What do you think?
Rate this book
Home Repair Is Homicide #1
The Dead Cat Bounce
dead cat bounce n. Stock market jargon for a small, temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop.
Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.
Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.
Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.
Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.
Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.
Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
272 people are currently reading
2547 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Graves
34 books794 followersSarah Graves lives with her husband John, a musician and luthier, and their black Labrador Retriever in a house very much like the one Jacobia Tiptree is remodeling in Eastport, Maine. When she's not writing Jake's adventures, Sarah works with her husband on the house and she plays the 5-string banjo.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 408 reviews
December 31, 2016
"It's pretty good. But," she said, "the author uses this device all the time."
"What," he asked, "device do you mean?"
"The device," she replied, "of splitting dialogue around stage directions."
"Oh, that," he remarked, "is so annoying."
"Yes, it," she answered, "is."
--
On reread:
"Wow, I," she said, "still notice that device."
"I got tired of you reading examples," he replied, "to me."
"But I didn't read even," she said, "the worst ones. Out of," she added, "love for you."
"I thank," he said, "you for that small mercy."
"What," he asked, "device do you mean?"
"The device," she replied, "of splitting dialogue around stage directions."
"Oh, that," he remarked, "is so annoying."
"Yes, it," she answered, "is."
--
On reread:
"Wow, I," she said, "still notice that device."
"I got tired of you reading examples," he replied, "to me."
"But I didn't read even," she said, "the worst ones. Out of," she added, "love for you."
"I thank," he said, "you for that small mercy."
January 28, 2019
I liked the rich descriptions of the rural Maine setting. The author does a terrific job with fleshing (no pun intended) out the cast of characters. The MC's restoration of the old house is interesting. All and all, an entertaining read.
October 14, 2013
"I think," this reader says, "that breaking up sentences," she notes especially in dialogue,"is extremely irksome and distracting." "Could this be," she muses, "an editorial issue?" "Although this is a wonderfully fun," she exclaims, "and enjoyable and nicely written tale," she continues, "is it really necessary to use employ this style," this writer moans, "on every single page?"
Despite this aspect, I intend to read every single Sarah Graves novels.
Despite this aspect, I intend to read every single Sarah Graves novels.
January 23, 2021
4 Stars for Dead Cat Bounce: Home Repair is Homicide Mystery Series, Book 1 (audiobook) by Sarah Graves read by Lindsay Ellison. This was an interesting story. I thought there was going to be more home repair but what there was was good. The mystery played out well and the narration was good too.
October 6, 2011
I started off giving it 3 stars but as the could have been better section kept growing and the enjoyed didn't, I had to go back to 2 stars.
What I enjoyed:
* The town has an interesting personality, as does its residents.
* Sam, wow could there be a more perfect son?
What could have been better:
* The killer was obvious, I don't know why Jacobia and the town had such a difficult time figuring it out.
* The story was hard to follow when Jacobia's thoughts would go off context and into the past.
* I'm not sure if I actually like Jacobia or not. She has some good qualities, but there are a lot of bad ones as well. I don't know if it is possible to have a more boring romance than what she has.
*
What I enjoyed:
* The town has an interesting personality, as does its residents.
* Sam, wow could there be a more perfect son?
What could have been better:
* The killer was obvious, I don't know why Jacobia and the town had such a difficult time figuring it out.
* The story was hard to follow when Jacobia's thoughts would go off context and into the past.
* I'm not sure if I actually like Jacobia or not. She has some good qualities, but there are a lot of bad ones as well. I don't know if it is possible to have a more boring romance than what she has.
*
November 6, 2010
The setting is vivid, the characters are strongly portrayed, and the story of murder is fascinating. Unfortunately, Graves refuses to tell the story. She constantly interrupts the narrative, and that makes it a chore to ferret out the scattered bits of real story along the way.
May 17, 2018
Without merit
This will probably be my last "cozy mystery," so I will indulge myself with a lengthy diatribe on the topic.
