no place like home

Dorothy Darling has a busy day ahead. Despite being retired and 77, she keeps a close eye on the happenings at Shelley House, as she has for years. She organizes the post and takes stock of the building as well as its tenants, and she marks it all down in her diary. When she finds things that are amiss and needing to be fixed, she alerts the landlord. She does this every day, much to the chagrin of the other tenants.

Kat Bennett needs a place to stay. She never stays in places too long, and she’s not sure why she came to Chalcot anyway. She found a room she could rent in Shelley House, and while the building has clearly seen better days, the rent is cheap and the room is clean and inviting. She’s renting the room from Joseph who has a small dog named Reggie and who likes to cook. There are worse things than working at a restaurant all day washing dishes to come home to a home-cooked meal. Kat doesn’t plan on staying long anyway, so it’s not that big a deal. And when all the tenants get eviction notices, Kat just thinks it’s her time to move on.

But one day when Kat comes home from work, she finds Joseph on the floor of the flat. Reggie is barking like crazy, and when Kat gets closer to him, she sees a pool of blood around Joseph’s head. She calls for an ambulance, and they take Joseph to the hospital. But that leaves Reggie needing someone to take care of him. She’s already lined up another place to live and is getting ready to move out, but who will take care of the dog?

Kat asks Dorothy, but the older woman refuses. She doesn’t want anything to do with Reggie. But it turns out that she does want some information that Kat could get for her, so she decides to make a deal with the young woman with pink hair. If Kat talks to Joseph’s ex-wife for Dorothy, then Dorothy will help take care of Reggie while Kat is at work.

While Joseph is in a coma in the hospital, there is a break-in at his apartment, and then another at Dorothy’s that leaves her wounded. Kat and some of the other tenants try to figure out if someone is breaking in on purpose, and if it has anything to do with the evictions. The landlord is known for harassing tenants in other business deals, but would it possible to connect him with these break-ins, with the injuries that put two tenants in the hospital? And if they could connect the landlord with these events, would it be enough to save Shelley House from demolition?

As the tenants come together to care for Joseph, who they all liked, and Dorothy, who they all tolerated, some of them decide to fight for the future of Shelley House. But will it be enough, or will the homes they love come to ruin, and the greedy landlord who refused to care for the place simply become richer at their expense?

Nosy Neighbors is a light crime novel with lots of secrets, questions, and heart. From the description I was anticipating a frothy thriller with charming moments and some sweet humor. But that is not what this book is. It’s really a look at the secrets we hold on to and how they look different with time and compassion.

Dorothy and Kat are both stuck in mistakes of their pasts, holding themselves responsible for things that were not what they seemed, and it’s only by finally letting down their guard and letting others know the truth about them that they could find the forgiveness that they both have desperately needed. Author Freya Sampson has crafted this world of Shelley House and brought together these characters who need to find each other in order to find their way home. It’s lovely and moving and sweet, and we would be better off with friends like these in our lives.

Egalleys for Nosy Neighbors were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.