Welcome to Litsy!

Jacobia �Jake� Tiptree left her high-powered career for a dilapidated fixer-upper and the dream of a quiet existence in the quaint town of Eastport, Maine. But she found that no matter how carefully you remodel your life, murder can take up residence anywhere. It�s Eastport�s most notorious landmark: the old Harlequin House. Named for the disgraced physician Chester Harlequin, it was used as a hideout for gunshot gangsters and their molls during Prohibition�s heyday. Now fixer-upper enthusiast Jake Tiptree and Harlequin�s only living descendant, Ellie White, are refurbishing the mansard-roofed mansion to host the local Historical Society�s upcoming gala. But when stripping down old wallpaper reveals a secret door to a room containing not one but two corpses, Jake and Ellie once again find home repair leading to homicide. One of the bodies is a skeleton dressed in 1920s flapper chic. But the other is that of real-estate mogul Hector Gosling, and in his pocket is a paper bearing the single word �Guilty.� The less-than-scrupulous tycoon has been poisoned, and when it�s learned that the offending substance is the poison that Ellie�s husband George has been using to kill red ants, he is immediately taken into custody. Then it develops that George had recently accused Gosling of a scheme to scam George�s vulnerable old aunt out of her life savings�and George out of his inheritance. With George held for murder, Jake and a pregnant Ellie swing into action. In between Ellie�s Lamaze sessions, baby showers, and CPR classes taught by Jake�s ex-husband Victor, the two amateur sleuths must sift their way through a trail of seemingly contradictory clues. Then another corpse surfaces and suddenly Jake and Ellie realize they must find this killer fast. A clever culprit is not only building an airtight case against Ellie�s husband. He�or she�is planning to nail everyone who stands in the way. From the Hardcover edition.