Fatal Flip by M.E.Bakos-Great Escapes Tour-Review-Giveaway

About the book 

Flipping houses can be fatal! When Katelyn finds a dead body in her first home renovation project, she seriously doubts her decision to “follow her bliss.” After getting fired from her steady job, her plan to flip houses takes a hit when she becomes a suspect. After all, possession is nine points of the law, isn’t it? Especially, when it’s a dead body.

To keep herself in pizza, peanut butter, good coffee, and her stray cat, Boots, in kitty chow she takes survival jobs as a wine sample hostess and market researcher. Meanwhile, Sheriff Don is kind of hunky, and her ex-husband, Eddy (it’s complicated) is back in her life sleeping on her sofa. How’s a girl supposed to solve dead body mysteries, make a living, and find love?

Read an excerpt

I stood on a rung of the stepladder, looking into a black hole of the attic access in the closet of the house I was rehabbing.

“Dang it! Dang. Dang,” I said, sputtering, my heart racing. 

“What?” My best friend, Myra asked, puzzled, as she waited for me. Myra Alexandria Payten was nervous about heights, even six-foot stepladders. She wasn’t a fan of peering into remote areas of homes under renovation and waited while I inspected the attic.

“It’s a body,” I said, gasping. “A body that hasn’t moved for a while.” My legs quivered, and my knees buckled. Gingerly, I stepped down the ladder to face a flabbergasted Myra.

“You have got to be kidding!” she said, each word short and clipped, staring at me openmouthed. Myra always used proper English, even under stressful conditions.    

“I kid you not.” Dread settled in the pit of my stomach. “I hate it when that happens.” When faced with panic-inducing situations, I can be understated, stoic.

“We must call the police immediately!” Myra gasped, her hazel eyes wide.

“Yep,” I replied resolutely. “We must.”

I felt badly about the body we’d just found in the attic. The poor soul could have been there a while, but any smell was held at bay in the cool Minnesota spring. The heat was off in the house, and the body was well-preserved—for a dead person.

The dread in the pit of my stomach was terror about my present finances. This was my job now; I was a house renovator. Just a step up from a slumlord.

My name is Katelyn Baxter. I am thirty-five years old. I admit to twenty-eight, because twenty-nine is a cliché. I’ve been married twice. Once divorced, from my high school beau, Eddy. Now widowed, from the love of my life, Jake.         

My business card says I am a Home Renovation Specialist. I love anything related to home repair and renovation. So much so, when I was dismissed from my position at a mega medical organization, I decided to become a house flipper.

A year earlier, my boss, Michael Preston Ness, chief communications officer, had summoned me to his office. Someone in marketing was going to take a hit for the team, a demotion to ‘records coordinator.’ I was the one selected to take the hit.

“No!”

He glared at me from across his desk, his face turning an impressive blotchy red, a blue vein bulging in his forehead.

“What!”

“Hell, no!” My face felt hot, and was likely as red as his.

By the end of the day, Janice from Human Resources and Michael Preston Ness marched to my cubicle, took my key, pass card, and ID as an esteemed employee. In a final humiliation, I was told not to talk to anyone at the hospital. I presumed, that meant friends, as well.

That evening, while calling everyone I knew, I finished a fresh bottle of chardonnay. My hangover lasted a day. The rest of the week, I lay on the sofa, watched cartoons and ate Doritos.

I will refrain from naming this goliath company in the event they could sue the heck out of my penniless soul, and I am somewhat paranoid.

This is how I came to renovate the house on Bluebird Street in Crocus Heights, Minnesota. It was in a “transitional” neighborhood where streets were named for birds––Robin, Hawk, Jay, etc. The neighborhood had seen some decline, but was becoming fashionable again, with close proximity to amenities, public transportation, established parks, recreational areas, and jobs. Massive oaks, willows, maple trees, established lawns, hearty hydrangeas, and gardens invited new homeowners to the area.

The house was a sturdy model from the mid-sixties that the previous owners had started to update. The taupe-colored, wood siding was solid. In a breath of fresh air, the owners had replaced the roof with the insurance money they’d received after the last big storm.

I had bid on the house at auction and bought it for a sum firmly under market price. It was a contradiction in the economy. Cheap housing, but with no jobs, who could afford even a cheap house? Now, beside a list of rehab projects, I was in a quandary about why and how a dead body was in my attic.

And others are saying 

With non-stop action, I never knew what was going to happen next. If you enjoy a page turner this one will keep your attention.
~Maureen’s Musings

A fast-paced, intriguing yet character-endearing, cozy mystery, with a delightful frisson of clever humor and realistic ups and downs . . .
~Mallory Heart’s Cozies

Fatal Flip is an amusing cozy mystery that will have you in stitches.
~The Avid Reader

There is nearly non-stop action and a few unexpected twists. There is also just enough humor to keep things from getting too intense.
~Book Babble

And I thought 
I didn't 'Flip' over the cover.  Would I have purchased it or even picked it up based on the cover?  Actually no. 
But judging a book by it's cover is true.  Don't judge. 

Now the title/theme drew me in.  Flipping houses and redoing are 'in' now.    Fatal Flip gives the reader non-stop action and some twists and turns that might have your head spinning.  A few tips are included to make it a fun read. Settle in and go along for the ride.  It's twisty and turning but worth every minute.

I enjoyed Katelyn.  She was fun and funny and confused about love.  The suitors are charming in their own way even the ex but everyone loves a cop.  Right?  

If you love Cozy's this one is worth picking up!

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