In this edition of the House Flipper Mystery series, Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck decide to rehab a houseboat. Their neighbor Grant Hardisty is charming but also shady. And he seems to make as many enemies as friends. However, when his boat blows up, Whitney decides to solve the mystery. She begins interviewing potential suspects and following leads with support from her cop boyfriend. In the midst of the mystery, multiple people confess to the crime. And Whitney hosts a bridal shower and bachelorette party for her roommate and Buck's girlfriend.
While I enjoyed the story, I skimmed the last quarter. Parts of the story are repetitive. And I already figured out the murderer and was annoyed with Whitney. I have a hard time believing the fire inspector and cop would welcome a civilian crime solver.
The recipes at the end sound delicious.
Whitney's cat Sawdust should have his own book. I was hoping his chapters would be written from his perspective.

Primer and Punishment is a fun cozy mystery about two cousins who are flipping a houseboat named The Skinny Dipper. In the earlier books in the series they are flipping houses but this time they take on a houseboat. This is a fast, fun read with some quirky characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for my ARC of this book

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this cozy mystery. It's the fifth in Diane Kelly's "house flipper" series, but I had no trouble reading it as a stand-alone. I'd read another of Diane Kelly's books from a different series, which I believe was better written.
Nevertheless, this one was enjoyable. The characters are likable, the mystery is well done, and there are many suspects to distract attention from the real killer. Parts of the narrative seemed rushed, and after the final reveal, I didn't find the killer's motivation strong enough to commit murder.
The heroine, Whitney Whitaker, tells the story in first person. She and her cousin Buck make a living flipping houses. This time, they purchase a houseboat to renovate, so they have a new challenge learning about boating.
Early on, they meet the boat owner in the next slip, Grant Hardisty. He's pleasant enough at first but quickly becomes annoying. They also learn he's not a nice person. He rips off almost everyone he meets, including the friend who sold him the boat at a discount because of a questionable injury that prevents him from working. He's been married five times, and his fifth wife just kicked him out and filed for divorce. His fourth wife is out for revenge.
Then one day. Grant's boat explodes, spreading pieces of him all over the marina. At first, it looks like an accident, but the authorities soon determine it was deliberate. Whitney gets involved as an amateur sleuth, eventually exposing the culprit. One has to suspend disbelief a little, but since her boyfriend is a police detective, he cuts her some slack.
As in the other Kelly book I read, there are short chapters from Whitney's cat's point of view interspersed with the main narrative. I'm an animal lover, so I found them cute, but frankly, they don't advance the plot.
As a bonus, there are recipes at the end!

3.5-4 stars. Fun cozy mystery about two cousins who flip houses for a living. This time, they are remodeling a houseboat. I enjoyed the boat information, the house-flipping, the wedding planning, and the mystery. The characters were interesting but I thought the chapters from the cat's POV were gratuitous--and I'm a cat lover. I liked how as we gradually learned more and more about the characters, victim and suspects, they weren't always as they first seemed. This is the first of this series that I have read and I found it worked fine as a stand-alone.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Here is a delightful cozy mystery that is part of a series but can be read alone. While Whitney and her cousin Buck rehab houses, they just happen upon mysteries in the mix. In this book, they are rehabbing a houseboat which is docked next to an obnoxious selfish neighbor who seems to talk smoothly to others while conning them out of money. There are many people after him for paybacks, including a couple of ex’s, but somehow, he always smooth talks his way out of it. Whitney is quite observant and somehow lands in between these people and her neighbor. Then something happens, and Whitney sets out to solve the mystery and prove someone’s innocence. I plan on going back to read the previous ones because with the mention of a dead body found in the garden of a house that they were rehabbing, I found that intriguing. This was a quick read and enjoyable. Is there such a thing as a wholesome murder mystery? Chapters are told from different POV’s, including the cat that made it quite entertaining.

