To bark or not to bark . . .
Professional pet sitter Daphne Templeton loves the holidays in Sylvan Creek, Pennsylvania. And nothing gets her into the spirit more than the town’s annual Bark the Halls Ball. The whole community will be there to wag their tails, especially this year’s special guest—Celeste “CeeCee” French, founder of a national chain of pet care franchises, who’s returning home to announce plans for a bright new flagship store.
But not everyone’s celebrating CeeCee’s homecoming. Daphne’s friend Moxie Bloom, owner of Spa and Paw, a unique salon for people and their pets, has plenty to growl about. So when CeeCee is found face down under Sylvan Creek’s town Christmas tree, stabbed with a distinctive pair of professional-grade pet shears, suspicion lands squarely on Moxie. Despite Daphne’s promises to Detective Jonathan Black, she quickly reprises her role as amateur sleuth. Ably assisted by her basset hound sidekick, Socrates, she must hurry to prove her friend’s innocence before a killer barks again . . .
Includes recipes for homemade pet treats!
My Review
A Midwinter's Tail is a cozy mystery set in a small town in Pennsylvania. Daphne Templeton has a pet sitting business and a reputation for solving mysteries. When one of her old high school classmates returns and ends up dead, Daphne becomes involved in solving the mystery.
This is my first read in the Lucky Paws Petsitting Mystery series. I have been missing a really fun series! I've put the other books on my reading list at Goodreads. After a chapter or so, I felt caught up with the characters and enjoyed this novel as a standalone read.
There was so much that I particularly enjoyed about A Midwinter's Tail:
The author, Bethany Blake, loves animals and does such a great job writing about them. A Midwinter's Tail features a basset hound, a spoiled poodle, a cat, a playful chihuahua, a lab, a naughty pug, and a pet rat. The animals in this book absolutely stole the show for me -- great fun!
There is a wonderful small town setting. Sylvan Creek, Pennsylvania was depicted in detail and was such a cozy small town.
There was a fun romantic triangle. Daphne has two single men interested in her -- police detective Jonathan and small town newspaper writer Gabriel. I enjoyed seeing this triangle play out.
There is an emphasis on friends and even a flashback to their high school years. Since much of the storyline involves the murder of CeeCee, who returns to Sylvan Creek after many years away, part of Daphne's detection involves researching old high school yearbooks.
A Midwinter's Tail is such an enjoyable cozy holiday mystery. I recommend it highly to other cozy fans, and especially to anyone who loves pets.
Author Bio
Bethany Blake lives in a small, quaint town in Pennsylvania with her husband and three daughters. When she’s not writing or riding horses, she’s wrangling a menagerie of furry family members that includes a nervous pit bull, a fearsome feline, a blind goldfish, and an attack cardinal named Robert. Like Daphne Templeton, the heroine of her Lucky Paws Mysteries, Bethany holds a Ph.D. and operates a pet sitting business called Barkley’s Premium Pet Care.
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1 comment:
Thank you for your review on "A Midwinter’s Tail" by Bethany Blake and for being part of the book tour.
Love this cover and can't wait for the opportunity to read the book!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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