Friday 8 December 2023

The Turnbull Murders: A Historic Homes Mystery by R.J. Koreto

Movie star Nicky Tallon selects architect Wren Fontaine to renovate Turnbull House, where he'll be filming his next movie. Even to Wren, used to old homes, this one is a 200-year-old federal-style home on a private island in New York harbor, designed by the most celebrated architect of the day. But Turnbull House hides many secrets, such as the disappearance of the sea captain who built it. That's just a historical curiosity, until a studio executive no one likes is killed.

Wren just wants to keep her worksite safe, but then another murder occurs, and she starts noting eerie connections between the mysteries surrounding the Turnbull family and Nicky and his entourage. The handsome star seems to have two girlfriends, a childlike folk singer and a cynical fashion model. Meanwhile, renowned actress Veronica Selwyn renews a friendship with Wren's father, which Wren finds more disturbing than she wants to admit. She concludes it's time she and her girlfriend Hadley take the next step and find a place together, an exciting but stressful change.

As the attacks continue, Wren realizes she will have to solve the mysteries surrounding Captain Turnbull and Nicky Tallon. Turnbull House speaks of order and harmony, and Wren must dig deep to see how the house has affected its owners, old and new. Fortunately for her, the eminently practical Hadley is by her side, pepper spray at the ready—because a frighteningly clever killer is about to find that Wren is getting too close to the horrific truth.  (Summary  via Goodreads)


The book description for The Turnbull Murders explains the book perfectly but I'm going to try to give you that little push you may need to convince you to read it.

The Turnbull Murders is the second book in R.J. Koreto's Historic Homes Mystery series and boy does he set the stage beautifully !!!  You will become an instant fan as soon as you start reading.

In The Turnbull Murders main character Wren Fontaine is an architect and her firm is hired to renovate the Turnbull Estate which happens to be on it's own island just outside New York City and is a short boat ride to get to.  Nicky Tallon, a famous actor, has purchased the house so he can escape the California life and be somewhere away from it all with a few chosen friends.

Luckily Nicky and a crew are going to be on the island filming for a movie so Wren will be able to talk to him whenever she needs to regarding the renovations.  Wren and her girlfriend Hadley are also going to be working close together as Hadley has been hired to provide all the food for the movie crew as well as Wren and her crew.

Wren loves to get to know the houses that she works on and the Turnbull history is most interesting as there was someone who was murdered and it doesn't look like the murderer was even brought to justice ... but it is hard to tell as they lived there over 200 years ago.  Unfortunately when someone from the movie group ends up dead, Wren becomes more interested as does Saffron who is a young friend of Nicky's.

So Wren, Hadley and Saffron become engrossed in the history of the house as they feel the house is what was the result of the murders, then and now.  But before they can figure everything out someone else is murdered .... 

Readers will fall in love with this book and everything in it !!!  Koreto knows how to draw readers into the story and you will not want to leave until you know everything about both cases.


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