Better Homes and Corpses Review and Giveaway!

So, you think your family is crazy? Well, nothing prepared me for the depth of drama that was occurring around designer Meg Barrett when she comes upon the gruesome murder of “The Queen Mother” of the Hamptons in her elaborate estate in “Better Homes and Corpses” by Kathleen Bridge.

Jillian, the daughter of the murdered Caroline Spenser, was former school mates with Meg and instantly hones on to her in a most overbearing way. Meg helps out Jillian as they try to work through her amnesia of the events and try to solve the murder of her mother while trying to inventory the estate.

Everyone seems to have their hands rubbing together over the death of the late lady of the house and looking to see what they acquire from her untimely demise. The characters were so enjoyable and I had no trouble keeping track of them and their goings on. Everyone had an agenda but all of them seemed guilty which made my game of trying to figure out who the killer was even more enjoyable as I made my way through the book.

We have the amnesia stricken Jillian, brother Cole that has shown up after being gone seventeen years, a man who was raised with the Spenser children, Adam and his foul mother, a quirky artist and his surfer son Van and a couple of wannabe art dealers to top it all off. Honestly, they all seemed off to me as nothing they said seemed genuine.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fun unless the main character was swayed by romance, right? There are plenty of young men in this story to fill that. I won’t ruin who it is, but he’s a looker. There is also plenty of missing furniture, money, trinkets and such to continually change the reader’s mind on the guilty party. I already didn’t like some of the characters and sometimes their actions made me hope for their demise even more. What? They were mean and haughty!   Don’t blame me, Kathleen wrote them that way. And oh, what a great job she did.

An interesting element in this first in the series book that sets it apart is the talk of antiques, art and decorating. I adore all of those, so someone into that will love the snippets of name tossing that goes on throughout the book. I caught myself oohing and awing over several items mentioned as Meg and her friend, Elle worked on inventorying the Spenser estate and elsewhere.

The character development was amazing as well as the details of the areas surrounding the characters. I felt like I was following the designer in a modern day Jane Austen novel. Better Homes and Corpses was beautiful, brilliant and deadly to the very end.

Now, it’s time for a giveaway! YOU can win a copy of “Better Homes and Corpses” on audio. Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below.  It’s open for a couple of days and you can come back and enter each day.  WooHoo!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway