Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Tons of fun in a good mystery
Cons: Starts a little slowly
The Bottom Line:
Why are dogs barking?
Is it a clue to murder?
Find out in fun book
You’ll Be Desperate to Finish This Book
Okay, I confess, I wasn’t at all interested in the Pampered
Pets Mysteries based solely on the pen name used by the authors. Sparkle Abbey? But then I met the two lovely ladies behind
the pen name and learned about the origin of the name – their own pets. They were so charming and lovely that I had
to give their books a try, so I bought Desperate Housedogs, the first in the series.
I won’t admit how long it’s been sitting in my TBR pile, but I finally
dusted it off and gave it a chance.
Carolina “Caro” Lamont is a Texas transplant living in
Laguna Beach, California. She runs a pet
therapist business, which really means she works with pet owners to identify
the reason for a pet’s bad behavior and comes up with ways for the owner to
train the pet to behave better.
Caro has worked with Kevin Blackstone and his two German
Shepherds in the past, but she is surprised when Kevin calls her up saying her
dogs just won’t stop barking. She heads
over to his house in an exclusive gated community and spends some time trying
to figure out what has upset the dogs.
Two hours after leaving Kevin, the police find him murdered. Suddenly, Caro is a person of interest, and
she must find a way to clear herself.
Does the dogs’ behavior have anything to do with Kevin’s death?
The book did start out a little slowly, establishing
characters and some of their backstory before we truly got into the twists and
turns of the mystery, but once the mystery got started it was a lot of
fun. I wasn’t sure what was going on
until we reached the very end, but once we reached the end, it all made sense
given the twists and clues we’d had along the way.
The characters are strong.
They are a bit over the top, but it works in this book. Their personalities are all different enough that
it is easy to keep them straight. I
definitely see room for the series regulars to grow as the series progresses,
and I can’t wait to see what happens to them.
The characters being a bit over the top is definitely on
purpose. This book is filled with humor,
and these characters go a long way toward providing that. The way they react to things is much of the
fun of the book, in fact. Caro’s first
person narration also provides some great smiles and laughs along the way.
While this is part of the series, it’s a non-traditional
series. The books alternate between Caro
and her cousin Mel. Mel really only gets
a cameo here along with multiple mentions from Caro. I’m looking forward to setting to know Mel in
the next book in the series, which I actually bought the same time I bought
this book.
So learn from my mistake.
If you haven’t started this fun series yet, don’t put it off another
day. You’ll be through Desperate Housedogs before you know it.
Believe me, once you read one book, you'll want to read more of the Pampered Pets Mysteries.
Believe me, once you read one book, you'll want to read more of the Pampered Pets Mysteries.
I probably would have hesitated to pick up this book for the same reason but I'm glad you finally did as it sounds like such fun! I like that the books alternate and don't constantly have the 2 together. I don't think I've come across that before.
ReplyDeleteIt's another reason I had to pick up this book since I need to see how they do this two characters thing.
DeleteThis is a good series, lots of charm and compelling mysteries. I too have met the authors and they're indeed lovely!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite anxious to read more in the series.
DeleteSometimes over-the-top characters can be a good thing. I often enjoy goofy in a story.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely a good thing when they fit so well with the tone of the book.
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