Hammers and Homicide

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“ Recent sexagenarian widow Dawna Carpenter thought running her own hardware store after the death of her husband was hard enough. With her adult daughter, April, moving back into town, and Darlene, the annoying boutique owner next door to her shop poking around, Dawna has her hands full. But when she finds a dead man in the bathroom of her store, with a framing hammer by his side, she’s in way over her head.”

This is an awesome start to this series. Love the way the character development has started. Really enjoyed the mystery in this one. I didn’t guess who did it until the end, which I love! I would love to go to this little town, the setting sounds wonderful. Can’t wait for the next one to come out.

This new series is an absolute joy to read. Dawna is a 60 ish widow, mother and hardware store owner. In the wake of her husband passing away 3 years earlier, her youngest daughter April has come back to keep an eye on her. It’s revealed that April was voted into the position by her siblings. Dawna continues to grieve her late husband and routinely has conversations with his spirit.
Unfortunately for Dawna and April, an unscrupulous land developer Warren Newcastle is discovered dead in the hardware store’s shared bathroom. To make matters worse the murder weapon appears to be a hammer laying beside the body. This is definitely not the publicity any business needs or wants.
Earlier Dawna witnessed a heated discussion between Warren and the town’s local real estate agent. As she begins to ask questions, it becomes apparent that Warren has a substantial list of enemies. And at least one will stop at nothing to keep their identity a secret. Even if it means shutting Dawna and April down permanently.
This book is a definite winner. It has a great pace and awesome character development. The small town feel which a cozy mystery needs is also present. What I appreciate the most is the lead character has life experience. She’s not invisible because of her maturity. If you’re a fan of cozy mysteries or just starting out, you’ll love this story. I can’t wait to read the next installment.
#arc #dreamscape #goodreads #netgalley #hammersandhomicide

Hammers and Homicide is a new cozy paranormal mystery series with likable characters and the mystery kept me guessing. Dawna Carpenter is a widow and her adult daughter April moved back to town to help out. Dawna runs the family hardware store along with her worker Steve. Warren Highcastle is an unpopular land developer new to town and he ends up dead in the shared bathroom between her store and the neighboring one. There are a few suspects and Dawna and April are trying to figure out who the culprit is to clear Dawna's friend and reopen the store. I really like the mother and daughter sleuthing team. Dawna misses her husband and talks to him especially when she smells sawdust or coffee. The book moves at a good pace and is enjoyable. The audiobook is well done and narrator Petrea Burchard does a really good job with the various voices. #NetGalley #HammersAndHomicide #AHometownHardwareMystery #Dreamscape

Really loved this unique spin on a classic cozy mystery. Love that the main characters is older and is so quirky. Enjoyed the narrator as well.

The cozy vibes were strong, but the plot didn’t work for me.

Premise - mid-life widower Dawna becomes an amateur detective, along with her adult daughter April, after a real estate conman turns up dead in Dawna’s hardware store.

The pacing didn’t feel even, making the end a bit ‘whoa, already?’ The execution of the plot overall didn’t really work for me - the premise was fine, but the killer’s out of nowhere confession made no sense and didn’t feel in character. Dawna and April only survive the story thanks to deus ex machina in that scene (unless this was actually a fantasy, not a cosy mystery, but the rest of the book doesn’t support that).

Still, the cozy town and the fundraising committee were sweet and made this an overall pleasant read. I wouldn’t race to recommend it, but I think cosy fans will be satisfied, especially those who enjoy mother-daughter and midlife stories.

Thanks, NetGalley and Crooked Lane, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hammers and Homicide is a debut novel for Paula Charles. Main character Dawna owns a hardware store in small town Oregon. One morning a real estate developer is found dead in the bathroom between the hardware store and a boutique next door.
Dawna investigates and brings her daughter April along as she questions locals. The culprit was a bit unexpected.
Dawna is an interesting lady. She has many bad eating habits, she talks to her dead husband, and she might see ghosts.
Hammers and Homicide has all the elements of a good cozy mystery. I enjoyed reading this story and look forward to returning the town for another visit when the next book comes out.
I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.
Thanks to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read Hammers and Homicide.

I enjoyed this beginning to a new cozy mystery series, set in a longtime family hardware store in an Oregon small town. Well-developed characters - check. Good world building - check. Classic cozy mystery elements - check. Yes, every thing is there in this novel. I liked the pacing of the mystery and the ending was satisfying. My only question was about the main character seeing glimpses of her late husband. I don't know if I'm making too much of this, but I wasn't sure if it was a widow going through the grieving process, a mental illness like dementia (didn't seem old enough), or a touch of mystical forces. It seemed a little too much emphasis to just let it go, but it may just be me reading too much into it. Overall, a good book.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable start to a new series. There are several details that distinguish this series. First, I like that Dawna, the MC, is an active business woman in her 60s. Perhaps because I am the mother of two adult daughters, I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Dawna and her daughter. While they may not see eye to eye on everything, theirs is a convivial relationship. I quickly lose interest when family members bicker constantly and especially when adult children question and disrespect their parents as though reaching their 60s or even 70s somehow automatically renders them less - less capable, less intelligent, just less. Ms. Charles also does an excellent job of teasing a paranormal angle and particularly with April's reaction to it. If this storyline continues, I do hope to see it better developed, but the suggestion of it was rather heartwarming in this first book. Finally, the potential love interest, at present, seems to be between secondary characters, rather than the MC, and I am fine with that, for now. I look forward to getting to know these characters better and following their adventures in subsequent books.

Hammers and Homicide is a cozy mystery staring a sixty something widow, Dawna, who finds a dead man in her hardware store. With a little nosiness and a little luck, this confident woman is determined to figure out just what happened, if her clumsiness doesn’t get her caught first!

I enjoyed this series starter. The little town is filled with fun, quirky neighbors, including old family friends, Dawna’s adult daughter home from San Francisco, and the police detective who is interested in said daughter. The small town feel is perfectly captured in a scene where mother and daughter bring extra squash around to drop at neighbors doors without them noticing, hoping no one will figure out it was them and bring them back! And even though the premise is one of the classics of the cozy genre - big developer comes in to transform a historic building into a hotel and ends up dead - the author carried out the mystery well. There were plenty of good red herrings and twists, without feeling over the top. I think the only thing that wasn’t my thing was the introduction of a possible ghostly element as Dawna thinks she might see the ghost of her late husband. It doesn’t seem to fit with the feel of the rest of the story, but doesn’t distract from it either. Overall, this is a fun cozy read for a quiet afternoon!

Solid start to a new series. There’s a lot of description in this one, laying the foundation for a new series, but in that description is a lot of information that isn’t exactly useful or helpful to the solving of the murder so it tends to bog the story down. I also didn’t really warm to Dawna or her daughter, April; there was a little too much cheesiness in their personalities than I could handle although I did like their relationship on the whole. The teeny, tiny step into the paranormal was interesting but needed to be either fleshed out more or just eliminated; I hope this gets explored more in future books. I enjoyed the setting but there wasn’t anything new and exciting in this book. I’ll read the next one before I decide if I will continue with the series.

I loved this one! Mom and daughter duo cozy with a hint of supernatural sprinkled in. I guessed the murderer early on but this book had enough going on that it held my interest throughout. I will definitely read the next one in the series, I’m a little sad this is an ARC because that means I have a long wait for the next one! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was great!