I grew up with Agatha Christie and Lilian Jackson Braun, so I thought the cozy mystery genre would be a great fit. Unfortunately, this book, and similar series that I've tried, uses a lazy "write by numbers" formula that leads to material that is not just unremarkable, but substandard. In the books written to fit this niche, the heroine is a mature woman who is still attractive, and is restarting her life again after a divorce and/or career change and/or relocating. She is well liked, and an observer of both human nature and of some quaint and picturesque place. She has in her new life, or meets, some idealized version of a hyper-masculine man who is everything she found lacking in her past relationship. He is the strong, yet sensitive man that every movie from the first half of the 20th century has assured us should be every woman's fantasy. The protagonist also needs a loveable pet, and a vocation that is the theme of a basic cable channel i.e. cooking, home-repair, animals ect. Her town needs to be populated with a series of two-dimensional, forgettable, and generally oblivious characters that could be lifted directly from any 80's television crime-drama that needed its audience to know if someone was a good guy or bad guy within the first 5 minutes of an episode. The townspeople are also required to know the complete history of every person in town, know everything that happens in the town within an hour, and be willing to share this information at any given moment.
All of these standard 'fill in the blank' elements wouldn't mean that the book had to be bad, but the real problem is in the execution. The writer seems to operate under the assumption that if they provide the basic format, they don't need to worry about writing well. Thus, we end up with the literary equivalent to romance novels, but without the titillating features that at least make romance novels appealing to some. Graves did try slightly in that vein with this laughable line: I wanted to drape myself on him as if I were ivy and he were a trellis.
I almost stopped reading this particular "cozy mystery" immediately when the writer went on some awkward tangent extolling the virtues of guns in small towns and then trying to sell their use as a therapeutic activity , but I found the liberal use of SAT words and the detailed financial world insights slightly intriguing. After a while, I became curious which of the never-ending parade of Cabot Cove style characters that were impossible to keep track of was actually the perpetrator since the main suspect that the protagonist was so persistently and single-mindedly focused on (to the point of obsession) got so much attention that there was no way it could have been her. In the end, it wasn't worth the wait, and the only real pleasure I derived from the book was being able to write my review knowing I finished the entire thing.
This will probably be my last "cozy mystery," so I will indulge myself with a lengthy diatribe on the topic.
I grew up with Agatha Christie and Lilian Jackson Braun, so I thought the cozy mystery genre would be a great fit. Unfortunately, this book, and similar series that I've tried, uses a lazy "write by numbers" formula that leads to material that is not just unremarkable, but substandard. In the books written to fit this niche, the heroine is a mature woman who is still attractive, and is restarting her life again after a divorce and/or career change and/or relocating. She is well liked, and an observer of both human nature and of some quaint and picturesque place. She has in her new life, or meets, some idealized version of a hyper-masculine man who is everything she found lacking in her past relationship. He is the strong, yet sensitive man that every movie from the first half of the 20th century has assured us should be every woman's fantasy. The protagonist also needs a loveable pet, and a vocation that is the theme of a basic cable channel i.e. cooking, home-repair, animals ect. Her town needs to be populated with a series of two-dimensional, forgettable, and generally oblivious characters that could be lifted directly from any 80's television crime-drama that needed its audience to know if someone was a good guy or bad guy within the first 5 minutes of an episode. The townspeople are also required to know the complete history of every person in town, know everything that happens in the town within an hour, and be willing to share this information at any given moment.
All of these standard 'fill in the blank' elements wouldn't mean that the book had to be bad, but the real problem is in the execution. The writer seems to operate under the assumption that if they provide the basic format, they don't need to worry about writing well. Thus, we end up with the literary equivalent to romance novels, but without the titillating features that at least make romance novels appealing to some. Graves did try slightly in that vein with this laughable line: I wanted to drape myself on him as if I were ivy and he were a trellis.
