicely drawn cast of characters, both human and animal, plus humor built around domestic bliss and angst, personal foibles and outrageous situations, all make for plenty of cozy fun. Agent, Al Zuckerman.