When Whitney Whitaker talked to her cousin Buck about their next flipper project, she was glad to hear that he already had a good idea of what they should rehab. It’s a three bedroom, two bath, with a two-story deck. When she asks the square footage, and he says it’s about 600 square feet, Whitney is stumped. But then he explains that it’s a houseboat, and that makes perfect sense to her.
The Skinny Dipper needs some updating and some repairs, and it lists a little to one side, but it’s a bargain of real estate and they could turn it around quickly. The bones of the boat are good. They just need to fix the leak that’s causing the tilt, repaint, and update the inside, and the boat will be good for a quick sale. And when Whitney realizes that once they get it fixed it up, it will be the perfect spot for a bachelorette party for her best friend and Buck’s fiancée Colette, Whitney is all in.
They decide to live on the boat for the two weeks or so it will take them to fix it up. The marina is on Old Hickory Lake, just north of Nashville, so Whitney and Buck pack some bags and all the tools and equipment they’ll need to finish the boat and head out. Whitney also takes one more thing, her cat Sawdust, who will get to enjoy a couple of weeks of lake life too. Although when Sawdust is not locked inside the cabin, Whitney makes sure Sawdust has a life jacket on. Sawdust isn’t sure about it at first, but the smell of the fishes and the birds flying overhead is just too much of a draw to object.
As Whitney and Buck are getting settled into the boar, they meet a well dressed woman asking about the empty slip next to the Skinny Dipper. She’s looking for a man named Grant Hardisty, but the cousins haven’t been there long enough to have met him. The woman leaves, and later a boat docks in the empty spot.
The Sexy Sheila is the boat, and a man using a cane to walk introduces himself as Grant and his dog as JoJo. He invites them over for a beer, and they get to know him a little. He’s a bartender who got injured a couple of months back and hadn’t been able to work. He was dating, talking about which dating apps he was using. He borrows $60 from Buck for a date he has later, and Whitney offers to take his dog for a walk for him. JoJo has a lot of energy, but she’s fond of dogs and wants him to have a chance to stretch his legs after being cooped up on the boat.
As the days go by, and Buck and Whitney get things shipshape on the Skinny Dipper, they can’t help but notice what goes on in the next boat. They witness some fights between Grant and friends and later between Grant and his soon-to-be ex-wife. They see him going out fishing with friends, and ducking from the friend he borrowed money from (Buck had already figured out that he wasn’t getting his cash back). And then, on the day that they are putting primer on the boat, they see his entire boat go up in flames. There was a huge explosion that knocks Sawdust off the boat (thank goodness for that life jacket).
Whitney talks to a Deputy Fire Marshall, telling the woman everything she had seen since they had taken residence on the Skinny Dipper. From what Whitney tells her, she suspects that the fire was deliberately set. But was someone trying to kill Grant or just destroy the boat? And while Grant had a way of getting people angry with him, is one of those people angry enough to murder him? Whitney’s natural curiosity draws her toward the mystery, but will she be able to figure out who killed Grant before she and Buck become the next target?
Primer and Punishment is the fifth book in the House-Flipper Mystery series from Diane Kelly. The idea of rehabbing a houseboat brings a new setting and a whole new cast of characters to keep an eye on. There are the ex-wives, the fishing friends, the mysterious bird-watcher, the angry friends who want their money back, the online dates, and the former owner of the Sexy Sheila who wants it back. There is no shortage of suspects in this one, but as always it’s Sawdust who steals all the scenes.
I enjoyed Primer and Punishment. I thought the lake living was creative and a lot of fun, and the amount of drama happening next-slip to Whitney was worthy of a television drama. The new characters added a lot of texture and complications, but a lot of the drama early on came from Whitney overhearing arguments that she wasn’t involved in, which seemed awkward. But it was still a fun read, and I am all in for those chapters written by Sawdust.
Egalleys for Primer and Punishment were provided by St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.
