A High-End Finish

By: Kate Carlisle

Narrated by: Angela Starling

Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

First in a new series!

In the seaside town of Lighthouse Cove in northern California, everyone knows the best man for the job is actually a woman - contractor Shannon Hammer. But while Shannon can do wonders with a power drill and a little elbow grease, she's about to discover that some problems aren't so easily fixed... Shannon's home-renovation and repair business is booming, but her love life needs work. On a blind date with real-estate agent Jerry Saxton, she has to whip out a pair of pliers to keep Jerry from getting too hands on. Shannon is happy to put her rotten date behind her, but when Jerry's found dead in a run-down Victorian home that she's been hired to restore, the town's attractive new police chief suspects that her threats may have laid the foundation for murder.

Determined to clear her name, Shannon conducts her own investigation - with the help of her four best friends, her eccentric father, a nosy neighbor or two, and a handsome crime writer who's just moved to town. But as they get closer to prying out the murderer's identity, Shannon is viciously attacked. Now she'll have to nail down the truth - or end up in permanent foreclosure....

©2014 Kathleen Beaver (P)2014 Audible Inc.

It was ok

This was a decent beginning to a new series. The lead character is a confident, and intelligent woman. However, her life is lacking "something" because she is not in a relationship. After going on an unsuccessful blind date and being accused of murder, her life improves because she now has two potential love interests. Oh, and she solves a murder. Like I said, this is a decent debut but typical.

41 of 42 people found this review helpful

Yuck

This book isn't good enough to hold the interest of an adolescent female. The mystery is "unfair" and the attempts at "romance novel" are boring . The plot is shallow and the text is repetitive . So YUCK

52 of 54 people found this review helpful

Straight from the halls of middle school

What disappointed you about A High-End Finish?

Too much ditzy headed reasoning, especially from the main character.

Has A High-End Finish turned you off from other books in this genre?

No as it is a poorly written imitation of a book in this genre.

What about Angela Starling’s performance did you like?

She wasn't bad, considering she was performing a story that portrayed a woman who acted and reasoned like a especially fluff headed thirteen year old.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not really

101 of 112 people found this review helpful

A Deadly Finish

Shannon Hammer runs a home-renovation and home repair business. She took over the company after her father's heart attack. She's good at what she does and loves her seaside town of Lighthouse Cove. Her life changes when a blind date with Jerry Sexton goes horribly wrong and he assaults her. She threatens him. Then he's murdered and she finds the body. Now she's a suspect. Who's setting her up? I cared for Shannon. She's a feisty and a gutsy heroine. When her life is turned upside down, she gets down to business and tries to find the killer. Her meddling friends add their help. Her support group is fun and loving. I liked them. They are zany and crazy. Sherriff Eric Jensen may have been tough on her but he is attracted to Shannon. He captured my interest and I liked him. He's intelligent and caring. Author Mac Sullivan, a best selling novelist, is charismatic and charming and interested. Two attractive men who care about her. Wow! This a fast-moving and highly intriguing story that had me hooked. The careful plotting kept me guessing until the very end. The setting and the dialogue were perfect and added to the suspense. The narration of A High-End Finish was so well done that the characters came to life. Angela Starling did a wonderful job. I'm looking forward to the next book in this new series (A Fixer-Upper Mystery). Kate Carlisle has written a suspenseful cozy mystery that has a touch of romance.

46 of 52 people found this review helpful

Inconsistent Character

I wanted to like A High End Finish, the 1st in a series about carpenter & small business owner Shannon. I liked the idea of a capable and intelligent female character who worked in construction, a predominately male industry.

Unfortunately, Shannon was too inconsistent to be interesting to me. While she was strong enough to fight off a sexual attack, Shannon allowed an obnoxious tourist (staying in one of her guest rooms) to insult her. The part when an entire town allowed one snotty, belligerent man to bully all their hospitality businesses for 2 weeks was ridiculous.

The murder mystery was relatively well done. The author showed some talent and humor, so I would try another book by Kate Carlisle.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Great cozy mystery with a great lead character!

I am a cozy mystery enthusiast & this was a great listen & a great series to get into. The main character Shannon is so easy to love & it's exciting to follow her and try to solve this mystery step by step. I also liked it because you have clues the whole way that let you make a good guess about who the killer is. In some cozy mysteries they don't introduce you to the killer until the end they pull someone out of left field & it ends up being disappointing. This was a great listen & I can't wait to keep going!

16 of 18 people found this review helpful

Nice, easy mystery read.

Good narration, door left open to future stories. Generally I like stories to end but authors today seem to like to write multiples with one ventral character. I'm trying to adjust.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Nice Read

An entertaining murder mystery. Light hearted but not silly. The writer did add some nice plot twists. I hope you enjoy the read.

17 of 21 people found this review helpful

Mean-girls & Jr Hi Mentality

I kept waiting tor it to get better. The author had only three verbs used over and over. "Chuckled" was every other sentence with a few "snickered" and a few "grins." That was it. Where was the editor before this went to print? This was a girly novel in totality. However, our girly but very skilled and capable heroine used swear words continually, and was drinking A LOT of wine in almost every scene. Houston, we have a problem. Our heroine is a construction boss, but meets with her workers on Sunday--like they have no family life. ??? It was just odd.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I Want More!

This was a very enjoyable book. I love the female protagonist, who is a general contractor. I also love that she's not afraid to use pink tools. I appreciated the characters of Jennifer and Whitney - I've worked with people who never got out of high school no matter how old they were. Bottom line, I really enjoyed the book and hope Kate Carlisle continues this series.

10 of 13 people found this review helpful

Home-renovation, pink tools and murder!

First in the Fixer-upper mystery series.

Read the paperback when it first came out. Now I have gone back and listened to the audiobook. Which is well narrated by Angela Starling.

Home-renovation and repair business is booming, in the seaside town of Lighthouse Cove in northern California. And aptly named Shannon Hammer is the best in the business.

When the body of a previous blind date, ends up dead on one of her work sites. Murdered with one of Shannon's signature pink work tools. Shannon becomes prime suspect. When a second murder happens, with another of Shannon's tools. She has to now clear her name, before the New Chief of Police arrests her for double murder.

With a good set of characters, in a well plotted and written mystery.

I loved and enjoyed this mystery the first time round, and it was even better listening to the narration from Angela Starling the second time.