Book info

• Title A Cutthroat Business
• Author Jenna Bennett
• Year 2010
• Genre Mystery

Everyone has warned new-minted realtor Savannah Martin that real estate is a cutthroat business. But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally... until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about. Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her. Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall.

Thoughts

This was another book that I picked up in a bundle, otherwise I’m not sure I would have stumbled across it. A murder mystery with an estate agent as the protagonist, finding herself oddly drawn into a world filled with intrigue - both into the murder, and into the past life of the guy that she finds the body with.

I quite enjoyed the mystery unravelling, and it all felt quite natural. That’s an achievement because often when you get main characters investigating despite being outside of the police departments, it can get a bit contrived. Not a problem in this case, the only downside was some of the dialogue was a bit corny, and I rolled my eyes in places.

I did manage to guess the murderer from quite early on, but it was still an enjoyable read watching the main characters work their way through the clues towards both the answer and the proof to make it stick. Not a bad read at all, I might move on to the sequel at some point.

Rating: 4 / 5