Many thanks to #netgalley #primerandpunishment #dianekelley #st.martinspress for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you like binging home improvement shows that include demo work, you are going to enjoy this House Flipping Mystery! Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck, were successful turning an old motel into a swanky Nashville apartment complex, so let’s see what they can do with a house boat named the Skinny Dipper. This will be a challenging job to be sure, what with a ruptured pontoon, the need for new floor work, a bit of paint, a new motor, and a less than ideal boat slip neighbor. Said neighbor, Grant Hardisty, is a slick one, obviously good at using charm and guile to get his way, this guy has more ex-wives than most people his age. He is living on a pretty nice houseboat that he got for a low–low price in what was to be a temporary arrangement with a friend in need, and he is getting ready to be a bartender on disability because of a slip and fall accident that should be paying out shortly. Not sure how much better his life can get since he seems to spend all his time fishing in the river and trolling the dating apps. Ms. Flower does a great job of fleshing this guy out well enough for readers to know that he is going to be the victim because he has ticked off too many people. I am not sure that I will ever look at a chemical ice pack quite the same way again and I am once again amazed at the research skills and imagination of cozy authors. On the flip side are the entries and thoughts of Whitney’s adorable kitty cat adding a little something extra cozy to the story from his viewpoint, which is not related to sleuthing but all about his world as he sees things. Good as a stand-alone but better as part of the series.

I always enjoy visiting with the characters in Diane Kelly’s books; her stories are always good for a laugh. This one finds Whitney and Buck renovating a houseboat and introduces a new set of quirky characters that will have you wondering how anyone could have ever liked the eventual murder victim. The mystery flowed well and, except for Whitney’s over-enthusiastic interrogation style, I adored the time spent in Nashville learning about houseboats and water safety.

This is my first book by Diane Kelly. I love mysteries and house flipping so the premise drew me in. I really enjoyed reading how Whitney and Buck have taken house flipping to a new level by finding a floating prospect to rehab. Meeting their quirky next door neighbor, Whitney and Buck are pulled into a murder when Grant's boat explodes with him inside. Sorting through the numerous suspects that could be responsible, including five ex wives and many ex girlfriends, could prove to be a chore. Who would want Grant dead? I really enjoyed Whitney and Buck and will be looking to go back and read some more. I received a copy through Netgalley, A review was not required.

Primer and Punishment by Diane Kelly
House-flipper mystery series #5. Cozy mystery. Can be read as a stand-alone.
Whitney Whitaker and cousin Buck buy a houseboat for flipping in this mystery installment. It’s a good investment for them but living on the boat temporarily has them getting to know their boat neighbors too. It’s not always quiet with the divorcing boat owner in the berth next to them with ex-wives, fishing friends, and bar buddies dropping by.
It’s a cozy, so it’s not a spoiler when the neighbor ends up dead and Whitney starts investigating.

Lots of questions, and a sharp eye for details makes Whitney a decent investigator. Having a detective for a boyfriend is also a bonus for information and skirting potential problems.
Amusing and smart, this mystery is delightful.
Bonus chapters from the POV of Sawdust are amusing and uniquely “cat-like”.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

Primer and Punishment by Diane Kelly

This is book 5 of the house flipper mystery series.

Whitney Whittaker and her cousin Buck's next rehab project is a houseboat. They've never done one before but think that they can do a quick turnaround. They need something quick because Buck's wedding to Whitney's best friend Colette is coming soon.

While they are working on the houseboat, they meet the guy whose boat is in the next slip. Grant Hardisty seems like a handsome and charming guy who is dealing with an injury to his knee. He has a black lab mix puppy who is a bit too much for him to handle. He also has a string of ex-wives and a number of women he's met on dating apps. Oh, and the couple he cheated out of the boat are also coming around often to try to get their boat back.

When Grant takes his boat out of the slip to grill his dinner and his boat explodes. Fire investigators don't think that it was an accident. There are many suspects and a number of them confess to killing Grant. When one of them confesses to the Nashville Police Department, Whitney's boyfriend Collin is assigned to the case.

Now Whitney needs to figure out what happened to Grant to get to the bottom of his death and alert the police who the actual culprit is. This was a really quick read and I like that they did a rework of a houseboat as their project. It was a cool idea and made it a little different. This is a great little cozy mystery read. If you are a fan of cozies this one will be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of Primer and Punishment for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. I absolutely love this series. This time house flippers Whitney and Buck are flipping a houseboat when the boat next to theirs blows up. This book was fast paced, and enjoyable. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, this is a must read.

I’m coming a bit late to this series. I’ve started with book five and now will have to go back and start at the beginning to catch up. That won’t be a hardship at all though. This was a very entertaining book with a well done mystery and very enjoyable characters. The house flipping premise is very interesting and rehabbing a houseboat in this installment is unique.