I almost stopped reading this particular "cozy mystery" immediately when the writer went on some awkward tangent extolling the virtues of guns in small towns and then trying to sell their use as a therapeutic activity , but I found the liberal use of SAT words and the detailed financial world insights slightly intriguing. After a while, I became curious which of the never-ending parade of Cabot Cove style characters that were impossible to keep track of was actually the perpetrator since the main suspect that the protagonist was so persistently and single-mindedly focused on (to the point of obsession) got so much attention that there was no way it could have been her. In the end, it wasn't worth the wait, and the only real pleasure I derived from the book was being able to write my review knowing I finished the entire thing.
January 10, 2018
I really liked this who done it/ home repair mystery. I loved the humor and the way out there east coast setting. The characters were definitely "characters", even the terrible little girl that was always underfoot.
This one will definitely go on my continue-to-read-series list.
This one will definitely go on my continue-to-read-series list.
March 1, 2010
Not bad, just okay. I liked that the setting is a small town in Maine (I have a soft spot for Maine and any small harbor town) but for the most part, I found this mystery to be kind of boring. Since the main character, Jacobia, used to be a financial advisor, there is quite a bit of financial mumbo jumbo throughout the book that was very uninteresting to have to read through. Overall, it started off extremely slow but it did get better and more exciting towards the end so I'll check out another book or two in the series to see if things get better.
November 8, 2009
Note that this review refers to the audio version, which I couldn't find listed anywhere!
#1 Home Repair is Homicide mystery featuring Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree in Eastport, Maine. Jacobia is a former financial adviser who lived in New York and had some pretty high-flying clients--including some unsavory 'connected' folks. A year ago, she decided to abandon the rat race and bought a 200-year-old house in Eastport, Maine and moved in with her teenage son Sam. Since then, her life has been one big instruction book in how to fix up her house, and it's not been easy. Still, she's made a few friends and seems to be settling in relatively well, even though she's "from away."
She certainly doesn't expect to find a dead body in her storeroom--especially not the body of one of the world's richest men! Nor would she have expected her best friend Ellie White to be arrested for the murder, but Ellie's confessed. It's up to Jake to figure out who Ellie is protecting--since they have a confession, the cops don't seem especially eager to do a lot of investigating themselves.
I enjoyed this book on many levels, but I did find the reader to be somewhat annoying. She did really well with the different accents, especially that Maine 'down East' twang, but her way of reading and the tone of the book gave Jake a really superior-sounding attitude which grated on my nerves. I'm going to try the next in series in print and see if that makes a difference.
If the author intended the main character to have this air of smug superiority, I'm not sure I'll continue on much longer. Most of the immediate secondary characters were interesting and beginning to flesh out well, including Jake's pompous brain surgeon ex-husband (he sounds so much like a neurosurgeon I used to work with, it's not even funny!) and her son Sam is a real treat, so I'm hoping I like the print version better.
#1 Home Repair is Homicide mystery featuring Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree in Eastport, Maine. Jacobia is a former financial adviser who lived in New York and had some pretty high-flying clients--including some unsavory 'connected' folks. A year ago, she decided to abandon the rat race and bought a 200-year-old house in Eastport, Maine and moved in with her teenage son Sam. Since then, her life has been one big instruction book in how to fix up her house, and it's not been easy. Still, she's made a few friends and seems to be settling in relatively well, even though she's "from away."
She certainly doesn't expect to find a dead body in her storeroom--especially not the body of one of the world's richest men! Nor would she have expected her best friend Ellie White to be arrested for the murder, but Ellie's confessed. It's up to Jake to figure out who Ellie is protecting--since they have a confession, the cops don't seem especially eager to do a lot of investigating themselves.
I enjoyed this book on many levels, but I did find the reader to be somewhat annoying. She did really well with the different accents, especially that Maine 'down East' twang, but her way of reading and the tone of the book gave Jake a really superior-sounding attitude which grated on my nerves. I'm going to try the next in series in print and see if that makes a difference.
If the author intended the main character to have this air of smug superiority, I'm not sure I'll continue on much longer. Most of the immediate secondary characters were interesting and beginning to flesh out well, including Jake's pompous brain surgeon ex-husband (he sounds so much like a neurosurgeon I used to work with, it's not even funny!) and her son Sam is a real treat, so I'm hoping I like the print version better.
