Crawl Space by Sarah Graves

Graves just keeps getting better. It's like she hit an even dozen in the series and thought "eff it. Just to keep my faithful readers on their toes...NO ONE is sacred. No one." And then she chuckled an evil chuckle and uncapped her pen.

We're still in 3rd-person-omniscient-land in this installment and I have to admit that it's growing on me. I like that Graves has figured out how to keep the suspense building while still keeping us in all of the loops. In fact, the only person whose head we DON'T enter is the bona fide sociopath's...and we're all better off for that. But aside from that dude, Jake, and our usual characters, you can't be sure who's "good" and who's "bad" because they're all out there in the gray-area somewhere. Which is nice and truer to life.

This book focused more on the suspense and action than on the home repair, so if you've got a hankering for more tips you may be disappointed. If so, watch Bob Vila. And then pick up the next installment which is out later this month.

A Face in the Window

This - the second to latest installment of the Home Repair is Homicide series - takes a different tack: 3rd person all the way through. And since Graves isn't one to shy from "killing" our favorite characters, the level of suspense is ratcheted up. This one falls squarely into Page Turner territory.

The great thing about a series is that you can invest in the characters - and Graves plays on that by sending Ellie and George on vacation and then having their daughter (in the care of Jake) abducted.

That's as far as I'm going with the plot because holy cow. I'm not sure how to talk about it without giving away too much. It's downright gripping.

If you're a fan of the series, you won't be disappointed.

And if you're a fan of the series you'll be happy to know that there is another...but will there be another? After A Face at the Window....it's really anybody's guess.

The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves

If you've read the previous few issues of the Home Repair is Homicide series, then you're familiar with the story of the Book which was found in the foundation of Jake's house. That is the titular book of this installment. The murder in question happens before this book opens, and we are graced with a second viewpoint periodically through the narrative - that of one of the men who was investigating the Book.

The one that may or may not be a hoax. The one that may or may not be written in blood. The one that may or may not be bound in human skin. The one with Jacobia's name in it.

Because of that, I've tagged this with "speculative" because, while some may be satisfied with the answers, some may not. Which you know I love.

There's plenty of humor heaped in - a fight with a bathtub, for instance. And there are lover's quarrels, outsiders poking their noses around, a very uppity old biddy whom Jake is desperately trying to impress.

And of course the usual cast of characters, all of whom bring their own brands of zaniness.

A thoroughly enjoyable installation, as they all are, which is why I keep reading. I think there are only three left and then I have to wait for them to be written and published. I love/hate that.

Nail Biter by Sarah Graves

* I read Tool and Die...but I’ve had really bad sleep since then. I know I loved it...but I don’t remember it well enough to review it. On the plus side, this means I can re-read it!


It’s fall in Eastport when Nail Biter opens up and we discover that Jake and Ellie have purchased - and are currently renting out - a fixer-upper in one of the neighboring towns.  It’s not an entirely out-of-character move for our daring duo, as Jacobia likes biting off more than she can chew and Ellie is infinitely capable. But Ellie has a baby, a doozie of a fall storm is on its way, and Jake has...well, her family, her house, and a list of repairs as long as her arm.

So it only makes sense that the story opens with a murder, and then Graves throws a missing person into the mix, as well as her trusty conglomeration of hooligans, ne’er-do-wells, helpful citizens, suspicious strangers, suspicious old acquaintances, weather, leaky plumbing, boats, and pets.

At this stage of the game, it feels like the murders and missing persons are almost the b-plot. I would go so far as to say that they’re really just an excuse for us to catch up on the lives of our favorite fiction Eastportians. I’m also a fixer-upper junkie, so the state of her projects and - ultimately-  her house - are of great interest to me. I sit in my rental and read vicariously about things like new porches and double hung windows and a justification for power tools.

This book - which is set in October - has it’s share of chilling moments and things that make you go hm….it also serves as a gentle reminder that we don’t always know what something means, not everything can be explained, and not everything makes sense.

And that’s all I’m saying because otherwise I’ll spill a whole boatload of spoilers and no one likes that. Luckily, there are 3 more of these before I get to the one that’s coming out in May. Also Luckily - my TBR list never shrinks.

