Crowned and Moldering

Lighthouse Cove, California is a delightful place to revisit in a new mystery with contractor Shannon Hammer. Hired to renovate the newly purchased Lighthouse Mansion, Shannon and her team quickly make an unpleasant discovery in a dumbwaiter. It’s a cold case, one that wasn’t even investigated as a murder fifteen years earlier, because most in town thought Lily just ran away from an abusive family situation. I liked how Carlisle intertwined the old high school students and culture with today. And Shannon, although privy to some insider information from the new chief of police, isn’t so much of a busybody to take away the fun of figuring out motives and suspects on my own. This was a great read. Everything flowed together, making show more it easy to pick up with the series without a lot of knowledge of the first two books. show less

This third book in Kate Carlisle's Fixer-Upper cozy series delves deep into Shannon Hammer's high school past. It's always interesting to learn about a favorite character's background. However, as much as I like Shannon, there is a lesson that I wish she would learn.... Every time she gets exasperated, flies off the handle, and tells someone, "I'll kill you!" she puts herself chin deep in hot water. Hopefully she won't have to stumble over too many more dead bodies before she erases that sentence from her vocabulary!

Carlisle's strong mysteries, sense of humor, and vivid casts of characters are always the major draws to any of her books, but I have a special place in my heart for her Fixer-Upper books. Shannon specializes in renovating show more old houses, and there's always the possibility of discovering secret nooks and crannies. I love that. I also love how Carlisle incorporates fascinating nuggets about different facets of architecture and renovation. In Crowned and Moldering, I learned a bit about green architecture as Shannon wins a contract to build solar canopies for the local high school parking lot.

Whether it's humor, mystery, characterization, architecture, or romance, I recommend Kate Carlisle's Fixer-Upper series. I have a feeling you're going to enjoy them as much as I do. show less

My first Fixer-Upper mystery, a half-way treat. Framed for Murder, A Hallmark movie, follows Crowned and Moldering by Kate Carlisle. I briefly remember the movie that contains romance, murder, and Victorian renovation. The actual book by Kate Carlisle borders on too much information on house renovation and too many characters. One character, Betsy, jumped into the story, but her outcome faded away with no resolution given. Yes, the tips about removing wallpaper and other facts concerning construction provided fabulous insight, but detracted from the story. While working on a renovation of an old Victorian mansion, Shannon discovers bones in a dumbwaiter. The bones belong to a young woman who disappeared fifteen years ago. Shannon and show more the police slowly search for the killer of Lily Brogan and her baby, but the killer strikes again. A fun, but too lengthy story. show less

Shannon Hammer's construction company finally has the go ahead from the Historical Society to start the renovations to the old Lighthouse mansion, that is until a skeleton is found in the old dumbwaiter.

Discovering that the bones belonged to a friend from high school who everyone thought had just run away, sends Shannon's memories of those days flooding back to her. Who hated Lily enough to stuff her in the dumbwaiter and leave her there to die?

The characters are definitely growing and expanding in their dimensions - the mystery was well-planned and clues well done.

Crowned and Moldering by Kate Carlisle is the third book in A Fixer Upper Mystery series. Shannon Hammer lives in Lighthouse Cove, California and is a building contractor. Shannon specializes in Victorian home renovations and rehabs. Shannon took over the company five years previously after her father had a heart attack (just a mild one). Shannon is getting ready to start on MacKintyre Sullivan’s new home. He purchased a beautiful Queen Anne Victorian (though it does not have the beautiful gingerbread work) near the lighthouse. Shannon is doing a walk through with Mac and a few of her workers. They are investigating the dumb waiter when it collapses and falls into the basement. Shannon looks down and sees bones. Looks like Shannon has show more found another body!

Police Chief Eric Jensen (who is very handsome and single) is called to the scene. He knows it is useless to warn Shannon not to investigate (though he does try). The deceased turns out to be Lily Brogan. Lily is Sean Brogan’s older sister (Sean works for Shannon on her crew). Lily disappeared fifteen years ago and Sean has never stopped looking for her. Lily was in her senior year of high school (in the spring) when she disappeared. Who wanted to do away with this beautiful young woman? While investigating the murder of Lily, Shannon’s business rival, Cliff Hogarth, ends up dead (after she had a big blow out with him). Is Cliff’s murder related to Lily’s? The list of people who wanted Cliff death turns out to be quite lengthy (he had made a lot of enemies since he returned to Lighthouse Cover from Chicago). Will Shannon be able to solve the crimes before she becomes the next victim?

Crowned and Moldering was a great cozy mystery. The characters are enjoyable and easy to like (and relate to). The town of Lighthouse Cove sounds beautiful, and I like that Shannon is restoring a beautiful historic Victorian home (near a lighthouse). Something I was keen on was that the author portrayed Shannon as a smart and strong woman (to many books lately have portrayed women as ditzy and bumbling). I enjoyed that the mystery was complex and difficult to solve (though I did figure out who was the killer). Crowned and Moldering is the third book in A Fixer Upper Mystery series, but it can easily be read by itself (without having enjoyed the other two books in the series). I give Crowned and Moldering 5 out of 5 stars (because I just loved it). I cannot wait for the next book in A Fixer Upper Mystery series.

I received a complimentary copy of Crowned and Moldering from the author (I am a member of Kate’s Raters) in exchange for an honest review. show less

Not enough Thor.

Quite a good mystery, though. For most of the book the plot concerns the discovery of a skeleton on the job site of the man who doesn't look like Thor and the re-opening of the cold case connected to it. The crimes escalate in the second half of the book, claiming modern day victims as well, but generally, I think Carlisle tried to bring too many elements together here. I certainly didn't guess the murderer, but I didn't find the motive compelling enough to believe it either.

I'm going to wait for a synopsis of the next book before committing to reading it - I'm holding out one last hope for more involvement with the Thor-lookalike police chief.

As one of Kate's raters, I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the third in Carlisle's Fixer-Upper cozy mystery series. The writing style is very readable. The characters are well-developed and I enjoyed the humor throughout. Past events and back stories of the characters(most of which have known each other since high school, so they have a history) are interspersed smoothly. As expected given the title, there was a lot of detail and description relating to interiors and construction(some of which I found to be dry and technical).

Shannon Hammer, the narrator, is a building contractor, specializing in Victorian homes. Her current project is to renovate the home of Mac Sullivan, a hunky show more thriller writer, who also happens to be her new boyfriend. Mac purchased the historic Lighthouse mansion, the namesake of Lighthouse Cove. As Mac, Shannon, and her crew are doing a walk-thru of the house and making plans, human remains are discovered in the basement. The work comes to a standstill and an investigation, led by chief Eric Jensen, ensues.

Overall, I really liked this book. The plot kept me guessing until the very end. There were elements of drama, humor, and romance. The characters, especially the negative ones, were fun to read. Not only was it the first book by Carlisle, but it was my first in the cozy mystery genre. It definitely won't be my last. I really appreciated the cleanliness and lack of gratuitous violence, profanity, and sex. It is a book/genre I would feel comfortable recommending and/or passing on to my young daughter(in fact, she read parts of it and now wants it when I'm finished). show less