September 6, 2011
I'm hoping to start some remodel work on my house this fall. With that in mind I picked up this book, it's qualifications being - it's a mystery and although it's fiction it deals with home repair (the first in the Home Repair is Homicide series) and it was sitting on my library's bookshelf. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's a pretty good book. A 'cozy' set in Eastport Maine. I looked it up and the town is real. Apparently NPR did an interview with some of the locals back in 2008 about their reaction to these books being set in their town - no one could remember an actual murder ever occurring on the island but they like the books and the tourism it brings to Eastport. I may have to visit the island myself someday.
The 'dead cat bounce' refers to a temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop. The protagonist, Jacobia Tiptree, is a former wall street executive who now applies her talents to fixing up her old house and solving murders.
The 'dead cat bounce' refers to a temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop. The protagonist, Jacobia Tiptree, is a former wall street executive who now applies her talents to fixing up her old house and solving murders.
December 7, 2017
Totally boring book. I read it because I have a need to find out what happened but you can read this book in 30 min. Read the first chapter then the last chapter and guess what you did not miss much. This book took me forever to read
April 15, 2020
Whoa
Not sure Jaocbia was expecting all this when she moved to get a fresh start from the New York fast lane but also what went on with her husband. This was a good start for series. It gave me a bit of information of everyone of the neighbors and Jacobia was well. I can't wait to see how this will progress throughout this neighborhood. I can see many secrets coming out and it being a small town I'm sure it'll be juicy.
Not sure Jaocbia was expecting all this when she moved to get a fresh start from the New York fast lane but also what went on with her husband. This was a good start for series. It gave me a bit of information of everyone of the neighbors and Jacobia was well. I can't wait to see how this will progress throughout this neighborhood. I can see many secrets coming out and it being a small town I'm sure it'll be juicy.
December 30, 2017
This covers an area I don’t know about: Down East Maine. Interesting twisted plot with lots of suspects. Ms. Graves creates a great sense of place.
July 6, 2020
Great setting in Maine with quirky characters. Completely improbable plot of blackmail,adopted baby, the mob, a Melania type wife, and on and on. Not much home improvement either and I thought it was the series hook.
May 29, 2021
“Oh, I knew you’d sort it out, Jacobia,” Ellie replied. “Once you knew about the past, the present would be obvious.”
August 22, 2023
I really enjoyed this book and listened to some of it on audio. The narrator was great and did all the northern accents. I am looking forward to the next book.
September 9, 2023
I read this one after starting the Death By Chocolate series and found some significant inconsistencies for character development. Considering this series came first I'm taking a perspective of it being a different series so the inconsistencies don't distract from the story. Since taking this perspective I quite enjoy the series and will continue through the other books.
Great cozy mystery. I had an idea who was the murderer was. It was still a"oh! It was them!" moment. For sure just a mystery book. If you're looking for romance mystery, this is not it and I'm glad for it. I find that it makes a much better read to not have unnecessary flirting/romance scenes. They're just filler and books without them show a better skill of building the story.
I've heard people complain that there isn't enough home repair info for being a home repair series. I disagree. I felt there was just enough. Too much and its filling out a book to make up for a lack in actual story content. This was a just right middle ground. Enough to keep the theme but not hinder the story. If I wanted a home repair guide book I wouldn't be looking for it in a fiction mystery book. I'm looking for a good fiction mystery book and that is what I got in this book.
Great cozy mystery. I had an idea who was the murderer was. It was still a"oh! It was them!" moment. For sure just a mystery book. If you're looking for romance mystery, this is not it and I'm glad for it. I find that it makes a much better read to not have unnecessary flirting/romance scenes. They're just filler and books without them show a better skill of building the story.
I've heard people complain that there isn't enough home repair info for being a home repair series. I disagree. I felt there was just enough. Too much and its filling out a book to make up for a lack in actual story content. This was a just right middle ground. Enough to keep the theme but not hinder the story. If I wanted a home repair guide book I wouldn't be looking for it in a fiction mystery book. I'm looking for a good fiction mystery book and that is what I got in this book.
