Dipped, Stripped, and Dead

In Elise Hyatt's Dipped, Stripped, and Dead, the first installment of the Daring Finds Cozy mystery series, this debut will interest you on how to refinish your furniture and be intrigued in a new series. For Candyce "Dyce" Dare, she never expected to be divorced and a single mother of a one-year-old son before she would turn thirty. In the sleepy town of Goldport, Colorado, it all started for her when she went dumpster diving to find a treasured table and later a dead body. That's when she met Detective Castor "Cas" Wolfe who was assigned to the case. There's an instant chemistry between them at first glance. But while Dyce starts her own home refinishing business to make ends meets and pays the bills and the rent. As the only child of middle-aged parents, she lives next door to her best friend Benedict Mahr, who happens to have problems with his partner in their apartment. She happens to have problems of her own--her ex and his new wife who's giving her a hard time, and then someone's targeting her apartment and her own car. While she does some sleuthing on her own, she goes deep to find a connection between a missing body and a lye vat--and when she talks to an ally named Inobart Oakfriend, he later winds up dead in her apartment. Though the tensions are high between Cas and Dyce, they need to find out who killed two people in a lye vat and why. And before Dyce could go dancing with Castor, she would need to get down to the bottom of it to solve this sticky murder before it would too late for her.

This was an intriguing debut from Elise Hyatt. At the end of the book, it shows you tips on how to refinish your own furniture at your home. I did care for Dyce and how she struggled as a single mother while having an affinity diet of pancakes. I do think Ben could be quite productive of her as her gay best friend. I do think Castor Wolfe is an intriguing character who could be what Dyce needs for a love interest. I do like how it's diverse and introduces Ben and his issues with his live-in partner at home. I do like the small town of Goldport and its intriguing history in Colorado with mesmerizing scenic settings for that location. This would hook you and entice you to learn a new craft with non-stop action, intriguing suspense, compelling drama, and lots of tension for this cozy mystery.

Will you be compelled to read Dyce's story in Dipped, Stripped, and Dead today?