Sarah Graves

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.

Back in the day, Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree turned profits managing the fortunes of Manhattan's most fortunate. Then she fled the rat race for a stately old fixer-upper in easygoing Eastport, Maine. But now a rat from an even darker corner of Jake's past has turned up...a killer with a blueprint for demolishing her new life.As a home repair enthusiast, Jake knows that nothing lasts forever--not windows or doors, not plaster or plumbing. And not good fortune.After more than three decades eluding justice, the man who murdered her mother is finally about to stand trial--until he vanishes into thin air. Jake has a terrible foreboding of where Ozzie Campbell will turn up next. And while the local police chief is sure she's overreacting, the truth is far worse than even Jake's worst fears.With her normally full house empty for at least another week, Jake has been looking forward to the unaccustomed peace and quiet. Now her cozy, well-loved home feels more like a big empty death trap ready to snap shut. First a pair of out-of-towners clearly not in Eastport for vacation turn up asking questions about her. And if she has any doubt they're connected to Campbell, those doubts are erased when he calls her with a grim warning. But exactly what Campbell wants from her isn't clear, only that he'll stop at nothing to hurt those closest to Jake. And his first victims are the most defenseless of all. Suddenly Jake can't help but feel that her house--and her life--has far too many windows. And in any one of them she might see the face of her killer.From the Hardcover edition.

Home repair can be murder.Jacobia Tiptree and her teenage son are used to their Eastport, Maine, home attracting more than its share of houseguests. This year Jake is hoping the plaster dust will keep them away while she finally gets her gem of a fixer-upper into shape -- from doorknobs and chandeliers to leaky pipes to ghostly phenomena.But when the charming and mysterious Jonathan Raines appears on her doorstep -- and then just as suddenly disappears -- remodeling the house becomes the least of Jake's problems. Could Jonathan's disappearance have something to do with his quest for a cursed violin -- the one that local legend says was hidden by a long-ago owner of Jake's house before he too vanished without a trace?Soon Jonathan's grief-stricken girlfriend arrives downeast, and Jake needs to strip Eastport's past of its idyllic veneer -- before a killer paints her very dead indeed!From the Paperback edition.

Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree abandoned Wall Street to its bankruptcies and bailouts for a far more rewarding life fixing up an 1823 Federal-style house in Eastport, Maine. But in Sarah Graves's chilling new mystery thriller, Jake discovers that no matter what your address, the most terrifying crimes always hit closest to home.The infamous Dodd murders are hardly among Eastport's proudest legacies. So when bestselling true-crime author Carolyn Rathbone arrives to research the case for a new book, the locals in the seaside town let her know that she's about as welcome as a spoiled clam. But surely no one would harm a crime writer out of a sense of civic pride--or would they?Jake has her own problems, from the mysteries of old-house insulation to an anonymous caller plaguing her with death threats. But with Carolyn's arrival, the slayings of the wealthy Dodd women suddenly go from cold case to hot topic--much to someone's dismay. For Carolyn Rathbone's untimely investigation hasn't only reopened old wounds and stirred up new suspicions; it's unearthed a string of deadly secrets--ones that a cunning killer is grimly determined to rebury right along with Carolyn herself.Suddenly Jake finds herself inescapably targeted by one of the most deranged criminal minds she's ever encountered. For as much as she fights to insulate herself from his grisly compulsions, someone with a taste for terror has already crept closer than she dares to imagine. She'd rather die than lose the home and family she's built--and that suits her nemesis fine, because her death is just exactly what he has planned.From the Hardcover edition.

The Underworld is Real... Spencer Perry knew it was a long shot when she started searching for a way into the Underworld. Three months ago her boyfriend died, and now she'll do anything to get him back, even make a deal with the devil himself. Only, Hades isn't what she expected, and neither is the proposal he offers. In exchange for Micah's resurrection, all she has to do is spend every night for the next year down below. From the very first meeting the god makes her feel things she shouldn't, but she takes the deal anyway, knowing in the end it'll be worth it. Except, as soon as their bargain begins, strange things start happening. People are being attacked by invisible forces, and all signs point to the God of the Underworld. Has Spencer inadvertently unleased hell on earth?

dead cat bounce n. Stock market jargon for a small, temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop.Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't LIKE nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.From the Paperback edition.