After I finished this book, I realized there were already other installments of this cozy mystery series which is great news to me because I really enjoyed this book. I’m new to the cozy mystery genre so I don’t have a lot of other cozy options to compare to yet, but I thought it had a great environment and Murder mystery! Cousins sleuthing together while renovating a boathouse in the South was such a fun plot. I really liked Whitney and Buck and all the other characters we got to meet. I plan on reading more of this series!

Oh I liked this one! The characters are interesting, the fix and flip of a boat is different, and the mystery a good one. Whitney and Buck make good working partners. Each of them has a romance with good partners. Whitney is the nosy one but Buck does seem to follow her into piecing together the clues. And the boat sounds wonderful when it is done. I was totally entertained.

Diane Kelly is keeping this "house" flipper series fresh with creative settings each time, and the quick reno of a house boat makes this stand out. It's not my personal favorite of the series, and I think that was because while the lake setting invites a great new atmosphere and characters, it also meant that Whitney was apart from her friends and family for a lot of the story. I look forward to whatever might come next for them, though!

Primer and Punishment is the first book in this five-book cozy mystery series that I’ve read and it worked just fine as a standalone. Whitney and Buck are cousins who renovate homes/buildings in the Nashville, TN area, and resell them (“house flippers”). This time they decide to do a houseboat, so there’s a bunch of information about boats that will either interest you or bore you, depending on your interest in boats. The man in the next boat slip turns out to have made a number of enemies (including four ex-wives and a fifth one who is trying to get him to sign divorce settlement papers!) and winds up dead in an explosion (not a spoiler, as this is in the publisher’s blurb). Luckily, the two cousins and Whitney’s cat are safe!

Whitney, Buck and the other main characters are quite engaging and the mystery kept me guessing, with lots of possible suspects. The cat, named Sawdust, is a fun character himself, with some short chapters focused on him and his thoughts. The local convenience store near the lake has a cute name, Get-N-Git, but the joke wore thin after too many repetitions. Every time Whitney makes a purchase there, she’s told (with a smile), “You got what you came for, now git.”

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Primer and Punishment by Diane Kelly (House-Flipper Mystery #5) 4 stars

Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are looking to find another renovation project. But with the population of Nashville exploding, even a fixer-upper has multiple offers. Buck finds a houseboat that needs some repair and cosmetic upgrades and the cousins agree to buy it for a quick turnaround. Unfortunately, the neighbor in the next slip is a not so Mr. Nice Guy. When his boat explodes with him on it, the suspects are numerous. Can Whitney help solve the mystery and save an innocent from going to jail?

This turned out to be a fun and quick read. As always Whitney uses her observational skills to help solve the mystery. The supporting cast also contributes, but most of work is Whitney’s. The ending was perfect and I hope there will be another book in this series. As always the mini chapters with observation by Sawdust, Whitney’s cat were enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Paperbacks for this ARC.

Whitney and her cousin Buck have decided their next rehab project will be a houseboat, the Skinny Dipper! Although they’ve never done a houseboat, the basics of the rehab are the same. They decide to stay on the Skinny Dipper while rehabbing, which they estimate will take around 3 weeks. Buck is engaged to marry Whitney’s roommate Collette, after that. The man in the slip next to them, Grant, seems to be a real loser, five-times divorced from wealthy women, and still conning people out of things, the latest being the cabin cruiser he’s now living on and refusing to return to the original owner per their verbal contract. An interesting cozy with plenty of intrigue, mystery and a murder. Of course, Whitney loves solving puzzles and gets involved investigating. I received a free copy of this story from the author through Net Galley and write this review voluntarily.

I just adore this series and it has really gotten better as it goes along; I'm even starting to enjoy the cat's point of view chapters now. The mystery was another winner with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns to keep you buys. I always enjoy reading about their refurbishments and this one with the houseboat was no exception. And, the characters are so great; no spoilers, so I'll just leave it there. Can't wait for the next book!

Taking on a new challenge, Whitney Whitaker and her cousin, Buck, take on a new challenge. Instead of a house to flip, they choose a houseboat. While renovating, they decide to live on the boat. Once there, they quickly learn that annoying neighbors are not just on land. The story contains info on rehabbing a boat, a good mystery and excellent and interesting characters. Very entertaining!