The Dead Cat Bounce: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Sarah Graves (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery | Publication Date: September 1, 1998

dead cat bounce n. Stock market jargon for a small, temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop.

Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.

Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.

Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This Old House meets Murder, She Wrote in this Sarah Graves mystery set on the coast of Maine. Jacobia Triptree, onetime financial advisor to the Mob, finds her quiet retreat shattered by the unwelcome discovery of a dead man in the Victorian pile she is in the midst of restoring. That he has an ice pick in his forehead only confirms her suspicion that the death was brought about by something other than natural causes. When her closest friend, Ellie, confesses to having done the deed, Jacobia is convinced she is lying and determines to save Ellie from herself by finding the real killer.

The victim turns out to be a local boy who'd done well enough to be featured in the pages of Fortune magazine. Ellie's ostensible reason for her uncharacteristic violence is that he bankrupted her parents. Between bouts of waterproofing the basement and replacing floor joists, Jacobia sets out to find a more believable motive and murderer.

The mystery itself is not that complicated, and as Jacobia digs deeper under her house and into the past, the truth eventually surfaces. Graves sufficiently amuses, however, with delightful characterizations of Jacobia's former connections and the local heroes who assist her in her projects of rescuing Ellie and putting her house together. Jake's asides regarding the stock market, as well as the details of home restoration, also provoke the occasional smile. Graves is at her best delineating the tension between the small town's good guys and the federal investigators (and tourists) from far away. A gentle read, despite the shadow of the Mafia, and entertaining enough for bedtime diversion. --K.A. Crouch

From Publishers Weekly

With the advent of amateur sleuth Jacobia Tiptree, Eastport, Maine, could become as deadly as Cabot Cove. Having left the daily grind of her job as a financial adviser in New York, Jake, as she is known to her friends, has settled in an old house in Eastport with her teenage son, Sam, away from her annoying ex-husband, the brain surgeon. When Jake discovers a dead man in her storeroom, an ice pick stuck in his head, her tranquillity is up-ended. Her friend and neighbor, Ellie White, starts acting strangely and then confesses to murdering the man, one Threnody McIlwaine, an old friend of Ellie's father and a ruthless corporate raider. Jake is quickly convinced that Ellie is protecting someone?perhaps her vicious mother or her father, who was ruined by McIlwaine?and despite threats to her own well-being continues nosing into the dead man's past. In her polished debut, Graves blends charming, evocative digressions about life in Eastport with an intricate plot, well-drawn characters and a wry sense of humor.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Reprint edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055357857X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553578577
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.8 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #602,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Graves lives with her husband in Eastport, Maine, where her mystery novels are set. She is currently working on her twelfth Home Repair Is Homicide novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dead Cat Bounce - Not What You Think, July 25, 2000

By 

Barbara O'Neill - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dead Cat Bounce: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

The eye-catching title is really a reference to stock market jargon, which fits neatly into the story as the past career choice of the main character,Jacobia Tiptree, and which was extremely lucrative as evidenced by the vast amounts of money she shells out to fix up her antique house in Eastport,Maine. I live in one just like it, so I know of what she speaks.

The mystery of who killed Threnody McIlwaine was filled with numerous red herrings, yet I had it narrowed down to 2 suspects about 2/3 of the way through. I liked the Eastport, Maine setting as the northern coast of Maine is one New England area I've yet to visit, and Ms. Graves' details made the area sound very inviting.

Referencing cozy mysteries I've read lately, I felt this book a bit overlong in comparison, that the story could have been wrapped up sooner if some of the renovation details had been sacrificed and the story tightened up. Another common theme is the abusive ex/likeable new significant other and in this instance, as in previous books by other authors, I found nothing to like about the ex and a lot to like about Wade Sorenson. However, the similarities won't stop me from reading the other 2 books in this series (Triple Witch and Wicked Fix) and, in fact, they are in my to-be-read pile.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific, November 4, 2001

By 

Andrew Barss "andybarss" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dead Cat Bounce: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

An author I hadn't heard of before. I bought this based on a rec.arts.mystery recommendation, and I loved it. Lovely prose (reminds me of Margaret Maron's Knott mysteries in the lyricism of its description of Eastport), tight plot, and overall one of the most impressive authors I've discovered in the last few years. Highly recommended.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gem of a book!, October 10, 2003

By 

Holly Kincaid "Book addict" (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dead Cat Bounce: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

I love reading mystery stories when I'm ready for a light and easy read. I have read quite a few of them and I am thrilled to add Sarah Graves to my "must read" list. Many "light" fiction books feel like you have just eaten cotton candy -- nothing to show for it and still unsatisfied. This book was just the opposite! The characters were well developed, the plot was enjoyable and the writing was very good. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series and sharing my find with other fans of the mystery genre.

What a delightful book to read (either on the beach or in front of a warm fire with a cup of tea) when you just want to have some fun!