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47th out of 135 books
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80 voters
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The Dead Cat Bounce (Home Repair is Homicide Mystery #1)
by
Sarah Graves
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 d...more
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 d...more
Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published
October 7th 2009
by Bantam
(first published September 1st 1998)
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"dead cat bounce": stock market jargon for a small temporary rise in a stock's trading price, after a sharp drop.
Dead Cat Bounce is the first installment of the Home Repair is Homicide series, set in Eastport Maine, the easternmost US city, in the modern day. Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree has traded her fast-track life as an investment analyst for 'fat cats' including high-level mobsters, and escaped her marriage with an egotistic, narcissistic brain surgeon, for a more peaceful lif...more
Dead Cat Bounce is the first installment of the Home Repair is Homicide series, set in Eastport Maine, the easternmost US city, in the modern day. Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree has traded her fast-track life as an investment analyst for 'fat cats' including high-level mobsters, and escaped her marriage with an egotistic, narcissistic brain surgeon, for a more peaceful lif...more
Note that this review refers to the audio version, which I couldn't find listed anywhere!
#1 Home Repair is Homicide mystery featuring Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree in Eastport, Maine. Jacobia is a former financial adviser who lived in New York and had some pretty high-flying clients--including some unsavory 'connected' folks. A year ago, she decided to abandon the rat race and bought a 200-year-old house in Eastport, Maine and moved in with her teenage son Sam. Since then, her lif...more
#1 Home Repair is Homicide mystery featuring Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree in Eastport, Maine. Jacobia is a former financial adviser who lived in New York and had some pretty high-flying clients--including some unsavory 'connected' folks. A year ago, she decided to abandon the rat race and bought a 200-year-old house in Eastport, Maine and moved in with her teenage son Sam. Since then, her lif...more
I'm hoping to start some remodel work on my house this fall. With that in mind I picked up this book, it's qualifications being - it's a mystery and although it's fiction it deals with home repair (the first in the Home Repair is Homicide series) and it was sitting on my library's bookshelf. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's a pretty good book. A 'cozy' set in Eastport Maine. I looked it up and the town is real. Apparently NPR did an interview with some of the locals back in 20...more
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Normally I don’t read many murder mysteries; however, after chatting with Ms. Graves on another reviewer’s review (on Amazon) of a different work of Ms. Graves, I decided to read at least one of her books and me being me, I decided to start at the beginning. Dead Cat Bounce is Ms. Graves initial forte with Jacobia Tiptree as the protagonist; it takes place in Eastport, Maine, interestingly Ms. Graves’ hometown.
Dead Cat Bounce was a 4 star book for me. Earlier I was thinking about...more
Dead Cat Bounce was a 4 star book for me. Earlier I was thinking about...more
Sarah Graves is my new flavor of the month. Her heroine, Jacobia Tiptree, is a smart, sensible, believable character in the ilk of Rose Connor's Marty Nickerson, Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, or Kate Wilhelm's Barbara Holloway. I've now read four books in the series (the first two and the two most recent--apparently it is not that necessary to read them in order), and I find all of the characters thoroughly engaging. I also like that the heroine is not superwoman, not unaccountably lucky, an...more
Another new series for me. Dead cat bounce is the beginning of an interesting cozy series set in Maine about a divorced mother named Jacobia known as Jake. In her previous life she was a financial consultant. As in all series beginnings, a lot of time is spent setting up the scene and major characters. There was a little too much financial data for me but hopefully that was limited tgo this book. Jake's friend Ellie has confessed to murdering a local man whose body was found in Jake's home. Jake...more
"Cozy" mystery, series (Home Repair is Homicide).
This isn't necessarily a book I would normally pick up, but once I started I was well drawn in. As with many of these Jessica Fletcher type mysteries, there is a murder in a small town, and Jacobia Tiptree is set to solve it. Pretty good, well rounded characters, and the interaction between characters is well rendered. There's a very strong setting here, with Graves interspersing nearly every "action" paragraph with a...more
This isn't necessarily a book I would normally pick up, but once I started I was well drawn in. As with many of these Jessica Fletcher type mysteries, there is a murder in a small town, and Jacobia Tiptree is set to solve it. Pretty good, well rounded characters, and the interaction between characters is well rendered. There's a very strong setting here, with Graves interspersing nearly every "action" paragraph with a...more
Not bad, just okay. I liked that the setting is a small town in Maine (I have a soft spot for Maine and any small harbor town) but for the most part, I found this mystery to be kind of boring. Since the main character, Jacobia, used to be a financial advisor, there is quite a bit of financial mumbo jumbo throughout the book that was very uninteresting to have to read through. Overall, it started off extremely slow but it did get better and more exciting towards the end so I'll check out anoth...more
It's very easy to become very tired of the same character and plot structure in the mystery series genre. Only one has kept my attention through the entire set- Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody. But the Home Repair is Homicide Mysteries (so far) are thoroughly enjoyable. Usually at some point I begin to wonder, why hasn't anybody asked how (fill-in the protangonist) is always at the murder site? Does anyone ever think, "Maybe _________ is the culprit?" This series is a great read when ...more
This was one of those lightweight, humorous murder mysteries. Some of the characters seem over eccentric. Actually, I didn't really care who the murderer was. The main character or rather her parents ticked me off because she was named Jacobia--more people who have to spell a name any old way they want. Wasn't it fortuitous that her contractor stored all that asbestos in the wall of the kitchen. And naturally, her husband had to show up with his blonde bimbo. Who knows--perhaps it could be...more
A perfectly charming murder mystery set in Eastport, Maine. I have no idea if the Maine descriptions are accurate or not, but I assume they are since the author lives in Eastport. :-)
Jacobia is a formerly poor child, turned Wall Street wiz kid, turned Maine ... something. It wasn't clear to me how she was supporting herself once she moved to Maine - I guess she had made so much money on Wall Street that she was all set. One day she happens upon a dead body in her unheated stora...more
Jacobia is a formerly poor child, turned Wall Street wiz kid, turned Maine ... something. It wasn't clear to me how she was supporting herself once she moved to Maine - I guess she had made so much money on Wall Street that she was all set. One day she happens upon a dead body in her unheated stora...more
I started off giving it 3 stars but as the could have been better section kept growing and the enjoyed didn't, I had to go back to 2 stars.
