Better Homes and Corpses by Kathleen Bridge

I should also mention that the mystery kept me guessing to the end and I guessed wrong. What a captivating novel! It grabbed me right from the start. This book has gothic overtones – a huge mysterious mansion, an eccentric family, and a murder in the center of everything. What a sweetie! Each character added something special to the story. I don't want to forget Tripod, Cole's dog. Her best friend Elle, Jillian’s brother Cole, and her father’s friend Doc rallied around Meg.

Even some of the secondary characters won my heart. Readers will have no trouble cheering for her to come out on top when all is said and done. Meg is strong, determined, and yet very likeable. She begins to uncover secrets, lies and betrayals in the family and wonders if one of them could be a killer. Meg’s close friend, Elle, hires her to evaluate the Spenser’s estate for the insurance company, but Meg finds herself involved in so much more. Jillian apparently witnessed the murder, but she’s suffering from PTSD and has amnesia. She’s not so impressed to discover Jillian’s mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, dead. When she is invited to the home of her former college roommate, Jillian Spenser, Meg is impressed with the wealthy East Hampton home. It’s much different than her last job in Manhattan at a home and garden magazine. She is excited with her new venture – an interior design business in Montauk on eastern Long Island. As Meg gets closer to the truth, the killer will do anything to paint her out of the picture…Īfter discovering her fiancé was cheating on her, Meg Barrett needed a change in her life and she found one. Cataloging valuable antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets, which may have furnished a murderer with a motive. When she helps a friend inventory the Spensers’ estate for the insurance company, Meg finds herself right in the thick of things. Jillian’s mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. But instead of seeing how the other half lives-she learns how the other half dies. In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg visits the swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. Leaving her glamorous job at a top home and garden magazine, she fled Manhattan for Montauk, only to find decorating can sometimes lead to detecting… After Meg Barrett found her fiancé still had designs on his ex-wife, she decided it was time to refurbish her life.

Better Homes and Corpses by Kathleen Bridge