Better Homes and Corpses

Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery Series #1

By: Kathleen Bridge

Narrated by: Vanessa Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg Barrett visits the swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. But instead of seeing how the other half lives, she learns how the other half dies. Jillian's mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. Someone has staged a coup.

When she helps a friend inventory the Spensers' estate for the insurance company, Meg finds herself right in the thick of things. Cataloging valuable antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets that may have furnished a murderer with a motive. As Meg gets closer to the truth, the killer will do anything to paint her out of the picture.

©2015 Kathleen Bridge (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The descriptions of furniture and other antiques, as well as juicy tidbits on the Hamptons, make for entertaining reading for those who enjoy both antiques and lifestyles of the rich and famous." ( Booklist)

Murder of the Elite

In Better Homes and Corpses by Kathleen Bridge, Meg Barrett has recently started her own decorating business that also offers appraisals when one day she runs into her former roommate from one semester in college, Jillian Spenser, descendant of the most important of all the important families from the exceedingly rich East Hamptons. Invited to a party at n’s home, Meg is delighted to get a phone call the day after the party from Jillian’s widowed mother, who wants to hire Meg to go through all the items in the attic to see if there is anything of value there. But when Meg, who narrates the book, shows up at her appointed time, no one answers the bell at the door. Meg then knocks manually, and the door swings open, giving her a view of Jillian cradling her stabbed mother on the floor and acting semi-comatose.

Meg has no intent of investigating the murder, but her business partner, Elle, takes on the enormous job of cataloguing all the items of Mrs. Spenser, for the benefit of her insurance company, thrusting Meg into the world of the upper crust and detection into murder. In the midst of all this negativity, Meg finds herself drawn to Jillian’s older brother, Cole, who has talked on the phone with his mother and sister but not visited them in 17 years.

This book is enjoyable, but I did find myself getting confused at times with the number of characters, especially since Meg only learns about their positions in relation to the rest of the household late in the book. It would have helped us readers keep straight all the characters in the book to allow us to know more about them earlier in the book. But aside from that, I really did enjoy the book.

Vanessa Daniels provides a solid narration of this book. Her voices provided for each character suit them well. With the book written in first person from Meg’s point of view, Daniels keeps the narration moving without letting it get overly emotional. I particularly enjoyed the listening experience with this book.

I had an enjoyable time reading Better Homes and Corpses and thought the book well written. I will happily recommend it to lovers of cozy mysteries and give it four stars.

Fabulous "Beach Read" for summer

Would you listen to Better Homes and Corpses again? Why?

This fun, well-written, easy to follow romantic mystery is set in East Hampton and surrounding areas...a place I visit often. I appreciated the authors information regarding some of the sites I frequently.

Fun read

Great first entry. Hope there are more to come. Unique and interesting heroine. Complicated, yet captivating plot.

Engaging and entertaining

Clever and charming cozy mystery. Although I am not a fan of antiquing, her enthusiasm was contagious.

Pretty good beginning...

Kathleen Bridge has written a pretty good beginning for a new series. The story is original and it has a few twists. I’m looking forward to the next installment. I recommend this to cozy mystery fans.

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM

Where does Better Homes and Corpses rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is up there in the top ten of my favorite reads!!! I loved it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Meg and Janelle

Which scene was your favorite?

The final scene where you find out who was the killer!!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!!!

Any additional comments?

I loved the setting and pacing on this book. A class A and a 5 star read.

Light fun reading

This was a good book with strong character development and an interesting mystery. I look forward to the next book in this series.