I really enjoyed this mystery a lot. There were a lot of hidden elements to it that made it a lot of fun to solve. My husband and I like to watch and read a lot about true crime, and I enjoyed the fact that this book had an unsolved murder mystery in it. It gave it a lot of depth to the story.

This series has only gotten better. Every book, I enjoy Whitney and how she has grown in her amateur sleuthing abilities that much more. I love the fact that she is something other than a journalist or a teacher but something kind of unexpected.

I also have a love for old houses and old buildings so reading this series has really put a lot of the things that I like together and has made for some very interesting tales to read. I love reading Diane Kelly's books a lot. She really knows how to mix humor, mystery, and life together in her stories. I heartily recommend this and all of her books.

Thanks to Net Galley, the publishers, and to Diane Kelly for the ability to read and review this story. All opinions are my own and are completely honest.

Whitney Whitaker and her cousin, Buck, flip houses in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Whitney falls in love with a Victorian house that served as the headmaster’s home on the grounds of what was an exclusive boarding school. Whitney has so many ideas on how they could fix this house up, so she and Buck decide to go forward with the project even after learning that two people lost their lives in the home. Whitney begins researching the suspicious deaths, but it quickly becomes clear that someone wants old history to remain in the past. Whitney is determined to protect the reputation of the house, but will she need to fight for her own life in the process?

Dead Post Society is the seventh in the House-Flipper series. I’ve read the two books prior to this one, but not the earlier installments, and think each book works well as a standalone. Each book has a nice balance of remodeling projects, sleuthing, and family life. Readers following the series won’t want to miss a development in Whitney’s personal life that occurs in this one. There are a couple of chapters told from the point of view of Whitney’s cat, Sawdust. They are short and cute without being too corny, adding some fun to the book.

The grounds of the abandoned school make a great setting for the book. I appreciate that Whitney is investigating a cold case in this book, and I enjoyed how she combined research with questioning witnesses and suspects to uncover the truth. I didn’t like that she ignored the good advice from her husband, Collin, and put herself into dangerous situations more than once. More interactions between Whitney and Collin and Whitney and Buck would have made the book even better, but the story held my interest and kept me guessing as to the identity of the killer. Fans of the series, as well as fans of Kate Carlisle’s Fixer Upper Mysteries, will enjoy this intriguing cozy mystery.

~ Christine

Dead Post Society follows Whitney Whitaker as she begins a renovation on a boarded up headmaster's house with her cousin Buck. The mansion sites on the grounds of a boarding school that is being turned into a senior living community. Whitney wants to turn the victorian mansion into a boutique hotel that will service family of the nearby residents.
Unlike past books the mystery doesn't start with Whitney finding a body, but instead it develops as she unravels the mystery of the two people who last lived and died in the home decades earlier. The former headmaster of the school and his wife were believed to be killed in a murder suicide, but when Whitney discovers a bullet lodged into the homes exterior she begins to wonder if they both weren't murdered.
Lots of twists and red herrings. I enjoyed this installment of this series. There was some great character development outside of the mystery as well.

Whitney’s construction company takes on the job of remodeling an old boarding school into a retirement community. But the old headmaster’s house had a mysterious murder-suicide long ago that she finds impossible to ignore. And her investigations bring to light a lot of secrets that someone would prefer stay buried.

A very twisty mystery, in a way I’ve enjoyed from Kelly before. And I really liked the characters! Whitney and Collin’s relationship is well established, steady, and lovely. And I would have loved more time with her uncle and her cousin.

I also loved all of the reconstruction details. My mother works with old buildings, so I recognized a lot of the things Whitney did to take care of the old Victorian home.

But this was an incredibly slow story that suffered from overly tell instead of show & too descriptive of actions. Which resulted in me getting a bit bored. And I still don’t get the point of the cat’s POV chapters. They didn’t add enough to the story for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this arc.

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck tackle a Victorian mansion with a dark past, aiming to transform it into a boutique hotel. As Whitney delves into the unsolved murders of the former headmaster and his wife, she uncovers chilling secrets that put her in danger. With engaging characters, a gripping plot, and a different settings, this cozy mystery is a delightful blend of suspense and charm. The authors writing style in Dead Post Society is engaging blending humor, suspense, and vivid descriptions. She skillfully incorporates twists to keep readers guessing, while also weaving in historical elements and poetry quotes that add depth to the story. I found the story easy to read and understand and follow along as well.

Thanks netgally and to the author for allowing me to read this novel and give my honest review.

