[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Lyrical Underground in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Lilly Ann had convinced her bosses at the Chattanooga Museum to host the Eastern Tennessee Poodle Rescue Association’s fundraiser when their venue fell through. It would garner funds for the museum as well as goodwill as they helped out the charity.
Having wealthy recluse Archibald Lowry show up was a big surprise. Lilly Ann’s friend, Dixie, had been courting him as a donor for the Rescue, but no one expected him to show up for the fundraiser. It might have been better for him if he had stayed home, though. Before the event was over, Archibald Lowry was dead.
Now Lilly Ann is fostering Archibald’s poodle, and that seems to be bringing trouble to her doorstep. When someone repeatedly tries to steal the dog, and someone else ends up dead, Lilly Ann and her friends decide it’s time to kick off a new investigation.
Review
Other than the fact that this is a book about all manner of poodles, yet the dog on the cover is not a poodle, I have only great things to say about this mystery!
This is book 4 in the Dog Club Mystery series, but it’s the first one I have read. But I have already placed the first 3 books on my To Read list (along with the first book of the author’s other series – The Mystery Bookshop series – The Plot Is Murder!). This was so good, and I liked the characters so much, I don’t want to miss any of their adventures.
I prefer to start a series at the beginning, but I had no issues following the plot of this one. There are a number of core series characters in the Dog Club that I had to track carefully in the beginning since I had no context for them from the earlier books. But by the middle of this, it was no longer an issue. The author does a great job making sure readers can drop in wherever and still follow the story.
The mystery here is fantastic. I loved how Lilly and her friends banded together to investigate. The sleuthing was great, the pacing of the mystery was excellent, and the ending wrapped up most of my questions. This is a series I will definitely be following in the future!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
