By Sarah Graves (Bantam, 2006)

When an author sets up a series, he/she always has to determine how others around a female protagonist are going to respond to her. Are the “authorities” going to be antagonistic? How understanding will her husband or family be? And how much gore and violence is she going to have to put up with?
Graves has positioned Jacobia (Jake) Tiptree in Eastport, Maine where she owns an old fixer-upper Victorian house which she is continually fixing up. Running through her detecting adventures in Nail Biter is her attempt to replace the front porch while her father is trying to replace the basement walls, one bit at a time. The repair tips she offers frequently throughout the book are fairly common-sense and obvious like “Get a tool box. Keep your tools in it.” You definitely will not be writing the tips on sticky notes to keep on your bulletin board.
Jake has a great relationship with local law enforcement to the point that the chief often asks for her help, a pretty “romantic” idea. Her husband is just about ideal. How he can manage to keep from braining her when she goes off on her own into a dangerous situation is more than I can see.
In Nail Biter, Jake helps to find a missing teen-ager and uncover a scheme to sell illegal drugs. There’s death and mayhem, plenty of action of a Maine variety (boats and such), and the supporting cast is varied and interesting. The book isn’t what you’d call great literature, but it’s entertaining and earns the Good Clean Book designation.