Drip Dead
A Georgiana Neverall Mystery
By Christy Evans
Paperback, 246 pages, $6.99

Even if you don’t know if your home has galvanized steel or plastic pipes ‘Drip Dead’ will leave you a fan of plumber’s apprentice Georgiana Neverall.

I know I’ve said it before, but just because a cozy’s theme might not make you want to instantly grab a title off the shelf, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give a new author or series a shot.

‘Drip Dead’ will make you an instant fan of author Christy Evans, fun sleuth Georgie and the character's delightful home town of Pine Ridge, Ore., where nothing’s more than five minutes awa,y and the local watering hole is called Tiny’s.

“When I was a kid, Tiny’s was a forbidden place, full of secrets. Now I knew better; it was nothing more exotic than a local tavern with fried food and draft beer.”

You’ll smell the West Coast air along with Daisy and Buddha, Georgie’s pair of Airedales, so dog lovers will appreciate and have fun reading this title, too.

“Dogs do not have any respect for all-nighters. No matter how late I went to bed, they expected me to get up and let them out as soon as the first rays of morning sun reached the backyard. They also have the uncanny ability to force you awake by staring at you.”

My dogs lick my face to get me up in the morning, but I’m sure they’ve probably tried the staring behavior first. I just slept through it.

Between working as a plumber’s apprentice and studying for her upcoming licensing exam, Georgie’s also planning to buy her mother’s house — the one she grew up in. But while checking out its plumbing in a crawl space under the house, she comes face-to-face with a very dead Gregory Whitlock, the man to whom her mom is engaged.

When prim-and-proper Sandra Neverall is arrested for killing her “Mr. Too-Smooth” finance, Georgie must take time off from studying to find the real killer.

Either that or come up with $100,000 for bail.

Meanwhile, her best friend, Sue, is dating the local sheriff, Fred, which makes for an interesting situation, especially since Georgie and the local lawman have crossed paths over dead bodies in the first two titles in this series (‘Sink Trap’ and ‘Lead-Pipe Cinch’).

“Everyone’s relationships are complicated. Like mine and Fred’s,” Georgie’s friend, Sue, says. “He keeps arresting my friends, or my friends’ mothers. And then it’s all weird between him and me, and me and my friends, and him and my friends.”

Georgiana, on the other hand, is dating a city councilman and local accountant and you’ll root for her success in this relationship and in her career change from computer geek to plumber.

“Drip Dead” offers simple plumbing tips that homeowners can use to save them a large bill or burst pipe down the road.

I love learning new things when I read a cozy mystery, and Georgiana’s plumbing suggestions are easy and useful. Even for someone like me who doesn’t like to touch anything mechanical. Did I mention I’ve already successfully tried three of them?

'Drip Dead' will grab you from the first page to the last. Plus, you'll start looking at the pipes in your home in a whole different way.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com.