In the Dog House

by V M Burns

Recently divorced Lilly Echosby finds a community of new friends at a Tennessee dog club, never guessing she’d be groomed to solve a murder close to home . . .
 
Sure, Lilly Echosby’s husband dumped her after thirty years of marriage, but there’s an upside, too. She’s recharging her CPA career, trading brutal Michigan winters for the sunny south, and best of all, she can finally get a puppy. Enrolling her new toy poodle, Agatha Christie, at the Eastern Tennessee Dog Club also comes with a new best friend: club trainer and southern belle, Scarlet “Dixie” Jefferson. Unfortunately, not everything in Lilly’s life is quite so cuddly. Her neighbor, Bradley Hurston, is a cantankerous, growling, poodle-hating blowhard. For Lilly, snapping back at him in public wasn’t exactly the best revenge. The next day Bradley is murdered in the community pool and Lilly becomes number one suspect. Now the fur is really going to fly . . .
 
On the scent to find the real culprit, Lilly and Dixie discover that Bradley’s bad-neighbor policy was blocks long. So is the list of suspects. But is aggressive behavior a motive to kill? Lilly and Dixie think there’s more to Bradley’s past. Something more sinister. And they have every reason to fear that Bradley won’t be the last in the community to be put down.

• ISBN10: 151610790X
• ISBN13: 9781516107902
• Publish Date: 21 August 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing
• Imprint: Lyrical Underground
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 186
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9781516107902

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Stars

I won a copy of In the Dog House through Goodreads Giveaways.

In the Dog House is the first in a new mystery series, which also has a dog themed name. It’s the Dog Club Mystery series. And if you’re anything like me, you’re looking at that and thinking that this must be a perfectly cozy mystery series.
I’ve seen a few different mystery series revolving around cats, but this is the first I’ve seen about dogs. Not that the dogs are the ones running around and solving the crimes or anything like that, this isn’t Scooby Doo. Still, it’s kind of a cute concept, and definitely adds to the relaxing vibe of a cozy mystery.



In the Dog House is exactly the sort of book I seek out when I’m looking for a quick and fluffy read (no pun intended there). I’ll confess that the animal theme may have helped bring it to my attention, but who can blame me there?
The plot was more or less what I expected for this book. It was interesting, compelling, but didn’t require a lot of focus to follow. I’ll confess that I felt like there were points where it felt like the book was dragging on, while in other points it rushed through events. But on the whole the pacing was decently balanced.
I had trouble liking the main character, despite my best efforts. Lilly is one of those characters that have to deal with life throwing her a lot of lemons, so she got my sympathy card. Unfortunately though, I just couldn’t find myself attached to her beyond that. The downside to now liking the main character in this situation is that I didn’t feel invested in the situation she was in…which in this case was the mystery, and thus major plot of the book.
Despite not feeling emotionally invested, I did quite enjoy myself and the book. I think I’d probably read the following sequels, but like any cozy mystery I’d have to be in the right mood for them.