Premeditated Mortar
Shannon Hammer is about to embark on one of the biggest projects of her career. Her best friend Jane Hennessey has purchased one wing of the Gables, formerly the old state insane asylum, located on a bucolic hillside two miles northeast of Lighthouse Cove. Jane plans to turn her section into a small luxury hotel complete with twenty ocean-view rooms, a spa, and a restaurant.
Shannon is raring to get started on the enormous project and is shocked when a group of unruly protesters shows up at the groundbreaking ceremony and wreaks havoc. She’s even more freaked out when someone pushes her into a pit of bricks in a closed-off room of the asylum. Despite her close call, Shannon wants nothing more than to get back to work until she finds a body not far from where she was pushed. Now Shannon is determined to get to the bottom of the goings-on at the Gables, even if it kills her.
Series: A Fixer-Upper Mystery – Book #8
Author: Kate Carlisle
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Home Renovation
Publisher: Berkley
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
I have enjoyed this series from the start; Premeditated Mortar has not changed that fact. The characters are entirely believable, the location warm and inviting, and the mysteries are well written with enough action to make them enticing. Writing a home renovation series isn’t easy; it can be challenging to keep things fresh and new, but Kate Carlisle knows what she is doing and how to write a cozy mystery.
Shannon can be a bit much to take at times, especially when she is mooning over Mac. But when a person is passionately in love with someone, they should be mooning over them, at least for a while. It’s time Shannon and Mac take their relationship to the next level and grow as a couple instead of remaining in a teenage cloud. Shannon’s sister is adorable, and I love that she played a somewhat larger role and looks to play an even bigger one in the future. Mac is still impressive, but he definitely needs to be less involved in Shannon’s home renovation business and more with his writing career.
The murder in this book does not occur at the beginning of the book, or the middle, which is odd in a cozy. But the mystery in this book pertains more to the asylum’s past and its future than it does with a killer or victim. The murderer is, in my opinion, easy to figure out, with the obvious motive there from the start. I don’t think there was ever a doubt who the victim would be. There are plenty of suspects, although not all of them play a significant role in the investigation. The renovation of the asylum is detailed enough to make readers want to see it happen and perhaps remind them of old asylums and hospitals in their hometowns that could become beautiful.
There is some drama at the end of Premeditated Mortar that makes readers smile and look forward to the next installment. I can’t wait to read the continuation of Shannon’s story, finding out what her next renovation will be and how much trouble she can get into before she puts herself and others in danger.
Read more cozies such as Judi Lynn’s home renovation series “A Jazzi Zanders Mystery” or Diane Kelly’s house flipper series “A House-Flipper Mystery”.
About the Author:
New York Times bestselling author Kate Carlisle is a native Californian who worked in television production for many years before turning to writing. Kate’s television credits include numerous game shows, music videos, concerts, and variety shows, including The Midnight Special, Solid Gold, and The Gong Show. She traveled the world as a Dating Game chaperone and performed strange acts of silliness on The Gong Show, most notably as a member of the girl group, The Whispers. They didn’t sing, exactly, but spit water on the host of the show.
Kate also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions, and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. It seemed the safest way to kill off her professors. Those professors are breathing easier now that Kate spends most of her time writing in Southern California, where she lives with her perfect hero husband.
Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is the proud recipient of the Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier awards, and her first Bibliophile Mystery received a Best First Mystery nomination from RT Book Reviews. Kate loves to travel, read, drink good wine, and watch other people cook.
Contact Kate: 
Find Kate on Social Media:
Contact The Cozy Review
Leave a Reply