Jackie Parker leaps at the chance to work with her husband Luke. The only drawback is their third partner—her brother-in-law Logan. She decides to make the most of it and bring her unique skills and knowledge to the new venture anyway. Their first eviction turns up a dead body and no tenant. Despite that foreboding opening, they continue accepting jobs that seem designed to convince them not to pursue this line of work. And through it all, Jackie still wants to find justice for the victim at that first rental property. Will that prove more dangerous than the lease-breaking tenants? If Jackie’s ongoing misfortunes weren’t mildly amusing, I would have given up on this book. It needed serious help from a qualified editor. Not only did incomplete thoughts and poor word choice abound, but neither Jackie nor the writer could tell the difference between Logan and Luke half the time.

The plot is weak, a young woman found dead in an apartment that’s connected to videoporn. Ninety percent of the book was filled with the main character’s angst about telling her husband that she’d slept with his brother before she met him. Endlessly she mulled this over, in nauseating stupid detail. I felt my brain cells dying in the over-exposure to this non-problem. To be honest, not to be honest? All this, while the true plot goes undeveloped and gets diluted with funny escapades that just try too hard to be funny. I just wish it had been better, but have to say I don’t recommend it.

An addictive mystery that will have you laughing out loud. Those that love women sleuths and cozy mystery, are going to love this new series from Jennifer L. Hart. Like many other readers, I found it impossible to put down.

The first of the Damaged Goods Mysteries this story sets a high bar. Well written with a light and easy style as well as a generous dose of humor. Jackie Parker and her husband Luke and brother in law Logan go into business together solving problems with tenants for property owners. The problem is they start turning up bodies and as well as some very unusual tenants with some very unusual umm... problems. The book moves at a good pace and she never fails to deliver a new and interesting problem for this rag tag team. The trick for authors in this genre is to come up with new and interesting characters and present them in an interesting and entertaining way while still maintaining some connection to reality. I think she did a great job with this one on all fronts. Having done property management I had no problem believing the scenarios she came up with. I may have to share a few I came across when doing it. Seems like they might be a pretty good fit for this series. Jennifer also writes the Laundry Hag series which I have been a fan of and have recommended to quite a few of my friends. Her new series will give her another outlet to showcase her sense of humor and her writing talents. I look forward to the next books in both series.