Tool & Die: A Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery (Home Repair Is Homicide Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: cat dancing, Jim Diamond, Bill Imrie, Bob Arnold (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The endless task of restoring her 1823 Federal home in Eastport, Maine, is the least of amateur sleuth Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree's problems in Graves's eighth entertaining "Home Repair Is Homicide" mystery (after 2004's Mallets Aforethought). Sullen son Sam has dumped supportive girlfriend Maggie in favor of crass, materialistic and calculating troublemaker Kris. Bella, the housekeeper whose services Jake won as a prize, is driving every member of the household batty with her cleaning zeal. Jake's ex-husband, Victor, is ever ready to offer unhelpful advice, while a moose on the loose is creating a nuisance. In an effort to solve most of her problems by bringing Bella under control, Jake confronts her housekeeper and learns that Bella has been receiving death threats. Putting an end to these threats, apparently from Bella's ex-con ex-husband, turns out to be more difficult than expected, and Jake and best friend Ellie White wade into another murderous and treacherous entanglement with a clever, determined killer. A nicely drawn cast of characters, both human and animal, plus humor built around domestic bliss and angst, personal foibles and outrageous situations, all make for plenty of cozy fun.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A nicely drawn cast of characters, both human and animal, plus humor built around domestic bliss and angst, personal foibles and outrageous situations, all make for plenty of cozy fun .. in Graves’s eighth entertaining 'Home Repair is Homicide' mystery."
--Publishers Weekly


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553585789
• ISBN-13: 978-0553585780
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #193,167 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 8 in The Home Repair is Homicide Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-crafted mystery with an endearing cast of characters, January 22, 2005

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tool & Die: A Home Repair Is Homicide (A Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery) (Hardcover)

Readers who are also viewers of the myriad home improvement shows flooding television networks will find plenty to delight them in TOOL & DIE, the eighth book in the "Home Repair is Homicide" mystery series. Not only does Sarah Graves spin an entertaining story, she also includes home repair tips throughout the book.

Eastport is located on Moose Island, seven miles off the coast of Maine "and so far downeast that it's almost in Canada." Despite its rural location, life here is anything but dull. For Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree --- Wall Street executive turned small-town gal turned resident snoop --- there is no shortage of fixer-uppers, whether it's the rambling house she lives in or one of her fellow Eastport residents.

Jake and her best friend, Ellie, have yet to encounter a problem they can't solve. So when Jake wins a month of housekeeping services at a church fair, she's determined to get to the bottom of Bella Diamond's hygienic but unhealthy compulsion for cleanliness. It turns out that Bella has been hiding her anxiety at receiving life-threatening letters behind a broom and a mop. Her ex-husband, newly released from prison, is the likely suspect...until he turns up dead after being whacked in the head with a cast iron skillet. Snooping is rarely risk-free, and Jake and Ellie soon find themselves tangling with a cunning killer.

This well-crafted mystery is filled with twists, turns, clever dialogue, and a cast of characters so endearing you'll be ready to move into one of the spare bedrooms in Jake's house. If you're new to the series, TOOL & DIE is a fine place to start. As you're reading you'll know there are plenty more adventures with Jake and company to go back and savor.

If you want to know how to fix a hairline plaster crack, you'll find the answer in TOOL & DIE. And if it's a witty, enjoyable whodunit you're seeking to while away the afternoon with, you'll find that here too.

--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting amateur sleuth , November 13, 2004

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tool & Die: A Home Repair Is Homicide (A Home Repair Is Homicide Mystery) (Hardcover)

Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree still lives in Eastport on Moore Island seven miles off the coast of Maine where she still is fixing up her 1823 Federal home. In a raffle, she won the housekeeping services of Bella for several weeks, but the woman acts loony driving Jake's household crazy. When Jake confronts her, Bella says she has been receiving death threats letters left in her home; she thinks her ex-husband Jim Diamond, just released from jail for forging checks, is the culprit.

Jake and her best friend Ellie visit Jim but when they get to his apartment, he keels over on Jake. Someone caved in his head with something heavy. Jake and Ellie decide to find out who did the deed because the State Police believe Bella is the guilty party as she had motive, means and opportunity. Besides Bella, her daughter, Jake's son ex-girlfriend, and the town banker who was scammed by him, wanted him dead. Their sleuthing comes to the attention of the killer who decides Jake and Ellie will be the next victims.

TOOL & DIE is a very exciting amateur sleuth mystery due in part because readers get to see Jake as a wife, mother and daughter as well as a snoop. There are practical easy to follow home repair tips scattered throughout the book which gives another layer of authenticity to the storyline. It is obvious the author knows about home repairs and the instructions she gives will prove useful to homeowners. There are a lot of suspects with motives making it very difficult to decide who the murderer is even with a few good clues sprinkled throughout the entertaining amateur sleuth plot.

Harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars Moosely Leading, June 25, 2008

By	mary mccormick "culinary goddess" (Meadville, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read the authors Home Repair novels beacuse I am a tool belt woman that can identify with the constant fixing up of houses.
Sarah Graves has a cast of characters that sometimes are confusing but her books are overall well written and you can get 'into her head'. I would reccomend them for all my sisters in home repair hell...