Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are looking once again to rehab and resell a house, only this particular house is made of fiberglass, floats, and has been dubbed the Skinny Dipper. The old houseboat sure could use some work, but the unusual project has Whitney bubbling with excitement.
The charming and handsome Grant Hardisty lives on the cabin cruiser in the adjacent slip, but the cousins soon learn he’s left a half dozen angry ex-wives in his wake and made enemies of all sorts of unsavory folks. The man is clearly caught in an increasingly dangerous current with no life preserver in sight.
Whitney and Buck are spraying primer on their houseboat when—KABOOM!—Grant’s boat blows sky high with the man himself inside. Detective Collin Flynn has no shortage of suspects, but the waters become muddied when several of them confess to the crime. Is one of those who confessed truly guilty, or are they taking a dive for someone else? When anonymous threats are made against the cousins, Whitney must quickly determine who killed their neighbor at the lake, or she and Buck might also be sunk.
Release Date:Â Feb 21, 2023
Series:Â A House-Flipper Mystery
Book:Â 5
Publisher:Â Macmillan
Imprint:Â St. Martin’s PressÂ
Price: $8.99
Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck enjoy their jobs of buying houses, fixing them up, and then selling them for a profit. For their newest project, they are taking on a different type of house-flipping – fixing up a houseboat called The Skinny Dipper. Grant Hardisty is living on a boat in the slip next door to Whitney and Buck. Their temporary neighbor makes quite an impression with loud parties and even louder arguments with more than one ex-wife. Grant is killed when his boat explodes, and there is no shortage of suspects. Whitney is determined to find out who among all those with a motive is the person who actually murdered Grant.
Primer and Punishment is the fifth book in the House-Flipper series. I’ve enjoyed other books by the author, but this is the first I’ve read in this series. The author does a good job catching the reader up on all the characters, and I never felt confused. I love that there are many scenes with Whitney and Buck doing the restoration work on the boat. It makes the series stand out and is among the best parts of the book. I like the friendly teasing between cousins, co-workers, and friends Whitney and Buck. It’s entertaining and makes the characters seem realistic. Whitney also has a good relationship with her boyfriend, Nashville Police Department Detective Collin Flynn. He worries about her but doesn’t interfere in Whitney’s work on the case.
The murder occurs about one-third of the way into the book. I appreciate the longer-than-usual build-up that gives the reader a chance to get to know the victim and the potential suspects. I’m glad that I wasn’t able to easily figure out the identity of the murderer since there were so many suspects and motives. I appreciate the fact that Whitney is smart and hard-working. However, Whitney often oversteps while investigating and definitely crosses a line at one point by setting up a cloned social media account to trick a couple of witnesses into a meeting with her. This really made me rethink my initially favorable opinion of her.
I enjoyed this engaging and well-written book, even though I didn’t agree with Whitney’s sleuthing methods. After the case is resolved, the reader gets to experience the wedding festivities when Buck marries Whitney’s best friend, Colette. I loved the sweet, romantic ending of the book. Since this is the only book I’ve read in the series, I don’t know if the way Whitney investigates in this book is typical for her or not. However, since I enjoyed the house-flipping aspect of the book so much, I would like to read the next in the series and hope Whitney tones down her methods.
~ Christine
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