Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree's leisurely summer dreams involve rebuilding the front porch of her Maine fixer-upper and shingling the leaky tool shed out back. That's why she's hired the avenging angel of household hygiene, Bella Diamond, to keep her house-and her teenage son Sam-in tip-top shape. But when Bella confides in Jake that she's been receiving death threats, Jake has two choices: find out who is frightening the hapless housekeeper-or risk losing her. With a marauding moose loose in town, a troublesome love triangle occupying Sam, and her estranged relatives about to descend for the Fourth of July-and the upstairs bedroom still unpainted-Jake's summer is sure to be anything but peaceful. No matter how carefully you remodel your life, murder can take up residence anywhere.