Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree took the dangerous plunge from Wall Street power broker to homeowner! Now the do-it-yourself enthusiast is about to discover that her own dream house is built on a foundation of murder.
Buying a beachfront fixer-upper to lease out to Eastport, Maine's, burgeoning tourist crowd seems like a good idea to Jake and her best friend, Ellie White. But working double-time as landladies to a coven of wannabe witches isn't what they had in mind. And it only gets worse when Jake is called out one stormy night to make a repair and stumbles on a dead body in the utility shed.
A small-time thief and street preacher with a particularly violent message, the deceased was no favorite of Jake's nor of anyone else in Eastport. But what's he doing shot to death on Jake's property? Jake's bewitching tenants - including an ex-cop, a con man, and a mute teenage girl-claim to have been too busy conjuring spells to have heard or seen a thing. Then a member of the coven disappears without a trace and Jake doesn't think it's a case of witchcraft - but a kidnapping... or worse.
Scandal, secrets, and a mysterious box buried deep in the foundation of her own home are just the beginning of a mystery that threatens to bring Jake's house and life crashing down. Now she and Ellie are racing to find a missing girl who may be the key to it all... or lead them to a killer holding the final nails to their coffins.
Industry Reviews
A sleuth as tough as the nails she drives into the walls of her 1823 Federal home enhances a clever plot, which comes to an unexpected and explosive conclusion. Many will relish the vividly described Down East setting, but for anyone who's ever enjoyed making a home repair it's the accurate details of the restoration of Jake's old house that will appeal.
