Behind the Walls

Behind the Walls by Elaine Orr is the sixth book in the Jolie Gentil Cozy Mystery series. Jolie is getting ready to move into her new home in Ocean Alley. She bought it at a tax auction (the previous owner neglected to pay their taxes). She made sure all the mold is gone (thanks to the hurricane), getting the walls painted, took down wallpaper, and has one last piece of drywall to remove. Jolie along with her friend, Scoobie (real name is Adam but only Aunt Madge calls him that) take down the drywall and find a bag of jewelry. Who would bury jewelry in a wall? Jolie is looking for furniture for her new home and goes to one of Norman Fitzgerald’s auctions. After some fierce bidding, she gets a new dresser. Before she can arrange transportation for the dresser, one of the drawers are stolen. Who would want one drawer? A couple of days later Norman returns the drawer to Jolie. Norman states he found it in his car that morning. A couple of days later Norman turns up dead on Jolie’s front porch swing (talk about a terrible welcome home). A few days later Jolie goes to do an appraisal on a home. She opens the front door and fire rushes towards her (the floors were newly varnished which makes great accelerant). What is happening in this town? Turns out this is just one of several fires being set in empty homes in the area. The police have been unable to find out who is setting the fires or why they are being set? After the fire is put out, the body of Clive Dorner is found in the house. Clive is the nephew of Norman Fitzgerald (I do not think it is a coincidence). There is a regular crime spree going on in Ocean Alley. Who is behind all the crimes? Turns out Norman Fitzgerald was not an upstanding citizen. It looks like he was helping himself to some of the auction items (can you imagine stealing from grieving people). That opens up the suspect pool! Did Norman hide the jewels in Jolie’s home (a relative of Norman’s owned the home before Jolie)? Jolie with the help of ex-boyfriend and reporter, George Winters try to solve the crimes while staying out of the killers clutches. I give Behind the Walls 4 out of 5 stars. Behind the Walls is a cute story, with interesting and quirky characters, a nice setting, and interesting mysteries. The mysteries, though, were easy to solve. I have not read the previous books in the series, but that did not hinder my reading of Behind the Walls. Most things were explained within this book (relationships between people and back stories on characters). Scoobie last name is never mentioned nor why he is called Scoobie (why would a grown man want to be called Scoobie). Overall, Behind the Walls was an enjoyable cozy mystery, and I will getting the rest of the books in the series to read (I might have some time in August to read books for personal enjoyment)! I received a complimentary copy of Behind the Walls from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.

family, friendship, law-enforcement, New Jersey, small-business, small-town, greed, amateur-sleuth, cozy-mystery, situational-humor First the hurricane, then the jewelry in the wall, then the body on the porch of the house Jolie has just bought. Throw in an ex boyfriend who is a reporter, a tame skunk, a testy police detective, assorted relatives and friends, and more unusual happenings to make this one fun and busy cozy mystery. I loved it! Michael Spence does a great job of interpreting all the real characters populating the story.

Elaine Orr is one of my favorite authors, and this is delightful addition to the series. By this point Jolie et al are like old friends. It's always nice to catch up with their lives. Oh, and the plot of this one is every bit as strong as the others in the series. Now all I have to do is wait for Elaine to write the next one for me.