Rating 4 🌟

Dead Post Society
A House Flipper Mystery
Diane Kelly
5 Stars

Synopsis:

The seventh in the House-Flipper mystery series set in Nashville, TN, where the real estate market is to die for.

This year's honor roll is killer...

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are no strangers to murder. After all, they’ve encountered corpses on their properties before. But this is the first time they’d decided to take a chance on a property where two suspicious deaths have already occurred. Most buildings on the former boarding school property will be repurposed for an upscale retirement community, but the developer has no use for the headmaster’s house given its violent history. The headmaster and his wife were killed there decades earlier, their deaths remaining unsolved to this day.

Still, it seems a shame to see the beautiful Victorian give way to decay or the wrecking ball, even if many claim the unsettled souls of the victims still wander its halls, seeking retribution and justice. Can Whitney and Buck exorcise the structure’s demons, solve the cold case, and give the building new life? Or will ghosts from the past seek to silence them forever? (Amazon)

Review:

The characters are well rounded and well developed. Whitney and Buck have decided to renovate a Victorian. The problem is that the Victorian is the site of two unsolved murders. It is believed that it is the site of a murder/suicide but no one know for sure. Whitney is on the case and she is going to figure out what exactly happened long ago.

The author is very talented in her description and these descriptions pulled me into the story from the very beginning. The writing style flows smoothly and defines the characters very clearly by their actions and words. The mystery was well plotted and not easily solved.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. I enjoyed this book and I think you will too.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley, which I greatly appreciate.

This is a cozy little mystery with some HGTV included. I enjoyed that this was not a typical fast paced thriller. Slow paced suspense kept me engaged. The book is full of details and interesting characters. There were a lot of people introduced in the book, but it was not hard to follow/keep track of them, which I loved because who wants to read a book where you can't even remember everyone. I enjoyed the "mystery" and who it was kept "nongraphic," which allowed me to flow through the pages and not have to stop because of too much gore. This would be a great book club read or anyone in there "cozy mystery: phase of reading. This was actually my first cozy mystery, and I must say it was a good introduction into that genre. Looking forward to more of these books from this author!

I've enjoyed each book of this series and I think this might be the best one yet! It was very fast paced and the plot moved right along. It kept me guessing right until the author wanted me to know who the killer was. This series is highly recommended for fans of the cozy genre. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery set around flipping a property. I loved Whitney and her brother Buck. I loved all the twists and turns as Whitney tries to solve a very cold case. I enjoyed the laughs and the bits of suspense. I received a copy of the book from the publisher for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

I had a really hard time with this book. It felt so rushed and like time skipped so fast that I was reeling. While the mystery itself was interesting, and the plot of the shooting having happened years ago was intriguing, I had a really hard time connecting with anything happening in the story because it felt simultaneously summarized and rushed along and too drawn out. I wished we could've gotten to know the headmaster and his wife a bit more but it all felt surface level.

Whitney is back with another exciting mystery that has us flying through the pages. Dead Post Society is a great addition to The House Flipper Series.

Dead Post Society is a bit different house flipper story than what we are used to. Instead of flipping the house, they are doing reservations on an old Victorian does they plan to turn into a boutique hotel. The property comes with a bit of its own mystery. Two people died, but they begin to realize they may not have died the way everyone thought. And the only one that doesn’t want answers is a person who actually committed thc crime.


With a mystery that has been left cold for decades, Whitney being the inquisitive woman that she is. It also helps that she’s in a position to be able to look for clues that no one could find all these years ago. Finding things that points to the direction there was foul play. Whitney feels a very strong urge.to put together the clues of what happened all those years ago. Diane Kelly does an amazing job, giving her readers an entertaining and engaging story.

Diane Kelly brings together great characters, wonderful atmosphere, a former boarding school property being repurposed for an upscale retirement community, a headmaster’s house with violent history, and a mystery. Dead Post Society is the seventh book in the House-Flipper Mystery series featuring carpenter Whitney Whitaker Flynn.

Whitney and her cousins Buck and Owen work for her uncle’s carpentry business, Whitaker Woodworking. However, she and Buck also have their own building-flipping business. When told the headmaster’s Victorian home was going to be demolished Whitney and Buck come up with a plan to buy it and two acres of land and renovate it into a boutique hotel.

The mystery surrounds the deaths of the last headmaster, Irving Finster, and his wife Rosie. The case was never closed by the Robertson County sheriff’s office. As usual, Whitney can’t leave it alone until she determines what happened. But can Whitney solve the cold case or will it remain a mystery?

