Hammers and Homicide
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Kate Carlisle and Victoria Gilbert, when a body is found in a hardware store, will Dawna Carpenter’s sleuthing measure up to find the killer?
Recent sexagenarian widow Dawna Carpenter thought running her own hardware store after the death of her husband was hard enough. With her adult daughter, April, moving back into town, and Darlene, the annoying boutique owner next door to her shop poking around, Dawna has her hands full. But when she finds a dead man in the bathroom of her store, with a framing hammer by his side, she’s in way over her head.
The victim, Warren Highcastle, was a land developer who was looking to purchase the old theater in town to build a new hotel. Dawna and April, worried about the implications of the crime scene at the hardware store, put themselves on the case. They soon learn that Warren had made quite a few enemies in his short amount of time in town. As the suspect list starts growing, so too do the threats against Dawna and April. Can Dawna and April nail the killer before they strike again?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this breezy debut, Charles introduces Dawna Carpenter, a widow in her 60s who has taken over her family hardware business in downtown Pine Bluff, Ore., population 1,200. Pine Bluff is abuzz with gossip about Warren Highcastle, a real estate entrepreneur and ladies' man who has recently rolled into town to make an offer on its long-vacant opera house. Not long after Dawna witnesses a heated discussion between Highcastle and a local real estate agent, she finds the developer dead in the bathroom of her shop, done in by a hammer blow to the head. Aided by her youngest daughter, April, Dawna decides to investigate Highcastle's death, though she's overwhelmed by his many enemies and unsettled by the threats that come her way as soon as she starts poking around. For the most part, Charles goes easy on the investigation and heavy on trips to the local café for pie and coffee, conversations with the ghost of Dawna's husband, and supernatural visits from her deceased cat, Lilac. Pine Bluff is a charming place to escape for a while, but readers shouldn't expect many thrills, surprises, or even recipes. This one's strictly for die-hard cozy lovers.
