Summary
Daphne Templeton is a pet sitter with a PhD in philosophy. In some ways, she’s pretty flighty. She is in an undefined relationship with her sister’s vet tech, she rarely has money and often offers her pet-sitting services for free. It’s not unusual for her to run out of gas – sometimes, two days in a row! But when her sister is the primary suspect in the death of her somewhat-ex boyfriend, Daphne is like a dog with a bone. She’s determined to keep asking questions and keep snooping until she not only finds a murderer, but finds the victim’s missing dog, too.
Review
This was a fun read, and a great first book in a series. The characters are introduced well, so you know who is who, but there are still things to discover about them as the series goes on. The author did an especially good job of holding back information about the detective. While Daphne knew things from research, she didn’t reveal them to the reader for awhile, which was an interesting writing choice. I laughed out loud many times and got a kick out of Daphne and her animals.
I feel like the various dogs in the story were stronger characters than some of the townspeople. The cast of characters in this book is fairly small. Half seem to be core characters and the other half are possible suspects. The author does a great job of integrating the animals – and their personalities – into the story. They aren’t just set pieces to move around from scene to scene.
The mystery was good. Interesting suspects with good motives. The solution caught me completely by surprise. I will definitely read more books in this series. Book 2, Dial Meow for Murder, is scheduled to release in September 2017.