Everyone warned new-minted realtor Savannah Martin that real estate is a cutthroat business. She didn’t expect it to be literal. An early-morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the wrong side of town, where she finds the butchered body of a competitor. A Cutthroat Business by Jenna Bennett is the first Savannah Martin mystery. It first came out in 2010 under another pen name, Bente Gallagher, and was reissued as a Jenna Bennett book in 2011.
What Is A Cutthroat Business About?
Savannah was raised to be a perfect Southern belle and to marry well. She did, and her perfect husband turned out to be a lying, cheating slimeball. Now she is divorced and newly licensed as a realtor in Nashville, Tennessee. She has to make a sale before her savings run out and she ends up back at the make-up counter at the mall.
The dead woman is Brenda Puckett, a real estate queen. At the scene, Savannah comes face to face with Rafe Collier, the boy her mother always warned her about. He is six feet three inches of trouble, with a murky past and no obvious future. The police have questions, Savannah has a career to save, and the killer is still out there.
Savannah Martin, Rafe Collier and the Martin Family
Savannah tells the story in a breezy first person. At the start she is naive and a little snobbish, and some readers found her hard to like. She grows over the book, and over the long series. Rafe is an old schoolmate from her hometown, the bad boy of her teenage years, with a prison record and plenty of secrets. Her mother, Margaret Anne, is proper, formidable and quick to judge. The book never lets the reader forget how much Savannah’s upbringing shapes her.
Our Review: Southern Wit With Real Heat
The dialogue is the best part. Library Journal predicted that the funny dialogue and the tension between Savannah and Rafe would please fans of chick-lit mysteries and romantic suspense. We agree. The Nashville Scene called the book “a frothy girl drink of houses, hunks and whodunit,” which is the right label. The author is a former realtor, and the house-hunting world feels lived in.
The weak points are pace and attitude. The real estate detail slows the middle for some readers. The snobbery and racist remarks in Savannah’s family, mostly from her mother, put some readers off; others read them as the point of her escape. The case is wrapped up by the end, but Rafe himself stays a puzzle for a few more books.
Is It a Clean Cozy?
Not fully. There are no sex scenes, but the romantic tension runs hotter than in most cozies. The victim is found with her throat cut, and the violence is not kept off the page. It is better described as a humorous Southern mystery with romance than as a classic clean cozy.
The Savannah Martin Mystery Series in Order
As of October 2026 the Savannah Martin mysteries run to 21 novels and three novellas, from 2010 to 2022. No new book has been announced. Read them in order, because the relationship with Rafe is the backbone of the series:
- A Cutthroat Business (2010)
- Hot Property (2011)
- Contract Pending (2011)
- Close to Home (2011)
- A Done Deal (2011)
- Change of Heart (2013)
- Kickout Clause (2013)
- Past Due (2014)
- Dirty Deeds (2014)
- Unfinished Business (2015)
- Adverse Possession (2015)
- Uncertain Terms (2016)
- Scared Money (2016)
- Bad Debt (2017)
- Home Stretch (2017)
- Wrongful Termination (2018)
- Conflict of Interest (2019)
- Right of Redemption (2019)
- Collateral Damage (2020)
- Survival Clause (2020)
- Last Call (2022), a short novel
The novellas are Contingent on Approval (book 5.5, 2012), Busman’s Honeymoon (book 10.5, 2015) and Home Run (book 15.5, 2017).
Adverse Possession, Home Stretch, Survival Clause: Why the Titles Sound Like Contracts
Every title is a real estate or legal term, and it is not just decoration. The author has said the whole plot of the first book came out of its title. Kickout clauses, adverse possession and survival clauses all show up in property deals, which keeps Savannah’s day job at the center of the series.
Who Is Jenna Bennett, Also Known as Jennie Bentley?
Jenna Bennett is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a former realtor and home renovator who lives in Nashville. As Jennie Bentley she wrote the Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, seven books from 2008 to 2013, starting with Fatal Fixer-Upper. Under her own name she also writes the Pippa Darling mysteries, set in 1920s England, and the Fidelity Investigations books, plus several romance series.
Where Can I Buy or Listen to It?
The ebook is sold at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play and Kobo, and directly from the author’s own shop. The paperback comes from her imprint, Magpie Ink. Many libraries carry the ebook on Libby. The audiobook is on Audible and Hoopla, and the author’s shop sells it directly too.
Quick Facts
| Title | A Cutthroat Business |
|---|---|
| Author | Jenna Bennett (first edition as Bente Gallagher) |
| Series | Savannah Martin Mysteries, book 1 |
| First published | 2010, PublishingWorks; reissued 2011 as Jenna Bennett |
| Setting | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Sleuth | Savannah Martin, a newly licensed realtor |
| Audiobook | Narrated by Amanda Stribling, 8 h 57 min (2019) |
| Next book | Hot Property (2011) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is A Cutthroat Business the first book in the series?
Yes. It is book 1 of 21 novels, and the right place to start.
Who narrates the audiobook?
Amanda Stribling reads the unabridged edition, released in 2019, which runs 8 hours 57 minutes.
What should I read next?
Novelist Tasha Alexander compared the book’s wit and chemistry to Janet Evanovich, so try One for the Money. For another sassy Southern heroine, read Portrait of a Dead Guy, or browse our funny cozy mysteries.