Whitney is inquisitive, perceptive, believes in progress as well as preservation, and doesn’t like to be the center of attention. She’s skilled, reliable, resourceful, and hardworking. She’s also married to Collin Flynn, a Nashville police homicide detective. He is intelligent, has a strong work ethic, a strict moral code, and runs to relieve stress. Buck has a great sense of humor and handles a lot of the heavier work. As in the author’s Mountain Lodge series, this series has features cats with Whitney’s cat Sawdust’s thoughts being interspersed throughout the book in a few short chapters. Collin’s two cats also make appearances throughout the book. While they aren’t necessary to the story line, they provide some humor and insights that made them enjoyable. The main characters were likeable and relatable. The relationships between the various characters add to the charm of the novel.

The story starts with a family event rather than a mystery, but quickly moves on to the carpentry work at the boarding school and the desire to purchase the headmaster’s house. Readers learn about the mystery surrounding the deaths of the Finsters. The intriguing plot had a few twists and turns and the characters had depth and came to life. While I guessed some of the items related to the mystery, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story as I sped through it effortlessly. Food is mentioned through the novel and a recipe is included at the end of the book. I also enjoyed the poems and literary references at the beginning of each chapter. My only quibbles are that I wanted more details on the renovations, and there was so much going on with the family and the investigation, that the usual banter between Whitney and Buck was in short supply.

Overall, this is an engaging, clever, and entertaining novel that was a fast read. Readers looking for a cozy mystery with a dash of humor and a cold case that needs to be solved will likely enjoy this novel. I am looking forward to reading the next book.

St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books and Diane Kelly provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for April 01, 2025. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Dead Post Society by Diane Kelly is an entertaining cozy mystery. I always look forward to catching up with Whitney, Buck, and Sawdust in the latest A House Flipper Mystery. While Dead Post Society is the seventh A House Flipper Mystery, it can be read as a standalone (but you will want to read all the books in this cute series). Whitney and Buck have purchased a brick Victorian to flip, but it has a history. Whitney finds a bullet in a decrepit porch post and then bullet holes in the house that line up with the bullet’s final location. Whitney does some digging and learns about the crime that occurred in the Victorian many years ago (this is a very cold case). There are strange shadows and noises in the house. I suspected who the guilty party was early on but enjoyed following Whitney in her quest for the truth. I like Whitney who is smart and caring plus she has a husband who loves and understands her (she also loves cats). Whitney is also an excellent carpenter who rocks a pair of overalls. The ending is sweet, and fans of the series will love it. I hope that this is not the final book in this delightful series. There is a poem at the beginning of each chapter that ties in nicely with the books title. I love the chapters from Sawdust’s point of view. The author really captures cat behavior and, I think, how they think (I laugh at Sawdust’s thoughts). Dead Post Society is a cute cozy with a decrepit Victorian, a bullet in a post, a cold case, a clever cat, and a cheerful couple.

Whitney and Buck are back again! This time, they are renovating a house with a tragic history. When Whitney finds evidence that could point to what happened, she can't help but investigate herself. In the Sheo, to the local police, and while they are willing to see her evidence, they don't quite have enough to reopen the case... yet. Whitney is definitely going to help in that department as she tracks down witnesses and troublemakers during the time of the deaths, and of course, puts herself in some dangerous situations.

I always have a ton of fun reading this series! I love Whitney and Buck, and I love watching them plan out and execute their ideas for the properties. The mysteries always keep me on the edge of my seat, and I love seeing all the clues come together and reveal the killer. I also love the adorable Sawdust, whom we get a few chapters from his POV.

Dead Post Society by Diane Kelly is a HouseFlipper Mystery featuring primarily Buck and Whitney. Because they were between houses, Buck and Whitney were working a remodeling job with Buck’s dad. It was an old school that he was going to turn into a home for the elderly. There was also a Victorian mansion on the property, slated for demolition. Whitney couldn’t resist exploring and moment by moment became more enthralled. When she asked the developer, he disclosed that his wife didn’t want it demolished, either. They worked out a deal and soon Buck and Whitney were the new owners, planning to turn it into a small hotel, mostly for people visiting the elderly residents of the home. As Whitney explored the furniture in the office, she came upon a mystery that engaged her senses. It was a murder, forty years old, that had taken place right here in this house. At the time it had been written off as a murder-suicide between spouses, but Whitney didn’t think so. She started researching and asking questions.

