Thu 20 Aug 2009
JENNIE BENTLEY – Fatal Fixer-Upper. Berkley, paperback original; 1st printing, November 2008.
It wasn’t intentional, but as it happens, this review is timed perfectly for the publication of the second book in this “Do-It-Yourself” mystery series, Spackled and Spooked, which appeared in the nation’s bookstores earlier this month and currently has an Amazon sales raking of #35,440.
Not that this comes as any surprise. Home repair is as popular an occupation or pastime as quilts, stuffed animals and talking cats when it comes to cozy mysteries, and this first case for Avery Baker, Manhattan textile designer turned indoor Maine renovator, is as good as any I’ve read in quite a while.
It turns out that Waterfield is Maine’s third oldest towns, and Avery’s great-aunt’s house is an authentic antique in itself. Summoned by her Aunt Inga, a woman in her 90s she barely remembers, to be told some secrets before she dies, Avery arrives too late. Her aunt is dead, having fallen down her staircase only days before Avery’s arrival.
I suppose I’d be more suspicious myself, but the local townsfolk aren’t, so why should Avery? But when she decides not to sell the house, she begins to get warnings in the mail and a small but luckily not serious accident happens to her as well.
I also suppose that I ought to warn you myself, that the romance that’s oh-so-slow to build between Avery and Derek, the taciturn fellow she hires to help her in the fixing-up process, is more what makes this book a success with its intended audience than any of the detecting that Avery actually does.
In fact, when I know who did it in the second chapter (or strongly guessed), you have to know that the mystery part of things is not a book’s strong suit. But to compensate, the tone is lively and spirited, the banter pleasant, the setting finely described, and for a “cozy” mystery, the killer is awfully cold and cruel.
August 21st, 2009 at 5:27 am
I tend to think of these as Public Television cozies since they all seem to revolve around subjects related to popular series on Public Television — save for the series that would actually make good mysteries like Nova, Frontline, and History Detectives.
These accomplish what their audience wants and are well written within those parameters so I won’t knock them even if they don’t really appeal to me. These days competence and decent writing as well as skill is to be applauded.
And if they aren’t exactly my cuppa, I have read some that were better than passable and had quite a bit to recommend them in terms of setting and characters if not always mystery and suspense. Any writer that fulfills the expectations of their chosen audience and does so with some ability and talent should be given all due respect. These writers both like and want to reward their audience which is more than can be said for the bloated and sometimes cynical works of better selling big names.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:24 am
Thanks for the shout-out, Steve!
August 21st, 2009 at 8:39 am
Jennie
Congratulations on the success of your series so far, and all the best for those to come.
Regarding the latter, I hope you don’t mind my quoting directly from your website:
“DIY#3, now officially called PLASTER & POISON, is in the works – i.e. Jennie has finished writing and the manuscript is in the hands of the marketing department. It is scheduled for release March 2nd, 2010, and is also available for presale.
“Jennie has just agreed to write two more books in the DIY-series. They’re currently untitled and lacking release dates, but Jennie is writing as fast as she can, hoping that DIY#4 will be released in late 2010, with DIY#5 to follow sometime in 2011.”
— Steve