Sarah Graves
Bantam Books (Random House)
2011
ISBN 978-0-553-80789-9
The latest book in this long running series set in Eastport, Maine has an eerie page-turner plot I couldn't stop reading (read it in one day). If you follow this series it features Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree, a former wall street investor to the mob and former abused wife to a womanizing brain surgeon. Jake now resides in an old house in Eastport, a federal style from 1823. Not the Victorian on the cover presumably. In the intervening years she's done a lot of paint scraping and sanding and acquired a boat captain husband, Wade, and local BFF Ellie. This one, as many do, involved a person from her sordid past coming back to kill her on the 4th of July. As a cozy, it is not very cozy and comes perilously close to the serial killer story I usually avoid. It is suspenseful and the porch gets painted.
This series is very similar to Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schultz series as the cover blurb said, without the recipes. She's got the troubled son, devoted second husband, and interesting way to spend the time. Except Eastport is a real place and Sarah Graves lives there. I've been there and it is charming but you will get little local color from Sarah Graves. The thin atmosphere and flat characterizations along with the regular appearances of some very ugly
criminals in pretty Eastport are some of the reasons I don't totally love this series. I do like the home repair tips just wish more went into telling us about the people and the town and the real life of Eastport.
As I said the plot is taut and full twists and turns and this will probably get snapped right up by fans of the series.
I haven't read any of these. Thanks for posting.
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