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 I Don't Have Enough To Do, I'll Become A Landlord
Jacobia Tiptree gave up her Financial Consultant job in New York City to move to Eastport Maine, partly because she was sick of her job, but mainly to get her teenage son away from bad influences which had turned him into a drug addict as a young teenager.
Things had really turned around since she bought her fixer-upper house and has spent the last years turning her house into a home and solving all the murders that suddenly seem to occur on a regular basis in Eastport.
Now Jake and her best friend Ellie White have bought a beachfront house, planning on fixing it up and renting. But when a coven of witches asks to rent the house, they go ahead and do it before doing the necessary repairs, which results in almost daily excursions to the house as this group seems unable to change lightbulbs, let alone fix any other minor problem that seems to come up.
It's on one of these trips that Jake trips over the body of Eugene Dibble in the shed behind the house.
Then Wanda, the teenage, mute daughter of one of the renters disappears, Jake goes into full detective mode as she is not only determined to solve the murder, but also to find the missing teenager, who she believes is in horrible danger.
Highlights:
Victor - Jake's ex-husband, A prominent brain surgeon. In the first book in this series, when this guy showed up, I groaned. I'm sick of cozy's thinking the lead always have to have a jerk of a husband, boyfriend, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend involved in her life. But as the series has evolved, so has Victor. He's gone from annoying jerk, to the funniest character in the book. What he lacks in social skills, he more than makes up for his giving up his career, moving to Eastport and starting a trauma clinic.
George Valentine - Local Handyman, married to Ellie White. He's the guy who can fix anything and seems to have a lot more common sense than a lot of other characters in the book.
Wade - He's the harbor pilot and gun repairer. The reasons I like him so much, is that he's very helpful to Jake but stays out of all the drama involving Victor, Jake & their son Sam.
Lowlights
The mystery. Most of the mysteries have been interesting, but this was boring. If you're going to use child abuse as part of a storyline, please don't have everyone claim they were abused. Several false stories are told about abuse in the book, just to hide real motives. The plot behind the murder is so complicated, when all the killer had to do, (since they were tracking their victim) is to walk up to them one night and shoot them, as there was no real connection that would have made the police suspect the killer.
Jake & Ellie take such ridiculous risks in this story and because of their stupidity, real innocent people are severely injured or killed. (I'm not saying they're nice, but they are innocent in this case).
The Ending. In most of the reviews we're all complaining about the same thing, but don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read it yet. The one problem with doing something irreversible, is that it can't be corrected. There is no way to fix this and it changes the entire complexion of the storyline.
Small Questions
Jake was a big time Financial Consultant in New York, she had to have made millions, yet she is always worried that she can't afford to fix her house up? Victor was one of the most prominent surgeons in the world, and has to have made millions also, yet she resents the money he spends on their son.
Why did Ellie White keep her maiden name when she married George Valentine? Ellie is always worried about people talking about her and being part of gossip and keeping up traditions. I would thinking keeping your maiden name would have caused a lot of talk in this small town. And after reading, "Dead Cat Bounce" the first book in the series, where you got to meet Ellie's parents you would thinking changing her name would be at the top of her list.
 not the best, but OK
If you like this series, and I do, this is quite an OK book. A little more than usual of running blindly into stupidly risky situations, a bit too much for my taste, and more character stuff than clever plot development, but I find the characters OK. Some others in the series are better, but I wouldn't want to miss any so far and not this one either.
 The End of the Road
I've had my ups and downs with this series, but have read every entry. There have been characters that I have always enjoyed in the series, George, Sam, though not recently, he seems to be suffering a late adolescence. Maggie has become a bit more flawed and therefore human; I enjoyed her "realness" before she truly had the depth to qualify as a fully formed character. There, of course, has always been Victor, the shining star, who brought edge and acerbic wit and humor to a town full of characters that were either too cutesy (Ellie and now her daughter), too wooden (Wade, forever and always, I'm convinced he is actually a blow-up doll with a looping track, more caricature than character, but I could overlook him considering his brief appearances, or when it comes to Jake recently, simply too neurotic.
I feel like this book is the turning point, if not for the series then for me. Actually, it isn't a turning point it is my jumping off point - I am officially done. The series has been a hodgepodge of okay and make it stop for quite a few books now, but I stayed hoping for a change. The change has come and it is detrimental, it has been alluded to in other posts so I won't elaborate, but I would ask Sarah Graves why and what are you thinking.
I have to question Jacobia's sanity and whether there is any truth to her shrewdness and New York know-it-all attitude. Forget that you rent your property to a coven of witches, but a man with only women and teenage girls in tow - I would ask coven or cult, shouldn't Jake do the same.
This book lacked feeling, the writing was disjointed, some plot points were convoluted, some of the character were so one-dimensional that I felt them tear in two as soon as I turned the page, and in the end I really could have cared less about who did it or why they did it, in fact I hardly cared that most of the characters were still standing and breathing.
Perhaps, enough is enough, if not for the author the definitely for me. Steer clear of this entry and read anew or reread the earlier books in the series it will be a better way to spend a few hours of your time.
Too much home repair, too many neurotics
I've read several other "home repair" mysteries, so decided would try for a third. Wish I hadn't. Jacobia is a wanna be 1940's hard bitten detective with a severe neurosis. It's getting too much to be believed. She's a former 6 or 7 figure tough financial person from NYC who has gone to live in the wilds of Maine - so far OK, but now she's doing incredibly stupid stunts and agonizing over her own childhood sexual abuse. Wouldn't such a woman have gone for help over this by now? The book bogs down with Jacobia's irrational desire to hunt down the missing teenage girl and the highly dangerous situations she puts herself in to find the girl. She's becoming far more male than female - most women would feel too physically disadvantaged to go out into the night alone to meet a large man she considers a kidnapper/abuser/possible murderer. They would take along a friend or have some sort of back up if they went. Jacobia doesn't have the appeal of a Kinsey Milhone who is a female detective and who gets into deadly situations. Ellie would make a better heroine than Jacobia. I agree with another review regarding Wade, the husband. He's becoming one dimensional--bops in for a few words and a little action here and there. Her father is one dimensional. The "witches" who rented the summer house are plastic. Sorry, this one is a loser.
 Would a coven of witches make a good renter?
Sarah Graves' NAIL BITER features veteran audio narrator Lindsay Ellison's suave and moving voice which captures the underlying tension in the story of one Jacobia Tiptree, who faces a coven of witches renting her house and a preacher's murder.
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