September 3, 2013
I like this author for light mystery tales. She adds home do it yourself projects and financial planning to her suspense. Her characters are not predictable in nature, and relationships in this series have some interesting elements. I like her descriptive word pictures, as well as her sense of humor. I listen to these on audio.
December 24, 2025
*****3.5*****
This book is, in my opinion, very well-written. I like Graves' style of description and her sense of humor. I've read a lot of cozies at this point, and I also watch them on Hallmark Mysteries, and I like the "smart" ones, of which this is one. Graves is a smart writer, and Jacobia is a smart protagonist. I love the details about Eastport, Maine and the types of people who live in "downeast" Maine. I also enjoy the details about Jacobia's past career in finance, her current investment (see what I did there?) in home repair, and other topics that come up. I find Jacobia's opinions on the mob, on war-torn Eastern European countries, and on commerce and marketing very interesting as well.
The knocks for me are that the murder happens right away. I don't like when it takes too long or comes up too quickly. When it happens right away, and the book is over 300 pages, I know the resolution is going to drag. Granted, there's a lot of other stuff that happens in this book, like conflicts with her son and her ex-husband, and Graves does all right with pacing as far as giving us tidbits along the way, but still. The murder could've happened later, or the book could've been shorter. Also, when I got towards the end, everything became a bit too obvious. There was one detail I didn't count on, but the other stuff was much easier to piece together than it was for Jacobia, and that shouldn't be the case. I also feel like the way things wrapped up, not the very ending, but the resolution of the crime, was cliche and cheesy. I did really like the ending, though, and how it hints at further books to come.
I found this book on the shelf at a used bookstore in town, and there were two of them, both of which I grabbed. I'm glad that this one happened to be #1 in the series, but unfortunately, the other one is #4. Still, I know these types of books are usually standalones, and the authors catch us up on whatever we missed in between. I will definitely be reading book 4.
I recommend this book to people who like cozy mysteries, especially ones with home repair themes, finance themes, and/or Maine settings. Also, sidenote, there's a character that reminds me of someone Bette Davis would have played in a movie version of this book, and I love how real she feels! Yes, the character is over-the-top, but that's also the point, and I just keep picture Bette as Baby Jane...
This book is, in my opinion, very well-written. I like Graves' style of description and her sense of humor. I've read a lot of cozies at this point, and I also watch them on Hallmark Mysteries, and I like the "smart" ones, of which this is one. Graves is a smart writer, and Jacobia is a smart protagonist. I love the details about Eastport, Maine and the types of people who live in "downeast" Maine. I also enjoy the details about Jacobia's past career in finance, her current investment (see what I did there?) in home repair, and other topics that come up. I find Jacobia's opinions on the mob, on war-torn Eastern European countries, and on commerce and marketing very interesting as well.
The knocks for me are that the murder happens right away. I don't like when it takes too long or comes up too quickly. When it happens right away, and the book is over 300 pages, I know the resolution is going to drag. Granted, there's a lot of other stuff that happens in this book, like conflicts with her son and her ex-husband, and Graves does all right with pacing as far as giving us tidbits along the way, but still. The murder could've happened later, or the book could've been shorter. Also, when I got towards the end, everything became a bit too obvious. There was one detail I didn't count on, but the other stuff was much easier to piece together than it was for Jacobia, and that shouldn't be the case. I also feel like the way things wrapped up, not the very ending, but the resolution of the crime, was cliche and cheesy. I did really like the ending, though, and how it hints at further books to come.
I found this book on the shelf at a used bookstore in town, and there were two of them, both of which I grabbed. I'm glad that this one happened to be #1 in the series, but unfortunately, the other one is #4. Still, I know these types of books are usually standalones, and the authors catch us up on whatever we missed in between. I will definitely be reading book 4.
I recommend this book to people who like cozy mysteries, especially ones with home repair themes, finance themes, and/or Maine settings. Also, sidenote, there's a character that reminds me of someone Bette Davis would have played in a movie version of this book, and I love how real she feels! Yes, the character is over-the-top, but that's also the point, and I just keep picture Bette as Baby Jane...
