"After a successful first season of Domestic Partners chronicling the renovation of their historic Craftsman Colonial, Peter and JP are taking on a renovation of a local Tudor Revival inherited by identical twin brothers Terry and Tom Cash. But linoleum floors and a pink-tiled bathroom aren't the only unwelcome surprises awaiting inside the house. Just as the show is set to start filming, Peter and JP discover Tom Cash dead at the foot of the house's staircase. And when the police ruling changes from accidental death to ...
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"After a successful first season of Domestic Partners chronicling the renovation of their historic Craftsman Colonial, Peter and JP are taking on a renovation of a local Tudor Revival inherited by identical twin brothers Terry and Tom Cash. But linoleum floors and a pink-tiled bathroom aren't the only unwelcome surprises awaiting inside the house. Just as the show is set to start filming, Peter and JP discover Tom Cash dead at the foot of the house's staircase. And when the police ruling changes from accidental death to homicide, the list of suspects grows fast. Could the killer be the crabby next-door-neighbor, the Realtor ex-boyfriend, the bartender ex-boyfriend, the other, much younger, ex-boyfriend, or even renovation-the other, much younger, ex-boyfriend, or even renovation-reluctant brother, Terry? And what's that awful smell coming from the basement? Now Peter's mystery writer skills, and JP's experience as the former star of a cop show, will be put to the test--as will their relationship while they uncover the secrets of the house and its owners. With a killer on the loose, this is one fixer upper that may provove deadly"--Back cover.
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Bestselling mystery author Peter "PJ" Penwell and actor JP Broadway are real-life partners who have come together to star in and produce Domestic Partners, a hot reality home renovation show. They are getting ready for their second season and have plans to renovate another house in Pleasant Woods, Michigan. Twin brothers Terry and Tom Cash inherited the family home and have let it fall to disrepair. PJ and JP have plans to breathe some life into the home so it can be sold for a pretty penny in this elite Detroit suburb.
Everything is in place to start filming in a few days when JP and PJ discover Tom Cash dead at the foot of the stairs of their project. The staircase is pretty rickety and that leads the police to rule the death accidental. Later when more information comes to light they declare the event a homicide. Tom ruffled plenty of feathers over the years so there are plenty of suspects including his twin brother Terry. The mystery writer skills in PJ start to kick in as do things actor JP learned playing a cop. They know the killer needs to be found quickly or their new reno project could hit the skids and more people could end up dead.
I was excited to review this book because I love that cozies are getting more diverse and this one is truly testing the waters with the cast almost entirely made up of gay men.
The author took a lot of time to introduce the characters which I really appreciate for the first book in a new series but I felt I really didn't get to know enough. They just felt a little flat. It may be just me but I started out getting really confused between the two main characters PJ and JP. I finally got it in my head to translate the initials with the characters' last names, Penwell - Author, Broadway - Actor. When I did that the story flowed much better. I did like the characters and that is what kept me reading and not throwing the book at the wall.
We did meet several other characters that were all connected to Tom and Terry. I deal with a set of twins in our family and understand it can be hard to tell them apart which is why I really focused on the differences between Tom and Terry. Who wore what hat? Who had a space between their teeth? Who was more outgoing and who was more passive? Who was enthusiastic about renovating their parentÃ?Æ'Ã?¢Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¡Ã?¬Ã?¢ââ?¬Å¾Ã?¢s home and who wanted it left as is? I really tuned in to how each brother reacted to the people around them too. They may have been identical in looks but different in every other way. It made them very interesting to me and felt they were very well developed.
Mr. Polito penned a very good mystery but I think because I was ultra-focused on the twins I cataloged each clue dropped in a way that had me solving the mystery almost as soon as the death occurred. There were some great twists but they just firmed up my theories.
Something that really struck my heart was PJ and JP trying to adopt a dog. We were disappointed by the pet adoption process ourselves a few years ago and went through some of the same feelings the characters had. Things worked out for us in the long run. You will have to read the book to find out what happens with the Domestic Partners.
I really enjoyed all the descriptions of the homes in Pleasant Woods and that one was turned into a wonderful restaurant. I had hoped for more renovations in this book but the house the stars had previously renovated was mentioned a lot as to what they had done there. I am sure there will be more in the next book.
Renovated to Death lays a good foundation for this series. I am looking forward to more character development of Penwell and Broadway and them getting involved in a more complicated mystery. I am also looking forward to more about their television show including the filming and them actually doing some renovations.
Kristina
Jun 4, 2022
A campy cozy mystery!
Renovated to Death by Frank Anthony Polito is the debut of A Domestic Partners in Crime Mysteries. I thought Renovated to Death had a unique premise with a predominately gay cast of characters. We met JP and PJ who are domestic partners and the stars of Domestic Partners, a renovation show. They are going to renovate the home twins, Tom and Terry inherited from their parents. The home has been neglected for twenty-five years. On the day filming is to begin, they find Tom Cash dead at the base of the stairs. The police initially rule the death accidental, but then the case is ruled a homicide. PJ uses his skills as a mystery writer and JP his experience as a cop on a television show to solve the crime. The list of suspects is quite lengthy and includes some of the partner�s friends. The pair work to uncover the truth about the crime. I struggled to read Renovated to Death. The POV switches around which makes it confusing along with the large cast of characters. With so many names sounding familiar, I kept getting the people confused (JP, PJ, Tom, Terry, Cam, Bob, Hank). I did feel the main characters needed to be more fleshed out. The pacing varied throughout the book. Sometimes it zipped along and other times it dragged. There are some chapters that seemed to lag on forever. While I found the chapter about the noxious smell in the basement amusing, I felt like it went on too long. There are several chapters like this. There were also repeated phrases and descriptions especially about people. A couple of examples are the baseball hats the twins wore, a man�s smoking, one man�s muscles, and the gap between one man�s teeth. We only need to be told once. The mystery did not begin until I was a third of way into the book. The clues begin to appear in the second half of the book. There are plenty of them to help readers solve the crime before the reveal. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the various homes. I could visualize the beautiful homes from the author�s word imagery. I can tell the author likes the Detroit area. It really came through in the writing. I enjoyed the side storyline about PJ and JP adopting a puppy. The adoption scene had me smiling. I was put off by the frequent mentions of intimacy as well as how appealing a person is to someone (describing their body in detail for example). There are no explicit scenes, but the connotations are prevalent. I did feel the gay men were portrayed in a stereotypical way (the 80s version of gay men). Renovated to Death was a mixed bag for me. When I end up skimming, I know I am not enjoying the book. If you are on the fence, download a sample to check it out for yourself. Renovated to Death is a campy cozy mystery with troublesome twins, a stinky smell, renovation realities, a stair skirmish, mishap or murder, and snooping partners.
