House Flipper #7
In Diane Kelly’s seventh House flipper Mystery, Dead Post Society, main character Whitney Flynn, a carpenter in Nashville Tennessee, works with her father and cousin Buck. She and her cousin also flip houses, and she solves mysteries in her spare time. Her husband and homicide detective Collin isn’t always pleased to have her poking around in murder cases. His love for her motivates him to want her to stay out of it and be safe, the detective in him welcomes her insight and whatever clues she happens to supply. Currently, Whitney and Buck haven’t been flipping houses for a few months because his wife is about to give birth to their first child. The family is beyond excited, and once the little bundle of joy arrives, it doesn’t take Whitney long to come across a fresh project for them.
Her father gets a contract to update an old abandoned boarding school and turn it into a retirement center. The schools spacious amenities are perfect for their client’s vision – except for one building that he intends to have demolished because of two deaths that occurred there. The deaths fill the beautiful old house with traumatic memories for potential residents of the center if they happened to be former students, their parents, or even old teachers. However, Whitney isn’t about to just give up on such a lovely old Victorian house and makes a bid for her and Buck to try and clean it up and turn it into something new. When they dig into it, however, she starts to find clues that were only revealed due to age and decay of the building, clues that lead Whitney to believe there’s more to the story than a murder-suicide case, something much more sinister. Excited by the possibility of bringing a resolution to a cold case and some peace to the old house, Whitney dives in to investigative mode. With determination, her own investigative skills, and a bit of help from her husband, Whitney sets out to either confirm the old theory of the case or prove that a killer has managed to escape justice for forty years.
Dead Post Society is the first House Flipper Mystery that I’ve read and it’s safe to say it is perfect for first time readers. Diane Kelly introduces characters in context so that readers are not lost or confused. Each chapter opens with a fun little poem that ties into the story as well – long time readers will enjoy this addition to the book. It was a nice and relaxing read as the murder in question is a cold case, and thus there’s a little less pressure to catch the killer as soon as possible before they manage to escape. It’s still exciting to see how Whitney puts together all the clues from the past. She’s very methodical in hunting down and speaking with people who are now forty years or so removed from the incident. I suggest Dead Post Society to readers looking for a relaxed paced cozy with a methodical amateur sleuth. I appreciate how Whitney clearly has been building on her investigative skill set throughout the series and has all kinds of strategies to implement in Dead Post Society. – Carla Schantz