Dead Cat Bounce: 01/18/25

The Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves and Lindsay Ellison (Narrator) (1997) is the start of the Home Repair is Homicide mystery series. It's the first time we're introduced to Jacobia Triptree and the other characters of Eastport Maine on Moose Island.

Jake's about to start her first major house repair. By start, I mean pay for, although she has been doing the smaller things herself. Unfortunately she finds a man dead in her store room which is attached to the house. Worse yet, she finds her BFF Ellie removing the ice pick from the body.

Although Jake has no experience in solving mysteries, she has to help clear Ellie's name. But someone is hell bent on keeping her from doing that by threatening her and her house.

Coming to this book after reading Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake I know how some of the bigger plot elements will play out. It's sad seeing Jake's optimism about her son ends the book on a high, but the other series outlines all of his troubles between this book and that one.

That said, a lot of what I expected didn't come to pass. Although this book is from 1997 it has many of the hallmarks of the cozy series that spawned from this one. For example, although there is an ex-husband, and although he is an absolute ass, he is not the abusive lingering threat as the Jerk from the Goldy Bear Culinary mystery series by Diane Mott Davidson.

Nor is there the gender essentialism seen so often in books of this era. The men aren't trying to be MEN and the women aren't trying to be WOMEN. People are just people.

What the book does have in common with other books from this era: Jake was a lawyer and her years of work has earned her the money she has now to fix up her house. It has also given her an understanding of the underside of human society.

The mystery itself is one of those obvious ones to solve. The challenge is in how to prove it, not only for the reader but also for Jake. How was it done given the constraints? What was the timeline? How many people were involved? Why was it done?

The next book is Triple Witch (1999).

Five stars

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