August 20, 2019
I realize that the first entry in a cozy mystery series isn't always showcasing the author's best work, but Dead Cat Bounce seems a little iffy at best. It follows the stereotype: a woman in the middle of her life fresh from divorce moves to a secluded little town where everyone knows everyone, and takes up a challenge- a business or otherwise, and finds herself solving murder mysteries. For such a worldly woman- being on her own since the age of 16 and scraping enough money together to go to college and deal with the stock market, money and accounting, Jacobia sure isn't very smart or put together. It takes her ages to figure things out, and she accuses all the wrong people of the murder. The house that she purchased is a literal death trap, and it makes zero sense to keep trying to fix it. Anyone else would tear the thing down and start from scratch. So not only is her sleuthing frustrating, so is her money pit of a house. The plot also seems random and meandering. We're introduced to new characters without much warning, and we're supposed to care about who they are and what they do, even though we're given next to no information about them. It feels very much like there are chapters or information missing. I even double checked to make sure this was the first in the series, and I hadn't skipped over an entire book by mistake. The take-away here is that the premise is interesting, but the story wasn't. The next might be better, but it will be awhile before I try to pick it up.
December 15, 2022
I was forewarned but still found the "guns are just a part of life" and "murder is just a part of life" as this book's primary societal mores to be too disturbing to really enjoy the storyline. I mean, I used to watch Murder, She Wrote all the time, but I guess I've grown weary of the fictional world where murder, blackmail, and other assorted types of violence are the first choices when a human faces a problem. I won't be reading any others in this series. It's definitely not for me. Two stars because the writing style was entertaining and there was a cute dog.
August 26, 2018
Jacobia bought an old fixer-uuper of a hourse and when she has a water leak she finds a man dead in the basement along with the rotting floor joinsts. It turns out to be a local man who became a billionaire. Jacobia's best friend confesses to the murder and Jacobia knows she didn't do it. Jacobia knows she didn't do it and figures out there is a coverup. She begins investingating past history and puts herself in danger. There isnt as much home repair as I thought there would be. The conflict between her ex-husband, herself and her son adds to the story.
February 26, 2019
I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It was a little hard to get into at first but then it got better. Her way of telling the book was a little off. It mostly was in present tense but then would switch to talking about the past so it was weird. I will probably listen to the next one to see if i can get into it more.
January 31, 2018
This book was lovely brain fluff-- easy, no issues with writing/characters/plot to annoy me, light and feel-good and satisfying. I could definitely read and enjoy more books in this series.
March 5, 2023
Long story that could have been way shorter. But not bad overall. May read the next one v
July 13, 2024
3.5 stars
December 30, 2019
good Maine cozy.
March 6, 2021
Cozy cats bounce about in this Sarah Graves home repair novel series
Posted on March 6, 2021 by michellelovatosbookreviews, world's first book color commentator, book reviews with a twist
Dead Cat Bounce is an odd name for a cozy mystery, but this book by Sarah Graves is odd.
I loved it.
This first book of Grave’s 16-book Home Repair is Homicide series is set in an east-coast Maine fishing village and features Jacobia Tiptree, a sort-of shady, but not really shady retired money manager to the super-wealthy who retires from her lucrative New York career to Eastport Maine, buys and repairs a dilapidated historic house. We enter the picture in the middle of this money-pit renovation.
Jacobia is the mother of a 16-year-old misunderstood son, the ex-wife of a sociopathic neurosurgeon, the girlfriend of a hometown boat captain, and neighbor to a seemingly spineless girl next door.
Our murder victim this time is a super-wealthy hometown man who made his mark on the world, only to come back and flaunt his success enough to get himself murdered.
I read a lot of reviews on this book after I listened to it from beginning to end. Graves, who is an excellent cozy writer, was criticized for her long introduction to this novel’s plot and characters.
