House flipper Whitney Whitaker and her cousin and business partner, Buck, are looking for their next project when they find a historic firehouse in desperate need of rehab in Nashville’s trendy Germantown neighborhood. Their plan is to renovate the building into a quirky single-family home, the kind of thing 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 win the bid and set about transforming the dilapidated firehouse into a charming modern abode.

The cousins are somewhat surprised at the constant stream of interruptions they get 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 round with a conundrum, she also brings with her an opportunity the professional house flippers just can’t resist.

Joanna Hartzell owns a townhome in a building split between her own well-maintained residence and the sorely neglected adjoining property. The elderly couple who once lived there passed on several years ago, bestowing their half of the building to their seven squabbling kids. None of the Bottiglieri kids have done any maintenance on the family home since then, resulting in it slowly but surely sliding into disrepair. Joanna is worried that any structural issues caused by this neglect will inevitably creep over onto her own side of the building. She asks Whitney and Buck to take a look at the other house and give her a professional opinion on its state and her 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 Bottiglieris to remodel and resell it. This not only greatly allays Joanna’s concerns but also draws the attention of others who are interested in purchasing the property once Whitney and Buck are done fixing it up. Perhaps a little too interested, as the cousins quickly find themselves put in one uncomfortable position after another both by overeager buyers and by remorseful sellers. But no one would actually murder over a townhouse, would they? When a dead body lands on their doorstep, however, it’s up to Whitney to figure out whodunit before anyone else gets hurt.

I love how naturally the writing flows in this sixth book of the House-Flipper Mystery series, especially as Whitney juggles wedding planning with two big renovation projects. It was also pretty hilarious when Diane Kelly turned the tables on her heroine near the end of the book and had Whitney become the subject of suspicion by other sleuths, amateur or otherwise. It’s not something you read a lot of in cozy mystery novels and was a very clever way to flip the script.

There were three recipes included here. I felt that I absolutely had to try out this one:

Chickpea-of-the-Sea Mock Tuna Salad

Ingredients

1 can garbanzo beans

1 ½ cups plant-based, egg-free mayonnaise such as Vegenaise (No cholesterol, gluten, or preservatives! Yay!)

1 tablespoon 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 reduced to a lumpy paste. You may use a food processor instead if you prefer, transferring the beans to a large bowl once you’ve processed them. Add the other ingredients and stir together thoroughly.

The chickpea salad may be served cold or at room temperature, and is great as a sandwich spread, on crackers, or on celery sticks. Enjoy that plant-based protein.

I had two major notes while making this surprisingly yummy dish. First, make sure to drain the garbanzo beans before mashing them. I wasn’t sure whether to mash the chickpeas up with the liquid they came in, but decided to separate them and hang on to the aquafaba, just in case I needed it later (I did not).

Second, put in just a cup of Vegenaise to begin with, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Add more Vegenaise till you get the consistency you prefer. I felt that one and a half cups was actually a little too much and gave this a thinner consistency than I liked (hence why I recommend draining the chickpeas first, too). It was great for a dip but definitely felt too runny for a sandwich filling.

All that said, this was an incredible vegan dish! I used garlic salt instead of just powder, and added chopped red onion before enjoying the dip mostly with a variety of savory crackers. I loved the combination of the lemon with the garlic and the way that the sharpness of the onion contrasted well against the creaminess of the Vegenaise. I definitely recommend this dish for anyone wanting to try something new and delicious, vegan or otherwise.

Next week, we travel northwest to bake up some goodies while investigating a death that threatens to derail another heroine’s wedding. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: A Catered Quilting Bee by Isis Crawford