A career as a realtor and professional renovator has given debut author Jennie Bentley plenty of fodder for her new series of Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation Mysteries from Penguin/Putnam.
She has stumbled over dead bodies - those of birds, cockroaches, and the occasional rat; unearthed buried treasure - gorgeous tile floors hidden under ugly vinyl, pristine footed bathtubs covered over with drywall; and had personal experience with just how dangerous renovating a house can be - she and her husband have come close to killing each other on many occasions while renovating the eight houses the family has owned in the past eight years.
Jennie lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and two children.

Fatal Fixer-Upper: Avery Baker was once a New York designer, but inheriting her aunt's old Maine cottage has led her down a new career path - home renovation. Now, with help from hunky handyman Derek Ellis, Avery starts learning the ABCs of DIY. But when the designer-turned-renovator finds clues that lead to a missing professor, she wonders if she can finish the house - without getting finished off in the process.

Spackled and Spooked: Avery Baker and her boyfriend, Derek Ellis, are flipping a seriously stigmatized house rumored to have ghosts. Soon they'll have even bigger problems - and this renovation project might haunt them forever.

Plaster and Poison: Ex-New York designer Avery Baker left the bustle of the big city to start her own home renovation business in Maine. But as she renovates an old carriage house on behalf of a soon-to-be wed friend, she stumbles across a lifeless body-a person known all too well by the blushing bride. The small town is abuzz with big suspicions, and Avery realizes she must unravel a matrimonial murder.

Mortar and Murder: Avery Baker was once a New York textile designer, but inheriting her aunt's old Maine cottage has led her down a new career path-home renovation. Finding a property's hidden potential has rewards and challenges-especially when a mystery surfaces from behind the walls of a centuries-old house on an island that has more than its share of deadly secrets.

Flipped Out: Avery and her hunky handyman boyfriend are renovating a house belonging to a local news anchor who's thrilled to be filmed as part of a home renovation show. But cable television fame proves fleeting when the man is murdered and Avery faces the task of nailing the killer. Fast.