Review: DIGGING UP DIRT, Pamela Hart

• 
  this edition published by HQ Fiction 2021
• made available by my local library
  
• #1 in the Poppy McGowan series
• ISBN 9-781867-201878
• 341 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Renovations are hell. And that's before you find the body beneath the floorboards. An intriguing mystery from a stylish new voice in crime fiction, for readers of Kerry Greenwood and Holly Throsby.

When your builder finds bones under the floor of your heritage home, what do you do? For TV researcher Poppy McGowan, the first step is to find out if the bones are human (which means calling in the cops and delaying her renovations) or animal (which doesn't).

Unfortunately, 'help' comes in the form of Dr Julieanne Weaver, archaeologist, political hopeful, and Poppy's old enemy. She declares the bones evidence of a rare breed of fat-tailed sheep, and slaps a heritage order on the site. The resultant archaeological dig introduces Poppy to Tol Lang, the best-looking archaeologist she's ever met - and also Julieanne's boyfriend.

When Julieanne is found murdered in Poppy's house, both she and the increasingly attractive Tol are considered suspects - and so Poppy uses her media contacts and news savvy to investigate other suspects. Did Julieanne have enemies in the right-wing Australian Family Party, for which she was seeking preselection, or in the affiliated Radiant Joy Church? Or at the Museum of New South Wales, among her rivals and ex-boyfriends? And who was her secret lover?

Can Poppy save herself, and Tol ... and finally get her house back?

My Take

I read this book out of order and so some things I came across in the second book in the series made a little more sense. The plot in this one is marginally better and more credible in this debut title.  The novels are set in Sydney and Poppy works as a researcher for the ABC Education section. In this debut title however she fills in as an interviewer. The style is more that of a cozy.

The focus of the novel is who has killed Dr Julieanne Weaver and the police have many suspects. The body is found in Poppy's house which has temporarily become an archaeological dig. The fact that Weaver has been trying for political pre-selection widens the array of suspects, but also makes looking outside the usual range of motives imperative.

My rating: 4.5

I've already read

4.5, AN A-LIST FOR DEATH #2 Poppy McGowan