Dead Post Society
House-Flipper Mystery #7
By Diane Kelly
ISBN 9781250359322
Author’s website: dianekelly.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
The seventh in the House-Flipper mystery series set in Nashville, TN, where the real estate market is to die for.
Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are no strangers to murder. After all, they’ve encountered corpses on their properties before. But this is the first time they’d decided to take a chance on a property where two murders have already occurred. Most buildings on the former boarding school property have been repurposed for an upscale retirement community, but the developer had no use for the headmaster’s house given its violent history. The headmaster and his wife were killed there decades earlier, their deaths remaining a mystery to this day.
Still, it seems a shame to see the beautiful Victorian give way to decay or the wrecking ball, even if many claim the unsettled souls of the victims still wander its halls, seeking retribution and justice. Can Whitney and Buck exorcise the structure’s demons, solve the cold case, and give the building new life? Or will ghosts from the past seek to silence them forever? (From Goodreads)
Review:
I always look forward to a new mystery in this series, and Dead Post Society exceeded my hopes. I was happily engaged from the first page, where Whitney’s family awaits the birth of the first baby of her cousin, Buck, and her best friend, Colette. Whitney’s mother makes broad hints that she is looking forward to a grandchild of her own. Whitney and Collin, a police detective, have been married less than a year, so they had not yet discussed timing for their own little bundle of joy.
There is sufficient backstory on the characters to introduce them to new readers. Each is well-defined according to their roles. Whitney and her possessive sidekick kitty, Sawdust, are my favorites. I enjoy her intelligence, hard work in the career she loves, her relationship with her husband, Collin, and her close bond with Sawdust.
Whitney and Buck have not had a house-flipping project since Whitney and Collin’s wedding and Mari’s birth. They have been working for Buck’s father and Whitney’s Uncle Roger, whose carpentry company has a huge new project. Buck and Whitney went to the new site to meet with the developer of the former Ridgetop Preparatory Academy, a boarding school. Troy is converting it into a modern retirement community with extensive refurbishment and upgrades.
Fascinated by a Victorian home on the property, Whitney and Buck inspected it. The exterior required many repairs. The inside was in excellent condition, except for its 1980s décor and much dust. The appealing antique furniture was also in excellent condition.
Whitney noticed that a collapsed porch post had broken at its widest point rather than the much more fragile areas higher up. A closer look showed her the cause, the bullet lodged in it, and she removed it. Whitney, a delightfully curious young woman, would research the home a little later. She had helped police solve several murders over the past couple years, and enjoyed puzzles. They then learned the history of the home.
The private high school/ boarding school closed in 1982, after a series of events resulted in a financial crisis. In early 1982, headmaster Irving Finster and his wife, Rosie, a beloved teacher, died in what was probably a murder-suicide in the Victorian. Small clues were found that indicated a third person was in their house that terrible day but was not proven. The case was never closed. Faculty and students alike were grieved by the tragedy, especially Rosie’s murder.
After discussing the work to be done on the school, Whitney asked Troy, the developer, what he would do with the Victorian. It saddened her that he planned to tear it down. She asked if they would consider selling it with a couple acres of land, and Troy was willing to entertain an offer. By the next evening, they had a verbal deal to buy the home and its contents, and Troy would have the sale documents prepared. Whitney and Buck would convert it into a boutique hotel, certain to be popular for those visiting family in the retirement community.
Whitney found a small hole in the window frame of the room where the deaths occurred, in perfect alignment with the broken porch post. She went to the local sheriff’s office, turned it in, and discussed it with the current detective. They then proceeded with the work on the retirement community. Not one to let a mystery go, Whitney talked with former teachers and a former student, and finally found solid evidence that led the detective to re-activate the case.
Finding information on a murder more than a decade before the internet was widely available stretched even Whitney’s snooping skills! There were a couple people who appeared to be top suspects, but for one reason or another, didn’t quite fit. The real killer was not a surprise to me, due to one little clue that I had tucked aside. All was resolved admirably with the murder and their renovation projects, with a surprise that I am looking forward to reading more about next time. I highly recommend this novel and series, especially to those who appreciate well-written cozy mysteries that include construction, cats, laugh out loud humor, and cold cases!
