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The Book of Old Houses (Home Repair is Homicide Mystery #11)
by
Sarah Graves
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-...more
What would you do if a long-buried book was unearthed from beneath your 1823 fixer-...more
Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages
Published
November 25th 2008
by Bantam
(first published December 26th 2007)
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Sarah Graves sub-titles this book, "A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery". The reason for this is that one of our heroines, Jacobia "Jake" Triptree is renovating a home and becomes involved with murder.
The story revolves around a bok that Jake found while she was renovating her new home. She sends it off to have it appraised and the appraiser is found dead. The death is believed to be a mugging gone bad. This all changes when a friend of the appraiser shows up ...more
The story revolves around a bok that Jake found while she was renovating her new home. She sends it off to have it appraised and the appraiser is found dead. The death is believed to be a mugging gone bad. This all changes when a friend of the appraiser shows up ...more
I should have stuck with my hard and fast rule -- don't read a book from a series without starting at the first book.... this review could be tainted by the fact that I did not know these characters and the apparently lengthy literary history from the HOME REPAIR IS HOMICIDE Mystery Series by Sarah Graves. However, I still don't think this was such a hot book -- the plot was convoluted and wandered all over the page and the small town setting. The writing seemed disjointed and frankly the charac...more
Some time ago, after the first couple of books in Sarah Graves's series about Jacobia Tiptree, someone (the publisher?) decided to subtitle them "Home Repair is Homicide." Although each chapter is headed with a home-repair tip and Jake's adventures in renovating her Eastport, Maine house often provide comic relief, you needn't fear that the home-repair hook detracts from the plot. These are simply good amateur-sleuth mysteries.
In recent books, Sarah Graves has been flirt...more
In recent books, Sarah Graves has been flirt...more
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I am still having problems with some of Ms. Graves' writing quirks. If she would just tell the story and leave out the asides. Something like "if we'd known we'd have done it differently." It gives the impression she is telling this story to someone over a cup of coffee. I always took my coffee black or straight, and that's how I'd like the sotry. Why can't she just tell it straight?
Several books ago Jacobia Tree's father found an old creepy book in the cellar. This book re...more
Several books ago Jacobia Tree's father found an old creepy book in the cellar. This book re...more
just finished up Sarah Graves’ The Book of Old Houses, and it was quite good. There a few places where the writing slips and a couple of things left unresolved - but overall it’s quite good.
It’s a mystery, so the basic plot is that a book dealer who specializes in ancient books is murdered. His friend comes to Eastport, ME to figure out who murdered him, led to the town by the old book the the narrator, Jacobia Triptree, has found on her property and sent to the murdered book deal to be au...more
It’s a mystery, so the basic plot is that a book dealer who specializes in ancient books is murdered. His friend comes to Eastport, ME to figure out who murdered him, led to the town by the old book the the narrator, Jacobia Triptree, has found on her property and sent to the murdered book deal to be au...more
Not a bad addition to the series, this book kept me interested overall. I do like Jake and her relationships with her friends and family even though sometimes there seem to be too many of them.
I also like the idea of a woman who's handy, able and willing to try to fix up her own house.
Like so many cozy mysteries though, Jake does go a bit overboard in the snooping and sometimes I wanted to give her and her friend Ellie a good smack.
Still, it's an easy and...more
I also like the idea of a woman who's handy, able and willing to try to fix up her own house.
Like so many cozy mysteries though, Jake does go a bit overboard in the snooping and sometimes I wanted to give her and her friend Ellie a good smack.
Still, it's an easy and...more
This is a series and this one is about book 5 and you should read them in order. The thread is: Jacobbia, a former money person for the mob, leaves her cushy job, comes to Maine, buys a ramsackle old mansion and begins to put her life and the life of her alcoholic teenager in order. She then begins her second and third careers as DIY home repairs and amaetur slueth as she and her friend help solve homicides. Light, fun reading and no language!
This book was very exciting, and it caught my attention. It was very hard to put the book down because I wanted to find out what happened next. I think I would recomend this book to just about everybody. The begining was a little slow and boring but after a little while it got better. In the end I think it shouldve been longer and finished explaining things because sometimes it got confusing because the girl had a common man's name.
I put this down after about 100 pages, which is something I have only done maybe twice before. I honestly found it unreadable, and I quite enjoy a good cozy mystery. The writing was so broken up into paragraphs that the story had no flow, and the main character was so distracted that she annoyed the crap out of me--if the main character can't pay attention to the story, why should I?
A very disappointing entry in a series that I've enjoyed for the characters.
