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Mary McGill is a wonderful
organizer and a boon to her small hometown in California.
Her latest venture is the annual Christmas pageant, but things
go seriously awry when the manger is discovered not to contain
a doll but a body, and cowering in the straw a small puppy
and two young children. They saw a figure running from the
crime scene when they went in to comfort the puppy, but who
was it and will they be back to deal with the witnesses?
This is book one in a new cozy series with a canine twist
that manages to contain most of the things I enjoy about the
genre and none of the things I don’t. The former would
be a small town setting with plenty of lively, interesting
characters and a good story and the latter would be overuse
of stereotypes. There are no unbelievably wacky people in
here, no interfering mother, sexy cop or overdone themes,
not even any romance. Mary is an older lady who is comfortable
in her own skin and has had a career and two husbands. She
is helping a homeless charity and gets to know about some
new topics such as various things pertaining to dogs, breeding,
vets and more as well as coming to know her neighbors better.
Some books with a theme end up being too much theme and not
enough of anything else but not this one; you don’t
have to be passionate about dogs to enjoy it. I would certainly
read another one and as this series is a spinoff of another
one I will be looking out for this author’s back list
as well as subsequent work. Presses all the right buttons
and should appeal to a wider audience than just hardcore cozy
fans.
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