Cookies, Corpses & the Deadly Haunt (Haunted House Flippers Inc.) by Rachael Stapleton
Cookies, Corpses & the Deadly Haunt (Haunted House Flippers Inc.)
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Self Published
Print Length: 164 pages
ASIN: B074TY4ZXD
About the Book:
House flippers Jack & Juniper agree to lend and help prep their latest purchase—The Doctors House—an old Victorian mansion to act as the eerie setting for the town’s Halloween bash, they’re expecting to find missing floor boards, and pesky bats, not the ghostly specter of the murdered Doctors Wife.
But when the head of the council is found stuffed in a trunk in the attic, it appears history is repeating.
As June and the team, carry on with party preparations, they unravel a century of family secrets, whispers of lunacy—and the number one suspect goes on the run. But the victim’s family insists that the ball must go on, even with a killer on the loose. With Halloween fast approaching, June sees the woman in white and wonders if keeping the killer out was ever really a possibility. Now she’s desperate to unmask the killer before the Annual Halloween Bash turns into even more of a deadly haunt…
Cookies, Corpses, and the Deadly Haunt is the first book in a new series by Rachael Stapleton. The premise is two exes who've built a very successful house flipping company. Jack and Juniper have just purchased a mansion in Jack's home town and are working on getting the mansion fixed up and ready for resale when they are asked to host a Halloween bash. It seems that the house is haunted by the wife of a doctor murder many years ago and stuffed in a trunk in the attic. Jack and Juniper give the green light to the bash and then a woman is found dead in the trunk.
As the murder investigations heats up, another body is found that has Juniper questioning whether the town should hold a Halloween bash at all. However, the family insists the Halloween bash continue. When the ghost of the doctor's wife appears outside during the party, and another person is hurt, Jack and Juniper can't help but wonder if the legend is true. What transpires leads to the exposure of a lifetime of family secrets in a town where everyone knows everyone else and some lives will never be the same.
The author did a great job with the character development and world building within Cookies, Corpses, and the Deadly Haunt. Jack, Juniper, and Juniper's friend Pike are very down-to-earth people with successful businesses that they enjoy. All of the characters interact well, even those that may be considered hard to get along with. The secondary characters are well-positioned within the pages and play their parts well.
Part of the story does dance around a love triangle but it's not overwhelming or intrusive on the story. It's a nice addition used by the author to give the book realism. Many people have multiple suitors so it's not far fetched to think our cozy mystery heroines wouldn't be the same. For those concerned about triangles, there is a nice ending to the book and, while I rooted for both men in Juniper's life, I like where the author took her character.
There are couple minor issues I had with the book, though they didn't really bother me - they were just things I noticed. There is an inconsistent point of view - the book flip-flops between 1st and third person. Also, some of the plot points were inconsistent. I can't describe the biggest one here because it would be a potential spoiler near the end of the book.
Cookies, Corpses, and the Deadly Haunt is a fabulous cozy mystery. The plot was unique and interesting, keeping me engaged from the start. I enjoyed all of the characters, they were written with realism and are easy to connect to while reading. The story is fast paced and moves along nicely, not getting bogged down with useless filler or uninteresting details.
My Rating:
Meet The Author
Rachael Stapleton lives in a Second Empire Victorian home with her husband and two children in Ontario, Canada and enjoys writing in the comforts of aged wood and arched dormers.
