Shannon Hammer, a contractor and amateur detective, solves two murders in cozy Lighthouse Cove. It all starts when Shannon is hired to build an orangery and some repairs/upgrades to the Jorgensen house because Petsy Jorgensen wants to win Best in Show at the annual Victorian Home and Garden Tour. Shannon isn't enthusiastic about the job because Petsy is "a socially incompetent, angry, impatient woman," whom no one, especially her family, likes. To complicate matters, the town's corrupt building inspector, Joe Scully - possibly the only person more hated than Petsy Jorgensen - shows up to cause trouble not only at the Jorgensen house, but just about everywhere else that Shannon goes. Then Scully turns up dead with a chisel sticking out of him, and before long, there is a second murder. What is going on?

This was a light, enjoyable read. The characters are likable and the story is leisurely with plenty of local color. It's like an updated "Murder She Wrote," but with the amateur detective a contractor instead of a writer. However, the killer was very easy to spot right away, and I just waited around for Shannon to figure it out. It never got tedious, though some plot points were a little hard to believe at times. I might read more by this author, but it will be for the atmosphere and not the slight mystery.