Chamblee54

PG has read The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews. The 419 page story is tons of fun. Some of the plot elements are a touch contrived. That should not get in the way of a good time.
Dempsey Killebrew worked for a Washington lobby firm. Her boss got caught, and tried to pin the blame on Dempsey. Soon, she was in South Florida with her father, trying to think of a plan.
It seems like daddy has just inherited a house, in a small Georgia town called Guthrie. Dempsey agrees to move to the fictitious Guthrie, ( 45 minutes away from Macon), fix up the house, and split the profits when they flip it. It seems so easy.
Before long, Dempsey finds out what a wreck the house is, and about a non paying tenant. Miss Ella Kate is staying in “Birdsong”, and is as friendly as a rattlesnake. Dempsey gets to work on the house, with the help of a pair of lawyers, a drunken real estate agent, and a black handyman. She is beginning to make progress on the place when the FBI comes looking for her.
It looks bad for Dempsey, until she finds a bit of evidence in the corruption case. ( This is the plot element that has authenticity nit pickers shaking their heads.) When the FBI agents move in for the kill, Dempsey plays the only card she has, and does well. Once again, you need to suspend disbelief a time or two. ( The female FBI player was named Cam Allgood. That name intrigues PG.)
The story ends with a few stings untied, which leads some to believe a sequel is on the way. As with all stories by Miss Andrews, the pages turn themselves, and the reader begins to think he is really in Guthrie. The characters are people you want to hear about, which makes a sequel sound like fun.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.