Lindsay Ellison is the narrator of this audiobook’s series. ( )

This was another solid book in the series. The villain was creepy and evil. The storyline seemed a little more believable to me than some of the other books. There wasn't too much Ellie/Jake interaction in this story. It was mostly focused on Jake, and her inner thoughts. I think if you like the other books in this series, then you would like this one. ( )

Knockdown is the fourteenth Home Repair is Homicide mystery. It begins with a flashback from twelve years ago. Our heroine, Jacobia 'Jake' Tiptree, is still married to serial cheater and verbal abuser Dr. Victor Tiptree. It's the morning after their thirteenth wedding anniversary. They didn't spend it the way Jacobia expected. A nurse named Monica had something to do with that. Their son, Sam, was a boy with his music up too loud. She leaves him to go to work. Sandra the housekeeper will be coming.

This was when Jacobia's job was investing money for clients, including laundering it for mobsters. A low-level errand boy named Steven Garner, Sr. has been gambling too much. He owes the mob $50,000 dollars, which he wants to borrow from Jacobia. She knows she'd never see it again, so she turns him down. Steven had brought his eleven-year-old son, Steven Garner, Jr., with him. It's a pity that Senior made Junior stay in the outer office, so Junior didn't know how much his father wanted to borrow. He .never knew that Jacobia gave his father $500 to take him to a baseball game.

Now Jacobia is trying to get the old paint off of the porch of her 1823 Federal house in Eastport, Maine. It's a far cry from a Manhattan penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. Her current husband, Wade Sorenson, is a harbor pilot and a restorer of antique firearms. He doesn't make anything close to the money Victor made as a brain surgeon. He's a much better man, though, and Jacobia knows she's lucky to have him. Too bad none of the rest of her family is home when a vaguely familiar young man on a rental bicycle harasses her.

We, of course, soon learn that it's Steven Garner, Jr.. He's a young man who holds Jacobia responsible for the fact that he grew up with his germaphobic (and worse) mother. We get an idea of what his life has been like during the last dozen years. His mother is dead, so he feels free to make Jacobia pay. We get to hear his plans as Jacobia and her family try to stop him. They get to search 24 abandoned houses as well as the old meetinghouse. Too bad Junior thought of that and was ready for them.

NOTES:

Chapter 1: I thought 'Blood shows up again. Murder will out' might come from Shakespeare, but my attempts to track it down online lead back only to this book. I did learn that Chaucer used the second half in his The Canterbury Tales.

Chapter 2:

a. Steven is thinking of Adrian Monk from the TV series 'Monk".

b. The Pickled Herring was a real Eastport restaurant, but it has since closed.

Chapter 5: When Victor died, Jacobia did an accounting of his and her money. Whatever she thought came from crooks, she donated to a victims' rights organization.

Chapter 7: This is where Jacobia thinks that 50 grand hadn't been a lot of money to her when Steven Grant, Sr., had asked her for it.

Chapter 10: This is where Sam reminds his mother he has a job at the Boat School.

Steven Garner, Junior is seriously disturbed. The moment he tells Jacobia, sincerely, that he isn't a monster is very chilling, considering what he's doing at the time. This entry is divided between Jacobia's would-be killer and other persons affected by him and Jacobia herself. The climax is worthy of a thriller or a horror movie with only human monsters. I am very glad that Jacobia got an answer to her 'what if' question, even if it led to a bigger question. I feel sorry for Junior, but I'm even more sorry that he wasn't in a psychiatric institution.

Dog lovers get to enjoy Jacobia's old lab, Monday, and her red Doberman, Prill.

Cat lovers will have to content themselves with a brief, comic scene involving a nameless black cat. ( )

Definitely fun. Sooner or later Jake's unwholesome past was bound to catch up with her. At least one cinematic reference provides a suitable soundtrack. Taut and scary, even though we all know Jake will survive. ( )

There was definitely a lot of suspense, but psychopaths are not my favorite type of characters - too creepy. Jake and her family continue to be appealing characters. ( )