Home Repair is Homicide: This series of mysteries feature Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree, who abandoned Wall Street for a far more rewarding life fixing up an 1823 Federal-style house in Eastport, Maine. When she’s not painting, scraping, replacing, insulating, she solves mysteries ...

Jake discovers that no matter what your address, the most terrifying crimes always hit closest to home. The infamous Dodd murders are hardly among Eastport’s proudest legacies. So when bestselling true-crime author Carolyn Rathbone arrives to research the case for a new book, the locals in the seaside town let her know that she’s about as welcome as a spoiled clam. But surely no one would harm a crime writer out of a sense of civic pride or would they? But with Carolyn’s arrival, the slayings of the wealthy Dodd women suddenly go from cold case to hot topic much to someone’s dismay. For Carolyn Rathbone’s untimely investigation hasn’t only reopened old wounds and stirred up new suspicions; it’s unearthed a string of deadly secrets that a cunning killer is grimly determined to rebury right along with Carolyn herself.

As a home repair enthusiast, Jake knows that nothing lasts forever, not windows or doors, not plaster or plumbing – and not good fortune. After more than three decades eluding justice, the man who murdered her mother is finally about to stand trial until he vanishes into thin air. Jake has a terrible foreboding of where Ozzie Campbell will turn up next. And while the local police chief is sure she’s overreacting, the truth is far worse than even Jake’s worst fears. With her normally full house empty for at least another week, Jake has been looking forward to the unaccustomed peace and quiet. Now her cozy, well-loved home feels more like a big empty death trap ready to snap shut. First a pair of out-of-towners clearly not in Eastport for vacation turn up asking questions about her. And if she has any doubt they’re connected to Campbell, those doubts are erased when he calls her with a grim warning. But exactly what Campbell wants from her isn’t clear, only that he’ll stop at nothing to hurt those closest to Jake.

Once upon a time, Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree was a hotshot money manager to Manhattan’s rich and dreadful, until she left city life behind for a centuries-old fixer-upper in the quaint seaside town of Eastport, Maine. But even this tiny haven has its hazards and they can be astonishingly deadly. What would you do if a long-buried book was unearthed from beneath your 1823 fixer-upper, a book containing your name written in blood? That’s the mystery Jake faces in the midst of her latest old-house renovations. But it’s only the first in a town better known for its scenery and historic homes than its body count. Now Jake is putting aside her hammer and fixing to find someone who’s got the blueprint for a perfect murder. The novel includes Home Repair Is Homicide Repair Tips.

On this warm, sunny day, Jake is on her way to interview a large, angry man with a criminal history. Jim Diamond might be harassing his ex-wife with threatening letters, and Jake promised her house-keeper, Bella Diamond, that she’d look into the matter. Jim doesn’t have a history of violence, but when Jake arrives, she finds that a killer was there before her. Add that to the moose in her kitchen, a rebellious son, and a troublesome ex of her own, and Jake is at her wits’ end. When the killer strikes again, Jake and her best friend Ellie find that by snooping around, they’ve each won a special place in a ruthless murderer’s master plan.

No matter how carefully you remodel your life, murder can take up residence anywhere. Its Eastport’s most notorious landmark: the old Harlequin House. Named for the disgraced physician Chester Harlequin, it was used as a hideout for gunshot gangsters and their molls during Prohibition heyday. Now fixer-upper enthusiast Jake Tiptree and Harlequin’s only living descendant, Ellie White, are refurbishing the mansard-roofed mansion to host the local Historical Society’s upcoming gala. But when stripping down old wallpaper reveals a secret door to a room containing not one but two corpses, Jake and Ellie once again find home repair leading to homicide. One of the bodies is a skeleton dressed in 1920s flapper chic. But the other is that of real-estate mogul Hector Gosling, and in his pocket is a paper bearing the single word: Guilty.

When an evil-minded curmudgeon vanishes and is later found sandwiched in her cellar, Maine’s do-it-yourself sleuth Jacobia Tiptree trails a killer with a nasty blueprint for revenge. The book includes helpful home-repair references.