Book Review: The Body in the Attic by Judi Lynn

The Body in the Attic by Judi Lynn is the first book in a new mystery series. House-flipper Jazzi Zanders and her cousin Jerod have found their latest project. The property, formerly owned by the late Cal Juniper, is filled with debris that must be cleared before the real renovation begins. But a trip to the attic reveals something more disturbing than forgotten garbage—a skeleton wearing a locket and rings that Jazzi recognizes. Tests confirm that the bones belong to Jazzi’s aunt Lynda, who everyone assumed moved to New York years ago after breaking up with Cal. Soon enough, the whole family is involved, sifting through memories and rumors as they try to piece together what really happened to Lynda—and the baby she gave up for adoption. In between investigating and remodeling, Jazzi is falling for the old house’s charms—and for her gorgeous contractor, Ansel. But with surprises lurking in every nook and cranny, a killer might be waiting to demolish her dreams for good.

The Body in the Attic was and engaging read and had a good balance between introducing a wide variety of characters and telling a compelling story. I liked the characters, I found Jazzi and her family and friends to three dimensional and interesting. I thought the mystery was well built, and while there were a few good red herrings it did not get overly complicated. I will say that I am thoroughly sick of mystery solving ladies always needed a relationship, but I will let it slide here because he was more support for Jazzi than taking over the mystery or her life. The mystery, characters, and story as a whole made me happy and I found myself grinning often while reading. I did spend a couple chapters expecting one more horrible thing to happen, and fully expected one more moment of danger or an injury or something. I liked the way readers discovered the mystery and followed along with Jazzi as helped solve the case, and learn more about her family in the process.

Now for something that kind of bugged me. I got a kick out of how Jazzi and family say they are not rich but can buy houses to flip with cash and can buy the quantity and quality of food they do without even batting an eye. Furniture shopping, landscaping, supplies for renovations are not exactly cheap and they just go out on a whim to buy a king size sleigh bed and a slew of stuff. Their version of wealthy and mine vary greatly.  I loved the recipes and amount of cooking Jazzi does in the book, but my grocery budget would have been decimated for at least a month just by buying the ribs for one of her dinners.  I wish I could shop and cook like her.

The Body in the Attic was a good start to a mystery series. It was not perfect (what is?) but I really enjoyed the read and fully plan on continuing to read this series as it is published.