Flipped Out
A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, No 5
Jennie Bentley

Berkley Prime Crime
Oct 2011/ 978-0-425-24407-4
Mystery / Cozy
Amazon

Reviewed by Laura Hinds

Avery Baker and Derek Ellis are in the business of buying homes that need repair, fixing them up, and flipping them for a profit. The situation is a bit different in this installment of the Do It Yourself mystery series. This time, they’ve been asked to renovate a home in a week, for the television show “Flipped Out!” The house is owned by a local news anchor by the name of Tony “The Tiger” Micelli. Tony is romantically involved with Derek’s ex-wife, the ubiquitous Melissa James. Melissa is a premiere real estate agent, and eager to get her own face on camera too.

Day One of the project involves doing a meet and greet with the production crew of “Flipped Out!” and walk through to show the plans for each room that Derek and Avery have agreed to. Things start out well-enough, but Day Two brings a terrible tragedy to the proceedings. Tony Micelli is found dead in the house, horribly stabbed to death. Suspicion falls on the beautiful Melissa, and despite the fact that Avery can barely tolerate her boyfriend’s needy ex-wife, she believes Melissa is innocent and sets out to prove it.

I enjoy the small town setting of this series, and it has been interesting to watch as Avery becomes a real down-Mainer type and let go of living in the city. Derek is also a well-written character who has transformed his life from being a doctor to being a home renovation expert. Their romance has been developing at a natural rate, and it was good to see in this book that Avery can get past her resentment of his ex-wife, Melissa, and work to find the real killer and clear her name. That said, I hope that in future installments Melissa takes a back seat. It’s time for Derek to fully move on and not rush in to help her every time she breaks a fingernail.

Bentley is a smart author. She knows that the setting of small town Waterfield Maine limits her options for murder victims and murderers. This time she brought in the whole crew of a reality television show to open up the possibilities. I found reading about the show production to be interesting, and I took note of some of the renovation tips sprinkled throughout the story. They are cleverly woven into the story, and then at the back of the book there is a separate section with more tips and detailed instructions.

The whodunit wasn’t obvious to me, and that always makes a mystery novel score points with me, the reader. If you’ve previously read books in this series, you definitely will want to read this one. If not, try this for yourself. I’m guessing you will want to go back and read the first four, too. In fact, the whole set, would make a nice holiday gift for the cozy mystery lover on your list. Don’t be surprised if after reading this book you find yourself looking around wanting to renovate your own place!