The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews

A very good summer read that includes romance, some humor, and a mystery. Readalikes include Maggie Moves on by Lucy Score, and books by Sarah Graves, Jennifer Crusie, and Tessa Bailey.

Hattie is a young widow in Savannah who works with her father-in-law Tug and best friend Cass rehabbing houses. When Hattie falls in love with the wrong dilapidated but promising house, she needs to recoup her losses quickly. Mo Lopez persuades her to film a pilot for a reality show he’ll call Saving Savannah. There’s not a lot of affordable housing inventory in the area, but Hattie hears about an auction for a condemned waterfront house on Tybee Island, in a historic district.

Trae is brought in a a designer for the tv show, and possible love interest, but Hattie isn’t sure she can trust him. A wallet is found in the wall belonging to Lanier Ragan, who’s been missing for 17 years. She was Cass and Hattie’s favorite English teacher, and they never thought she’d leave a young daughter behind.

The filming scheduled is incredibly tight, there’s a very picky inspector, and then some vandalism occurs on the property, including possible arson. The descriptions of the house remodeling sound charming, even without pictures, and I enjoyed the combination of themes in this charming page-turner. Even though this is a standalone novel, I wish Andrews would write more about Hattie and Cass.