Death at High Tide + Body in the Attic - Mini Reviews

Goodreads:  Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison - I thoroughly enjoyed previous books by Dennison so I couldn't wait to dive into this book about Evie Mead, a recent widow who has inherited a much smaller estate then she expected, and her sister Margot who has flown in from LA to help.  After finding a letter that indicates a hotel on a tiny island off the coast of Cornwall might belong to Evie, the two sisters book a trip to scout it out.  Unfortunately, the hotel isn't quite the resort they were hoping for and murder soon follows them.  I didn't love this one.  Up until the last few chapters I basically wanted all the characters with the exception of Evie to take a very long walk of a very short pier.  They were just horrible and mean to everyone involved.  Really the fact they all hadn't been murdered years before was kind of surprising.  There was a lot of setup at the beginning and the murder didn't happen until almost halfway through the book but since this is the first book in a series this wasn't really an issue for me.  The bad guy wasn't too big of a shock though I didn't put all the pieces together until the end.  The end did have me a little curious to see how the next book plays out but for the most part I was glad to see the end of the book.  If my library gets the second book in audio I might give it a listen but I won't be searching it out.  My Rating:  Just Okay

Goodreads:  The Body in the Attic by Judi Lynn - This is the first book in a series about Jazzie Zanders and her cousin Jerod who flip houses with the help of their handyman Ansel.  There excitement about getting a gorgeous house for a song turns to horror when the old cedar chest contains a skeleton - and not just any skeleton but the remains of Jazzie's long missing aunt, Lynda.  As the three work to remodel the old house they can't help but learn the secrets of Lynda and the former owner.  This was a fun read.  I love books about home renovation and Jazzie does not shrink from any heavy lifting.  She, Jerod, and Ansel are nice people who love what they do and it's a lot of fun to read about.  Jazzie's involvement in the investigation does strain believability a bit but not enough to dampen my enjoyment.  This is a fun engaging mystery that wrapped up nicely and is the start of a series that I'm looking forward to continuing.  However, while the mystery never fades to the background there is a developing romance that does get quite a bit of page time so if you don't like that in your mysteries you might want to give this a pass.  My Rating:  Really Liked It!