I admit I did find this novel hard to follow at first. It’s not a kindergarten cozy. Dead Cat Bounce doesn’t throw out the immediate killer clues, the red herring contributions, or the hints at the finale right away. It’s subtle. It took more than just a passive ear to hear this story, but in the end, it was worth the effort.
Graves takes on a huge topic and leaves its explanation to her heroine. Big finance is not a subject most people understand. I certainly don’t. And Graves is forced to take the time to explain it. The explanation is necessary, and now I know things I did not know before.
As usual, I listened to Dead Cat Bounce on Audio, and if there were reader awards for awesome narrators, I’d award Lindsay Ellison the grand prize. Her accents were spot on character, flawless and fluid. She nailed these characters and brought them to life in a novel that might otherwise have been shut in frustration. Bravo Ms. Ellison. Super fabulous. This book might be better on audio than in book form.
For readers who enjoy the challenge of solving the seemingly unsolvable murder, this is the book for you. Readers do not learn the identity of this man’s killer, or their reason for his death until the final chapter. But don’t peek. It’s worth the wait.
Be patient, listen to the audio version of this book, and relax! Let this small-town, dreary-weathered east coast fishing village full of unfamiliar characters make their new home in your heart. Once you do, you’ll be hooked for another 15 novels in this series.
BoutiquePublishingService@hotmail.com
BoutiqueBooks@hotmail.com
Happy are those who respect the Lord and obey him. You will enjoy what you work for, and you will be blessed with good things. Psalm 128: 1-2
Posted on March 6, 2021 by michellelovatosbookreviews, world's first book color commentator, book reviews with a twist
Dead Cat Bounce is an odd name for a cozy mystery, but this book by Sarah Graves is odd.
I loved it.
This first book of Grave’s 16-book Home Repair is Homicide series is set in an east-coast Maine fishing village and features Jacobia Tiptree, a sort-of shady, but not really shady retired money manager to the super-wealthy who retires from her lucrative New York career to Eastport Maine, buys and repairs a dilapidated historic house. We enter the picture in the middle of this money-pit renovation.
Jacobia is the mother of a 16-year-old misunderstood son, the ex-wife of a sociopathic neurosurgeon, the girlfriend of a hometown boat captain, and neighbor to a seemingly spineless girl next door.
Our murder victim this time is a super-wealthy hometown man who made his mark on the world, only to come back and flaunt his success enough to get himself murdered.
I read a lot of reviews on this book after I listened to it from beginning to end. Graves, who is an excellent cozy writer, was criticized for her long introduction to this novel’s plot and characters.
I admit I did find this novel hard to follow at first. It’s not a kindergarten cozy. Dead Cat Bounce doesn’t throw out the immediate killer clues, the red herring contributions, or the hints at the finale right away. It’s subtle. It took more than just a passive ear to hear this story, but in the end, it was worth the effort.
Graves takes on a huge topic and leaves its explanation to her heroine. Big finance is not a subject most people understand. I certainly don’t. And Graves is forced to take the time to explain it. The explanation is necessary, and now I know things I did not know before.
As usual, I listened to Dead Cat Bounce on Audio, and if there were reader awards for awesome narrators, I’d award Lindsay Ellison the grand prize. Her accents were spot on character, flawless and fluid. She nailed these characters and brought them to life in a novel that might otherwise have been shut in frustration. Bravo Ms. Ellison. Super fabulous. This book might be better on audio than in book form.
For readers who enjoy the challenge of solving the seemingly unsolvable murder, this is the book for you. Readers do not learn the identity of this man’s killer, or their reason for his death until the final chapter. But don’t peek. It’s worth the wait.
Be patient, listen to the audio version of this book, and relax! Let this small-town, dreary-weathered east coast fishing village full of unfamiliar characters make their new home in your heart. Once you do, you’ll be hooked for another 15 novels in this series.
BoutiquePublishingService@hotmail.com
BoutiqueBooks@hotmail.com
Happy are those who respect the Lord and obey him. You will enjoy what you work for, and you will be blessed with good things. Psalm 128: 1-2
Displaying 1 - 30 of 408 reviews