Romance, mystery in beach house reno

What could be a better setting for romance than a house renovation?

Ah, I hear the bitter laughter of all of you who’ve been through a reno with a significant other (or ex-significant other). But in Mary Kay Andrews’ new beach book, “The Homewreckers,” rehabber Hattie Kavanaugh’s affection for reviving crumbling houses leads not just to love but to a starring role on a TV show — not to mention clues about a 17-year-old mystery. So what’s a little dumpster fire along the way?

Savannah, with its handsome older homes, is a perfect workplace for Hattie, who loves to renovate them. As the book begins, she’s flat on her back in the crawl space under a “157-year-old magnificent wreck” that she’s sunk way too much money into.

Her inspection is interrupted when a man falls through the rotten kitchen floor and lands on her.

The man is Mo Lopez, who produces a reality TV series for HPTV (Home Place Television Network). He’s in Savannah hunting for a new series idea.

Mo proposes a show idea, starring her: “Saving Savannah,” a reality series in which she rehabs old houses for the camera.

Hattie throws him off her job site, but it’s not long before she loses the Victorian, and all the money she’d invested in it, plus money from her beloved in-laws. Although she’s only 33, Hattie’s a widow.

She needs to recoup her losses fast, and soon she and Mo have a deal for the show. Scrambling for a new project, Hattie finds that a neglected beach house on Tybee Island’s desirable Back River is being sold for unpaid taxes.

Mo, meanwhile, is wrestling with his boss at the network over the show. Rebecca wants to change the title to “The Homewreckers,” and she wants a co-host, a hot HPTV star named Trae Bartholomew.

Soon Trae, alternately obnoxious and charming, is on set, and they’re all working on an impossibly tight schedule. Then demolition work in a bathroom reveals something that had been shoved into the wall: a wallet.

Hattie and her best friend recognize the ID in the wallet right away. It belongs to Lanier Ragan, their favorite teacher at St. Mary’s High School, who mysteriously vanished in 2005.

Will the wallet solve the mystery of Lanier’s disappearance? Will the police presence on the job site hopelessly throw off the project schedule? And in the romantic triangle that forms among Hattie, Trae and Mo, who will get their heart broken?

No spoilers, but I can tell you you’ll have fun finding out.