This first in the series "Home Repair is Homicide" by Sarah Graves, this book has nothing to do with cats and only qualifies as a cozy because it is set in a small town, Eastport, Maine. Protagonist Jacobia (aka Jake) Tiptree has fled an emotionally abusive husband and her high-flying career as a financial advisor in New York City to buy a 200-year-old house in the furthest northeast corner of the United States. And she has taken Sam, her teenage son, with her in a desperate attempt to save him both from his father and from an accelerating decline into drug use. Sam is basically fine but has dyslexia, which makes school difficult; he does have real talent in fixing things and Jacobia and Sam would like to see him enrolled in the local boat-building program when he's old enough. His father, Victor, is sure that Sam is just lazy and could excel at an Ivy League school if he would just try. You get a lot of background on just what a jerk said ex-husband is and also what a nice guy Jacobia has started dating in her new home, harbor pilot Wade Sorenson. There is a wonderful cast of characters who are all well developed, and there is abundant description of small town Maine and the challenges of winter weather faced with nonchalance by the residents.
There is, of course, a murder to be solved and it comes right to Jacobia's door, or at least to her storage room off the kitchen, where she finds a notorious local on the floor with an ice pick in his head. When Jacobia tells Ellie, her best friend and next door neighbor, of her find, Ellie is clearly upset. Jacobia calls George, who is sort of the local police, but by the time he arrives, the ice pick has gone missing, and Ellie has confessed to the crime. Although no one really believes that Ellie killed Threnody McIlwaine, apparently his fame as a ruthless corporate raider brings the law to their small town in force and Ellie is taken away to prison, leaving Jacobia with the clear instruction to figure things out.
Intermingled with her efforts to solve the mystery of who actually killed McIlwaine, we hear of Jacobia's ongoing challenges in restoring her old house, of her efforts to keep her ex from riding roughshod over their son, and of her own career as a former currency trader and then financial advisor to some not-so-savory characters. We learn a fair amount about repairing things and how to hide money. I liked this enough that I already started the 2nd book in the series, Triple Witch. Here is a short but glowing review from Publishers Weekly.
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