Whitney Whittaker and her cousin and business partner, Buck, are looking for their next project when they discover a historic firehouse in desperate need of rehabilitation in Nashville’s trendy Germantown neighborhood. Their plan is to renovate the building into a quirky single-family home, something that will appeal to rich hipsters and thus sell quickly. Given their dedication to preserving as much of the building’s original architecture as possible, they easily won the bidding and set about transforming the dilapidated firehouse into a charming modern residence.
The cousins are somewhat surprised by the steady stream of interruptions they receive from neighbors interested in the project. Least welcome are a gang of know-it-all retired gentlemen who feel free to dispense unsolicited amateur advice to Whitney and Buck. But when another neighbor comes over with a puzzle, it also brings with it an opportunity that professional home flippers just can’t resist.
Joanna Hartzell owns a townhouse in a building split between her own well-maintained residence and the grossly neglected adjoining property. The elderly couple who once lived there died a few years ago, donating their half of the building to their seven bickering children. None of the Botillieri children have done any maintenance on the family home since then, causing it to slowly but surely slide into disrepair. Joanna worries that any structural problems caused by this neglect will inevitably creep over to her side of the building. She asks Whitney and Buck to look at the other house and give her a professional opinion on its condition and options.
The cousins do her one better: after inspecting the place and finding that it has good bones, they decide to buy it from the Botillieri family to remodel and resell. This not only greatly distracts Joanna’s concerns, but also attracts the attention of others who are interested in purchasing the property once Whitney and Buck finish renovating it. Perhaps a little too keen, as the cousins quickly find themselves placed in one awkward position after another by both over-eager buyers and remorseful sellers. But no one would actually kill for a townhouse, would they? When a dead body lands on their doorstep, however, it’s up to Whitney to find out who it is before someone else gets hurt.
I love how naturally the writing flows in this sixth book in the House-Flipper Mystery series, especially as Whitney juggles wedding planning with two major renovation projects. It was also quite amusing when Diane Kelly turned the tables on her character towards the end of the book and made Whitney the target of suspicion from other detectives, amateur or otherwise. It’s not something you read a lot in cozy mystery novels, and it was a very clever way to flip the script.
There were three recipes here. I felt I absolutely had to try this:
ingredients
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 ½ cups plant-based, egg-free mayonnaise, such as Vegenaise (No cholesterol, gluten, or preservatives! Yay!)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder or garlic salt
¼ cup chopped celery (optional)
¼ cup chopped green, white or red onion (optional)
Instructions
Using a potato masher, mash the beans in a large bowl until the skins separate and the beans are lumpy. You can use a food processor instead if you prefer, transferring the beans to a large bowl after you’ve processed them. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Chickpea salad can be served cold or at room temperature and is great as a sandwich spread, on crackers or on celery sticks. Enjoy this plant-based protein.
I had two main concerns while making this surprisingly delicious dish. First, be sure to drain the garbanzo beans before pureeing them. I wasn’t sure if I should mash the chickpeas with the liquid they came in, but I decided to separate them and grab the aquafaba, just in case I needed it later (I didn’t).
Second, put in just a cup of Vegenaise to start with, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Add more Vegenaise until you get the consistency you prefer. I felt that a cup and a half was actually a bit too much and gave this a thinner consistency than I liked (so I recommend draining the chickpeas first as well). It was great for dipping, but definitely felt too runny for a sandwich filling.
All told, this was an amazing vegan meal! I used garlic salt instead of just powder and added chopped red onion before enjoying the dip mostly with a variety of saltine crackers. I loved the combination of lemon and garlic and how the spiciness of the onion contrasted nicely with the creaminess of the Vegenaise. I definitely recommend this dish for anyone looking to try something new and delicious, vegan or otherwise.
Next week, we travel to the Northwest to cook up treats while investigating a death that threatens to derail another heroine’s wedding. Join me!
See also: Cooking the books: Serviced quilting bee by Isis Crawford
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