Here, they were passionless and without the humor I've come to expect.
Add to that the mystery was so unbelievable, I am amazed that I finished it. Usually a book this unenjoyable to me would get put aside.
Here, they were passionless and without the humor I've come to expect.
Add to that the mystery was so unbelievable, I am amazed that I finished it. Usually a book this unenjoyable to me would get put aside.
I got this book from my old job as a bookseller. I took a complete chance on it as it only vaguely interested me, but the main character with her sarcasm reminds me of my SIL. Very entertaining, and not very predictable as far as murder mystery goes. I would recommend.
A fun, if false lead filled mystery with a main character I can relate to. If you've ever wanted to rebuild an old house and like murder stories, this series is a light break. Plus, this particular story has an old book and a murdered antiquarian book dealer, so that's always good. Perfect vacation reading.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this book if it weren't for the tub storyline. The mystery was so-so. Pegged the murderer early on, but finding clues to support my belief was a wasted effort. Still, Jake is likable and she's got a great streak of sarcasm.
Another good story, interesting characters, weirdo killer. Wasn't so crazy about the constant references to witch craft however, it apparently is in the history of this small town in Maine. This had a little more dark instances than the previous one.
This is the first book I've read in this series. I'd probably have enjoyed it more if I'd started with the first one. The title intrigued me as did the synopsis on the back of the book. The book wasn't much of the story in my opinion. I somewhat figured out who did it, but not why. While a good read, I didn't find it riveting.
I will say I was totally annoyed by the not so well thought out, utter destruction wrought by Jake (Jacobia) on her bathroom. I doubt anyone in the righ...more
I will say I was totally annoyed by the not so well thought out, utter destruction wrought by Jake (Jacobia) on her bathroom. I doubt anyone in the righ...more
Still a solid read, but not as good as her previous entries. I was very worried that the book would actually turn out to be what Dave suspected it was, and was very relieved when the truth came to light. Otherwise it would have completely ruined the series for me.
I liked this -it's a cosy, told from two points of view: the main character, and a sort of mysterious professor. The professor, Dave DiMaio, is so interesting I would hope that he appears again in a future book.
This was fun to read as I loved seeing the names of locations I am very familiar with. I bought this book at the bookstore in Calais and paid 50 cents for it, only to get it home and realize I had an autographed copy.
This is another of the same series I've been listening to. These earlier books, with their first-person narration, are quite entertaining as audiobooks. I highly recommend the series.
Love this book! Sense of humor is delightful and the home repair portions are priceless in places. A good mystery as well. I will look for more.
Maggie
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mystery fans and those who have renovated old houses
Shelves:
mystery-series
This is one that caught my eye on the new book shelf at the library. It looked interesting so I figured why not?
It was an entertaining mystery interspliced with hysterical home repair stories and some good tips (I'm going to try the neosporin on stubborn mold on the shower grout). I have the rest of the series on hold and 3 are waiting to be picked up as I type this. My only problem was I came in so far into the series there were a few confusing moments but that was my fault.
...more
It was an entertaining mystery interspliced with hysterical home repair stories and some good tips (I'm going to try the neosporin on stubborn mold on the shower grout). I have the rest of the series on hold and 3 are waiting to be picked up as I type this. My only problem was I came in so far into the series there were a few confusing moments but that was my fault.
...more
I enjoyed the "home remodeling" aspect, but couldn't always follow the action of the mystery.
In my opinion, this is the best book of the series so far. I love the paranormal element.
Light mystery about fixing up an old house... actually learned some home repair tips.
Such a good series - and set in MAINE - a lovely place!
I found this book to be a chaotic confusing mess. Many of the major plot elements happened off page and were only vaguely explained. I spent the entire book feeling like I needed to go back and reread parts of it to understand it better but didn't care enough to actually do it. It also bothered me that 2 major plot elements - the discovery of the book and the murder of the appraiser - happened well before the book actually happens and I never felt that the events were explained well enough. ...more
Mystery,married,recovering alcoholic
I liked this- and though I have no home repair inclinations whatsoever, I almost wanted to try some of the tips!
on Kindle
I thoroughly enjoyed this latest installment in the "Home Repair is Homicide" series by Sarah Graves. (I found the first one in Blue Hill Books, a wonderful independent bookstore in Blue Hill, Maine.) I love reading about Eastport, Maine, and the characters that populate Graves' pages. What a treat. (The only sad thing is that this just came out - in hardback - 4 days ago, and she doesn't have another one due until 2009.)
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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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