Fixing to Die by Elaine Viets

Fixing to Die by Elaine Viets ISBN-13: 9780451240989 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: November 5, 2013

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Mystery shopper Josie Marcus has been happily married to veterinarian Ted Scottsmeyer for months, and they’re ready for the next step: buying a house. Ted’s business partner, Christine, has one she’s willing to sell, but it needs a lot of love.

When they tear down a rickety gazebo in the backyard, they find the body of Christine’s sister, a free spirit who supposedly took off six months before. The police arrest Christine for murder, leaving Ted to work overtime at the office to cover for his partner. Josie will have to find the real killer quickly, before both her house and marriage are beyond repair....


My Review:
Fixing to Die is a cozy mystery. It's the ninth in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the whodunits of the previous mysteries.

The characters were interesting and acted realistically. The story rotated between house shopping and renovation, mystery shopping, and the mysteries. One "mystery" followed how Joise's daughter proved that some rich kids were cyber-bullying her.

The main mystery was Joise questioning the obvious suspects and placing herself in potentially dangerous situations. Though the detective was very rude, at least the detective worked from the forensic clues found in the grave. Josie worked from "who was the most violent who also had a motive?" In the end, it was never explained how whodunit left the forensic "grave clues" or how they were even connected to whodunit. We had the motive, but the author skipped explaining how. Since I like logic-puzzle mysteries, this "just trust me that whodunit did it" approach didn't leave me feeling satisfied.

There was no sex. There was some explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this novel to those who don't care if the how-done-it of a mystery is clear.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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