Sinopsis

Back in the day, Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree turned profits managing the fortunes of Manhattan’s most fortunate. Then she fled the rat race for a stately old fixer-upper in easygoing Eastport, Maine. But now a rat from an even darker corner of Jake’s past has turned up…a killer with a blueprint for demolishing her new life.

As a home repair enthusiast, Jake knows that nothing lasts forever—not windows or doors, not plaster or plumbing. And not good fortune.

After more than three decades eluding justice, the man who murdered her mother is finally about to stand trial—until he vanishes into thin air. Jake has a terrible foreboding of where Ozzie Campbell will turn up next. And while the local police chief is sure she’s overreacting, the truth is far worse than even Jake’s worst fears.

With her normally full house empty for at least another week, Jake has been looking forward to the unaccustomed peace and quiet. Now her cozy, well-loved home feels more like a big empty death trap ready to snap shut. First a pair of out-of-towners clearly not in Eastport for vacation turn up asking questions about her. And if she has any doubt they’re connected to Campbell, those doubts are erased when he calls her with a grim warning.

But exactly what Campbell wants from her isn’t clear, only that he’ll stop at nothing to hurt those closest to Jake. And his first victims are the most defenseless of all. Suddenly Jake can’t help but feel that her house—and her life—has far too many windows. And in any one of them she might see the face of her killer.

From the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Ozzie Campbell disappears just before he's about to go on trial for murdering Jacobia Jake Tiptree's mother in front of the then three-year-old Jake in Graves's engrossing 12th mystery to feature the handywomanand former Manhattan financial manager who's resettled in Eastport, Maine (after 2007's The Book of Old Houses). Jake's instincts go on high alert after a pair of obvious out-of-towners show up in Eastport, asking questions about her. Then someone abducts Leonora, the little girl Jake has been caring for while her mother is on vacation in Europe, and Leonora's teenage babysitter, Helen Nevelson. The narrative twists around Helen's desperate escape and survival story, and Jake's own tale of capture and rescue as they both battle heartless kidnappers, the harsh terrain and puppet master Campbell's efforts to force Jake to recant her witness statement. Relentless pacing, an appealing heroine and perfectly loathsome antagonists will more than satisfy series fans. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree was a high-powered money manager in Manhattan before she moved with her son to Eastport, Maine, where she purchased a nineteenth-century house and began a long series of home repairs mixed with amateur sleuthing. By this twelfth book in the series, Jake has remarried and has a well-established group of friends—but the home repairs continue (each chapter is headed by one of Tiptree’s tips for keeping the house shipshape). Graves continues to explore Jake’s backstory in this installment. Three decades ago, Ozzie Campbell murdered Jake’s mother, and now he is finally about to stand trial. When Ozzie disappears before his trial, all of Jake’s friends and relatives are out of town, and she is feeling especially jumpy at being alone in her multiwindowed home. Things escalate rapidly as Ozzie’s intentions become clear. Graves almost moves beyond the bounds of a typical cozy this time, with relentless dramatic action and steadily building suspense. Still, the comforts of home survive in the end. --Judy Coon