annieb123's Review of Dressed to Drill (A Fixer-Upper Mystery, #10)

by Kate Carlisle

Contractor Shannon Hammer’s new project, renovating an old church, reveals some old sins when a body is found on the premises in the latest Fixer-Upper Mystery from the New York Times author Kate Carlisle.

While Shannon Hammer is thrilled to attend the premiere of the movie based on her boyfriend Mac’s latest book, she can’t wait to trade her killer heels for work boots and start her next renovation project in Lighthouse Cove: a quaint Victorian church that has seen better days. And will see them again—as a museum—if Shannon, her talented crew, and her sister Chloe have anything to say about it.

But on the first day of demolition, work comes to a screeching halt when they stumble on the body of a beautiful young woman in one of the chapels. Who killed the assistant art director? Suspects crawl out of the woodwork as fast as Shannon can restore it. The church is hiding a century of secrets from the days that smugglers wreaked havoc on the California coast. But it’s a more recent secret that someone killed to protect. Shannon and Mac will use every tool in their toolbox to nail down the truth before any more lives are sacrificed.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Dressed to Drill is the 10th Fixer-Upper cozy mystery by Kate Carlisle. Due out 2nd May 2022 from Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 332 pages and is available in mass market paperback and ebook formats. Regular paperback format due out in third quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a fun and easy-to-read cozy with well established three dimensional characters and an ensemble cast. Despite being the 10th book in the series, it works fine as a standalone. Readers who read the books out of order won't be lost or confused though; the author manages to fill in the backstory and character developments without spoon-feeding or info dumping. She has a breezy and engaging style of writing and the action driven plot doesn't slow down much from start to finish.

For readers of romance who like some cozy mystery in their reads (or cozy readers who enjoy clean romance) this series will be a good fit. The plot is simple and mostly linear. The violence is mostly off scene and without gore. The language is PG and there is no racy content. The book is full of the sort of quirky eccentric characters cozy readers have come to expect.

With 10 books extant in the series currently, it would make a good choice for a binge or buddy reading project.

Four stars. Well written and engaging.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

21 April, 2023: Started reading

21 April, 2023: Finished reading

21 April, 2023: Reviewed