Cozy mystery author Kate Carlisle (Shot Through the Hearth) has earned faithful readers with her creation of Shannon Hammer, a hardworking contractor and handywoman, who lives in the northern California coastal town of Lighthouse Cove. Shannon, who's single, has suffered her share of rotten dates and has been saved by the comfort of caring friends and neighbors. Over seven novels, she's restored a rundown Victorian home, renovated an old lighthouse and converted a mansion into housing for the homeless. She participated in a home and garden tour, was a guest on a home repair TV show and attended a global humanitarian conference on eco-living. While architecture and renovation details are hallmarks of each novel, so, too, is murder.
In Premeditated Mortar, Shannon is hired by best friend Jane to renovate a dilapidated mental asylum. Jane wants to turn part of the property into a five-star hotel and resort. During the project, Shannon and her team face protestors and opposition from a former doctor and one-time asylum patients. Chilling secrets from the past are unearthed when a corpse is discovered behind a hidden, blocked-off brick wall within the abandoned hospital. Shannon, her close-knit friends and her current beau--thriller writer Mac, who is also an investor in the renovation deal--are cornered into danger while trying to solve the murder mystery.
A well-drawn cast of likable, small-town characters and well-spun plotting continue to expand the appeal of Carlisle's suspenseful series--adapted for Hallmark Channel--that, this time, proves scarier than ever. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines