Review

Newlywed Josie Marcus hasn’t given up her mystery shopping job, but right now her main assignment is finding a house big enough for her daughter Amelia and her new husband Ted, but still within their budget. After being disappointed over and over by the houses she has been looking at, she finally finds her dream home – only to have it turn into a nightmare when a dead body is found in the backyard. When someone close to the couple becomes the main suspect, Josie puts her mystery shopping skills to use solving a murder.

Fixing to Die is a fun installment in this likeable series. Josie is a wonderful main character. She’s no longer a struggling single mom, but still as down-to-earth and amusing as ever. It’s great seeing Josie happy with Ted, although the house hunt and Ted’s long hours at his veterinary clinic put a strain on                     their relationship at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed visiting potential homes with Josie as well as the home renovation theme of the book.  Josie is still working for her horrible boss Harry, and I wish there were more scenes with Josie and her best friend Alyce working together on mystery shopping assignments. Their backgrounds and personalities complement each other well and their shopping excursions together are always fun to read about. They spent time together this time, too, but not nearly enough. A side-plot about the world of competitive show dogs is eye-opening and ties in well to the main plot of the book.

The biggest flaw in some of the early books in this series is Josie’s mom. However, in the past few books, Jane has toned down some of her opinionated ways and is finally showing her compassion and love for Josie instead of worrying about what other people think. Amelia has a major part in this book with a side-plot about bullying. Amelia isn’t always my favorite character, but she shows potential as a budding investigator in this book, so maybe before she and Josie team up on a case.

The book has the usual shopping tips at the end of the book and this time, they deal with home renovation. What I love about this series is the information at the back is always thorough and not just a couple of throwaway tidbits as a gimmick. The book includes several pages of substantial and useful information for all would-be weekend warriors embarking on a renovation project.

Readers who enjoy this author’s Dead-End Job series will also like this series, which is by far my favorite of the two. New readers who like Jenn McKinlay or Denise Swanson will enjoy the characters and writing style of Elaine Viets.