What I enjoyed:
* The town has an interesting personality, as does its residents.
* Sam, wow could there be a more perfect son?
What could have been better:
* The killer was obvious, I don't know why Jacobia and the town had such a difficult time figuring it out. (view spoiler)...more
What I enjoyed:
* The town has an interesting personality, as does its residents.
* Sam, wow could there be a more perfect son?
What could have been better:
* The killer was obvious, I don't know why Jacobia and the town had such a difficult time figuring it out. (view spoiler)...more
According to the book, "dead cat bounce" is stock trade jargon. Who would have thunk it? This book does talk stock. There was some definite inside trading going on.
I wouldn't say "Wow" about this book. In fact, I could put it down and not pick it up, wishing I were reading something else.
A man is found with an ice pick in his head; the pick disappears and then turns up under the body. Someone confesses to the murder but was it her that really did ...more
I wouldn't say "Wow" about this book. In fact, I could put it down and not pick it up, wishing I were reading something else.
A man is found with an ice pick in his head; the pick disappears and then turns up under the body. Someone confesses to the murder but was it her that really did ...more
This is the first book in Sarah Graves Repair is Homicide mystery series. I first read it many years ago (1998?), along with the next two or three, then lost track of the series. I love this series! I made a concerted effort recently to read my way through once again and get caught up to date.
This first book is perhaps the weakest of the series, but Ms. Graves is only getting better and better. The protagonist is Jacobia Tiptree (Jake to her friends),a high powered stockbrocker who ...more
This first book is perhaps the weakest of the series, but Ms. Graves is only getting better and better. The protagonist is Jacobia Tiptree (Jake to her friends),a high powered stockbrocker who ...more
This is a fun series in which the main character is a woman who has recently escaped an abusive marriage and is trying to rebuild her life--one fixer-upper at a time. That is, she flees her tony Manhattan life and relocates to a maritime New England community where she runs a contracting business fixing up old homes, starting with her own. A solid series with lots of promise.
Read all of the books in this series thanks to my sister giving me hers. Just not going to add them to my update feed. I like the mystery aspect, humor, and the relationships of the main character. Plus, the information about the culture of small, fishing village in Maine. I skip over the detailed information about repairing a very old house.
The setting is vivid, the characters are strongly portrayed, and the story of murder is fascinating. Unfortunately, Graves refuses to tell the story. She constantly interrupts the narrative, and that makes it a chore to ferret out the scattered bits of real story along the way.
1st in the Jake Tiptree, Home Repair is Homicide, series. I enjoyed it. The characters were well developed and I can see that this will make a good series following up on them. The story line was interesting and the action riveting at times. Not too much home repair involved, though.
I discovered as I was reading that I had already read this book. It's a good, quick, fun book. First in a series about an ex-Wall Streeter and her teenage son who move to Maine. She buys a rambling handyman special house. There is mayhem mixed with fixing up the old house.
Don't let the title fool you...no cat dies. I am enjoying this new series. Wonderful characters and a good plot. I love a good cozy mystery and this one had plenty of twists to keep me interested. I will be starting the next one later today.
Listened to the audio and liked it enough to listen to the next one in the series. Walking and listening is a good way to make exercise less painful. Haven't read any "Maine" books in awhile. I always enjoy learning about a new part of the country while cozying up to dead bodies.
Love to read series mysteries. Also love to read about areas that I am familiar with, having grown up in New England, and driven to Prince Edward Island, a few times, I am somewhat familiar with the setting. Good stories.
I read and enjoyed Book of Old Houses, and decided to read another of Graves' books. What draws me back is the town the main character lives in. I think it is the home town we all wish we came from.
I liked this one much better than the one I first read in this series (which I think is #4). It's still light, but there was more mystery and detection in the plot and the ending wasn't quite so unbelievable.
This is a fun series. Overall, I like her characters, and the first few plots in particular were clever, and since it is set in my hometown area, I enjoy "visiting".
New (to me) mystery series. Jacobia Tiptree is a sormer money guru turned home repair maven who ends up solving homicides. Quick, clean, entertaining read. I will read some more.
This is a good light read. She's a local author for me (Maine) so its set in a familar area and will read the rest of the series.
While I generally enjoy the humor in Sarah Graves' books, this one had just too much description of the scenery in Maine for me. Finally just skimmed to the end to see what happened.
Having just visited Eastport, Maine, loved this little book...wished i had read some of her books before our trip East.
This was an "okay" mystery set in Maine on an island near Campobello.
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Sarah Graves lives with her husband John, a musician and luthier, and their black Labrador Retriever in a house very much like the one Jacobia Tiptree is remodeling in Eastport, Maine. When she's not writing Jake's adventures, Sarah works with her husband on the house and she plays the 5-string banjo.
Series:
* Home Repair is Homicide
More about Sarah Graves...
Series:
* Home Repair is Homicide
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