Do-it-yourself killer fixes small-town thug...For ex-Wall Streeter Jacobia Tiptree and her teenaged son, Sam, September promises tranquil days winter-proofing their rambling handyman's special of a home in Eastport, Maine. But there's nothing idyllic about this Down East autumn. For starters, the return of truly vicious native son Reuben Tate stirs up the town. And when somebody slits Reuben's throat and hangs his corpse on the cemetery gate, the police trace a bloodied scalpel to surgeon Victor Tiptree--Jacobia's former husband. Yet Jake knows her troublesome, trouble-prone ex is capable of just about anything except murder. Proving that, though, is another matter.Eastport is packed with tourists and former residents for the annual Salmon Festival--and Jake soon realizes any Eastporter, past or present, has motive for Tate's murder. To nail the real killer, Jake and her best friend, Ellie White, must probe a past as rotten as crumbling clapboard, while a secret hatred builds toward a series of murders even more brutal than Reuben Tate himself....From the Paperback edition.

Jacobia Tiptree saved her sanity--and her son, Sam--the day she abandoned Wall Street for the seacoast village of Eastport, Maine. In her new home, a charmingly dialpidated fixer-upper, she looks forward to repairing old radiators and restoring antique shutter for years to come. But Jake's hopes of serenity are dashed when tiny Eastport erupts in a crime wave.Hometown bad boy Kenny Mumford--old flame of Jake's best fiend and fellow sleuth, Ellie White--is the first victim. When his corpse washes up on the beach at Prince's Cove, all evidence points to a drowning...except the bullet hole in his forehead.When bodies begin littering the Maine scenery, Jake and Ellie learn that the ante on Kenny's small-town antics has been upped. Add a pair of unwelcome arrivlas--Jake's ex-husband, and an unscrupulous New York ex-money mogul--and you've got a blueprint for more deadly danger than one house can hold.From the Paperback edition.

Once upon a time, Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree was a hotshot money manager to Manhattan's rich and dreadful--until she left city life behind for a centuries-old fixer-upper in the quaint seaside town of. Eastport, Maine. But even this timy haven has its hazards and they can be astonishingly deadly ...

Once upon a time, Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree was a hotshot money manager to Manhattan's rich and dreadful--until she left city life behind for a centuries-old fixer-upper in the quaint seaside town of Eastport, Maine. But even this tiny haven has its hazards--and they can be astonishingly deadly....When a mysterious book is unearthed from the foundation of Jake's 1823 fixer-upper, she immediately sends it off to local book historian Horace Robotham. After all, there must be a logical explanation for why the long-buried volume has her name in it--written in what looks suspiciously like blood. But all logic goes out the window when the book disappears--and Horace turns up dead.The suspects include Horace's spoiled daughter, who has enough credit card debt to give killing her rich daddy a certain appeal. And just about everyone's pointing fingers at a local crackpot with a penchant for black magic and an unholy lust for its artifacts--including antique texts inked in blood. To complicate matters further, there's a mysterious stranger in town with vengeance in his heart and a gun in his pocket. Never mind that Jake's just taken a sledgehammer to her ancient bathroom. Or that she forgot she's set to host a party for Eastport's most treasured teacher. She's also about to lose her beloved housekeeper on account of her father's hasty marriage proposal...and her son, Sam, has just taken his first tentative steps toward sobriety.But all that will have to wait, because when two more victims turn up in a town better known for its scenic views and historic homes than its body count, she and her comrade-in-sleuthing, Ellie White, need to go on the prowl to find someone who may believe that the pages of an ancient book are the blueprint for a perfect murder.From the Hardcover edition.