Mallets Aforethought by Sarah Graves

I warned you that I was picking up the next one in the series to see if I was right about the foreshadowing.

And without spoiling too much: I was and I wasn’t. That particular plot involved Jemmy, Jacobia’s old partner-in-”crime” who has been in hiding from the mob since book one. It has always been a B-plot and remains so in this book, which I found disappointing. I enjoy Jemmy when he makes the rare appearance and would love to have seen this character fleshed out even more - not to mention the insight we get into Jake’s previous life as a slightly shady investment tycoon. Luckily, there are several more books just waiting to be read and maybe he’ll pop back up now and again.

Graves doesn’t waste any time mucking about with catching the reader up on what happened between the last book and this one - by page two you know that Ellie is pregnant (I know - that’s a spoiler, but it’s page two. I promise not to spoil anything else.) The historical society is restoring a house that was once in the possession of Ellie’s family, but hasn’t been for at least a generation and is now falling apart. Ellie and Jake, perpetually curious, have found a hidden room and not one, but two dead bodies. One of them is very fresh and is the much-reviled president of the Historical Society, and the other appears to have been killed in the twenties right before the room was sealed off.

The most unfortunate part of all of this is that said Historical Society President is discovered dead mere days after Ellie’s husband, George, was seen by more than half the town in a local bar, drunkenly ranting about how much he’d like to see the other man dead. Apparently this puts George at the top of a long list of possible suspects, but his refusal to give an alibi coupled with the fact that Bob Arnold (our beloved local law enforcement) is out of town lands George in the clink.

As I read through the book (one which I could not put down) I was struck time and time again by how much improved Graves’s writing has become. She hasn’t lost her voice, by any means. But her prose is tighter, her plots layered and interesting enough that - while you may have an inkling - you never quite know if what you suspect will turn out to be the way it happened. Also, because she knows her characters as well as most people know their close friends and family, their actions become more fluid and when they drop in and out of the story it’s with an ease that only comes from years of familiarity (both in real life and on the page.)

Have I mentioned how glad I am that I am so far behind? If you’re just picking these up (start with Dead Cat Bounce, please and go from there) I am jealous that you are getting to read them for the first time.

The Dead Cat Bounce, By Sarah Graves

The Dead Cat Bounce is, in stock terms, that little uptick that happens in the middle of a stock crash. So named because when you throw a dead cat out of the window, it will bounce, but it is still dead. Repulsive, I know, but not coined by me. The book, the first in the Home Repair is Homicide series, is told from the perspective of Jacobia Tiptree, who is a retired financial specialist.

On the heels of a particularly gnarly business trip, Jacobia wanders into the tiny town of Eastport, Maine, and falls in love with what is commonly known as a fixer-upper. She gathers up her money and her son and leaves New York to settle down in a quiet small town. A year later, the story opens with the discovery of a dead body. Antics, as they say, ensue. Her best friend confesses and then leaves cryptic messages for Jacobia with the intention that her messages will ultimately unravel the truth.

Graves then leads the reader down a path of repairing glass window panes, meeting the well-rounded and instantly likeable (or dislikable, as the case may be) characters in Eastport, and yes, even some explosions. Graves has a knack for description - smells, sounds, even the weather - that she couples with dead-on explanations so that the reader can get lost in Eastport and the old, crumbling Victorian. The characters, too, appear and three sentences later you feel as though you know everything about them...well, everything they want you to know. They do live in a small town, after all.

The plot, the clues, the ruses, and the action keep the pages turning quickly. Backstory weaves intricately with current developments and not until Graves wants the answers revealed does the reader clue in. Ok - with one exception, but I’ll give her that. After all, it’s the b-plot. Or c-plot, depending on your perspective.

I accidentally came to this series somewhere in the middle, and so I read this book with a foreknowledge that I don’t usually like to have unless what I’m reading is a prequel. I already know what happens to the bathtub, the son, the best friend, the dog...and yet it hasn’t happened yet and there are many books between now and then. And not one ounce of that knowledge spoiled this first book for me. The writing is sharper in the later book, the characters slightly more honed, the home repair tips researched a little better...but that’s to be expected. By that point, Graves has lived these characters and their lives for years. None of that detracts from the first book in the series, and I will be reading the rest. In order, of course.