Always curious, this was a perfect mystery for Whitney as it was part of the story of the house. A sad story unfolded as Whitney moved forward. She is a great character, who takes the lead this time as Buck and his wife had a newborn. That, also, was pulling at Whitney. Did she and her husband want a child? Soon? Combined with a historical mystery, this terrific character lives her lie, remodels the Victorian, and shed light on a tragedy that unfolded years earlier. Quite a fun book.

I was invited to read Dead Post Society by St Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #StMartinsPress #DianeKelly #DeadPostSociety

Whitney and Buck are helping her uncle turn an old school into a senior housing community. On their first visit to the property, Whitney explores the old headmaster‘s house. The old Victorian has seemed better days, but inside it is structurally sound, and she hopes to save it. When the investor agrees to sell the house to Whitney and Buck, she discovers a bullet in the front porch post and wonders if the bullet might have been part of the old murder suicide that took place there years ago. Will the police reopen the case, or wrote the question of whether it was truly a murder suicide or just murder remain for those who were at the school when it happened?

This is a fun series and the location took me back to my old school days. I could just close my eyes and be in my old school and smell the smells of the school. The mystery my salad with plenty of red herrings and I really enjoy the fact that Whitney and Buck are always saving an old property in each and every entry of this series.

Book 7 in the House Flipper series is just as good as the six that preceded it. While looking over the grounds of a dilapidated boarding school, house flipper and carpenter Whitney convinces her cousin and business partner Buck to purchase and flip the very sad and run-down headmaster's home, a once grand Victorian with good bones. A house with good bones, but bad and tragic history, and Whitney can't help but to get caught up in the cold case involving a murder-suicide when she finds a bullet lodged in a cracked porch post.

The mystery drew me in every bit as much as it drew in Whitney. The story just didn't add up and there were plenty of suspects, including one very psychotic former TV personality who really should not be allowed to work with the public. There were some great clues laid out and some good attempts to misdirect. Whitney does a great job with both internet research and (steel-toed) boots on the ground pounding the pavement clue hunting. Plenty of suspects in plenty of places to keep us guessing. Oh and one more fun aspect of the book is that we get the point of view for Sawdust, Whitney's sweet kitty. Sawdust has been a hero more than once in the past.

Highly enjoyable plot great and diverse characters. I am a big fan of sleuths who work well with local law enforcement and vice versa. Whitney is married to a cop who supports her sleuthing not that he doesn't worry about her safety as they make plans for their future. I am making plans to make the Lemon Pistachio Orzo Salad to share with family thanks to the recipe at the conclusion of the story.

Posted on Goodreads: 4/7/2025

This cozy, murder mystery definitely delivers. New life is breathed into a cold case when Whitney Whitaker finds a bullet in a porch post which may have played a part in the alleged murder-suicide of the headmaster and his wife over forty years before. Whitney's curiosity brings her to start her own investigation as she works on the old headmaster's Victorian house. The book has relatable characters, and an even more lovable cat. What more can you want? I was given a chance to read this book through NetGalley, and I hope it finds other readers who enjoy it as much as I did!

I really enjoy this series for the house flipping elements and the camaraderie between Whitney and her cousin, Buck. Both, unfortunately, were missing from this installment. Yes, there was a project and this one sounded like it would be fantastic but that was put on hold so that Whitney could solve the mystery of the murder-suicide that happened in the house. The whole book was Whitney running around on her own and way too many TSTL moments. I will still continue with the series but this one was not my favorite.

Dead Post Society by Diane Kelly is a spooky, smartly plotted cozy mystery that blends home renovation with ghost stories, cold cases, and just the right dose of humor.

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are back—and this time, they’re tackling their creepiest project yet: restoring the old headmaster’s house on a former boarding school property, where a double murder remains unsolved decades later. Most people wouldn’t touch this haunted Victorian with a ten-foot pole, but Whitney and Buck see potential (and maybe just a little bit of danger).

The mystery is satisfying, with plenty of twists and atmospheric tension as Whitney uncovers clues buried beneath decades of dust and local lore. The ghostly elements add an eerie charm without overpowering the cozy vibe. Diane Kelly does a great job balancing the supernatural with the procedural, keeping things grounded with likable characters and witty banter.

What makes this book stand out is Whitney herself—sharp, resourceful, and unafraid to face down murderers or haunted plumbing. And the renovation angle? Super fun for DIY and HGTV fans. If you enjoy mysteries that mix historic homes, lingering spirits, and sleuths who know their way around a toolbox, this one’s for you.

It’s not overly scary—more eerie than terrifying—making it a great pick for readers who like their chills with charm. A solid four-star read that kept me entertained from blueprint to final reveal!