Batten Down the Belfry is the fourth book in Diane Kelly’s cozy House Flipper Mystery series. This series focuses on Whitney Whitaker, who co-owns a house flipping business with her cousin Buck in Nashville, Tennessee. Whitney is dating a Metropolitan Nashville Police Department detective named Collin. Buck is dating Whitney’s best friend and roommate, Collette, who is an up-and-coming chef. Whitney often takes her adorable cat, Sawdust, with her to the job sites. It is not necessary to read the previous three novels before this one. However, as in the case with most series, it is fun to read them in order to watch the progression of the relationships.

Whitney and Buck have purchased a 92-year-old church, complete with a bell tower and a parsonage, that sits on the Davidson and Sumner County lines. It is adjacent to a horse-breeding farm on the Sumner County side. They go to inspect the property after closing only to find several horses roaming both inside and out. The neighbor, Nolan Sibley, shows up with an electric cattle prod and tells Whitney and Buck they are trespassing on his property. He asserts ownership of the church property through a claim of adverse possession.

While waiting for the legal hearing on Sibley’s claim, the flippers decide to go ahead and rehab the church into a music venue and the parsonage into a restaurant. Unfortunately, the man who delivers new stained-glass windows is murdered in the church. Whitney’s boyfriend, Collin, is assigned the case which proves to be complicated to solve, especially when a second murder occurs nearby. The story kept me guessing until the end to figure out whodunit.

This is a great series and I look forward to more!

Thanks to Sara Beth at St. Martin’s and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy. This book will be published on February 22, 2002. Pre-order a copy now. You know you want to see my name in print. LOL!

Cousins Buck & Whitney are back in another exciting addition to this series.
Whitney and her cat Sawdust are a great duo, I love how the author adds his point of view throughout the story.
Buck and Whitney are preparing to flip another project, this time it's a church, and it sounds absolutely beautiful.
Unfortunately, the neighbor next door feels he's the rightful owner, and his nasty attitude causes conflict for the cousins.
This is an easy to read series, filled with colorful characters and laugh out loud moments.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

Whitney and Buck are ready to flip another property. After closing on an old country church, they head to the new property to get started and are greeted first by some neighboring horses and then by the owner of said horses. But the horse owner claims that he also owns the land on which the church sits. What a start to a new project!

As Whitney and Buck focus on rehabbing the property, they continue with deliveries and repair and a delivery man is found dead in the church belfry. Only Sawdust saw what happened and he can’t mew what he saw to the police. When a second body is found, Whiney is even more curious because the man she thought might have killed the delivery man is now dead himself. Can she help Collin solve the case and open their brand new business without any more deaths? Whitney hope she will be around long enough to find out.

This is a fun cozy series with an adorable kitten that you just want to snuggle up with. I love the property they are rehabbing this time, a flipping failure I guess you’d call it. ;) Can’t wait to see what Whitney and Buck get caught up in their next project.

I enjoyed this book very much. It’s an interesting mystery with great characters. I found it to be a fast read. I wasn’t surprised by who the bad guys were as the story definitely leads you to them.