Murderers rarely live in cozy cottages -– they generally leave that to their victims. Case in point, the Kevin Costner thriller Mr Brooks opening Friday. His wealthy businessman with a thrill-kill addiction lives in a Portland multi-million dollar palazzo. It has two wings, which heavy parallels Mr. Brooks’ split personality: pillar of community on one hand, serial killer on the other. A glass-walled two-story entry (a lawyer’s foyer?) joins the two symmetrical parts. The imposing exterior is largely white, with warm wood trim. Ditto the interior, where white walls form a canvas for a study in neutrals so obsessive even the books on the shelves are pale and neatly aligned. In the living room, the adjacent modern sofa chairs of identical styles vary in shade – one white, one taupe – giving the living room texture without introducing color. Instead of color, the interior designers (so totally not DIY) use forests of rich, warm wood (teak?), some stainless steel for masculine shine (in the kitchen, as the banister), and windows everywhere to bring the leafy green inside. To paraphrase a detective in Fracture when asked to describe the style of wife-killer Sir Anthony Hopkins’ glass-walled house: It’s Murderers’ Modern. — Thelma Adams

Thelma Adams is the film critic for Us Weekly, and writes historical fiction. She lives in upstate NY in a cozy cottage of her own.