BERNICE’s Reviews > Mirth, Murder & Mystery > Status Update

Book 1
A Cutthroat Business by Jenna Bennett
December 31, 2014


Good enough that I actually bought the second book in the Savannah Martin Mystery series: Hot Property.


Savannah Martin just went through a divorce and is trying to begin a career as a real estate salesman. On a Saturday morning, she receives a call from Rafe Collier, a client of Brenda Puckett, an unlikable but very successful Realtor in her office. Brenda had scheduled a meeting with Rafe to look at one of her listings at 101 Potsdam. Brenda never showed up. Savannah meets Rafe, hoping to get some of listing action and make some money. She gets action but not the type she expects: she and Rafe find Brenda in the house on Potsdam--murdered.


This is a light chick lit with complexities such as 1) Race is from her own hometown but his own father had possibly been murdered. He himself is fresh out of prison and is described as "six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future— not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with."


To complicate matters, her mother is trying to set her up with another beau from home and another co-worker and friend of Brenda is also found dead.


I am a thriller/crime/thriller fan not a chick lit reader but this story had enough intrigue, plot twists with a flair of romance without the sex scenes to keep me reading. It has a good ending. Not abrupt. Not a lot of critical tangents left hanging. A nice sit-on-the-beach or lay-on-the-bed book.


In summary:


Does this book "wow me?" No...  but...
Is it entertaining? Yes
Is it worth 99 cents? Yes
Would I try another book by this author? Yes