Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble by Laurien Berenson

Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble (A Senior Sleuths Mystery, #25)

by Laurien Berenson

From the award-winning author of the Melanie Travis Canine Mysteries, senior sisters-in-law Peg Turnbull and Rose Donovan get along about as well as stray cats and pedigree pooches most days. But aside from being Melanie Travis’s beloved aunts, outspoken Peg and even-keeled Rose do have something in common—a true knack for solving murders . . .

Murder, She Wrote meets The Golden Girls in the second Senior Sleuths Mystery!

When a typically closed-off Peg attempts online dating at Rose’s strong urging, the experience plays out like an embarrassing mistake. At least, until she matches with Nolan Abercrombie—intelligent, attractive, and a self-proclaimed dog lover. The two share an instant connection that has Peg cautiously excited to finally bring someone special into her busy world of Standard Poodles and conformation shows.

Before Peg can admit that Rose was right and let down her walls for the budding romance, a terrible accident claims Nolan’s life. As details about his background and tragic death come to light, Peg has a serious hunch that someone successfully plotted to kill her first real date in decades . . .

With suspects galore and a slew of puzzling clues to peel through, Peg and Rose team up to solve a dangerous mystery unfolding before their eyes. The question is: Can the unlikely duo turn their radically different personalities into an advantage as they scramble to ID the guilty culprit—or will they manage to work against each other and find themselves precisely where a meticulous murderer wants them to be?

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble is the second cozy mystery featuring Aunts Peg & Rose written by Laurien Berenson. Released 25th July 2023 by Kensington Books, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 2nd quarter 2024 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The first book in the series, Peg & Rose Solve a Murder , is also currently available on KU.

This is a nice sequel and a delightful cozy which has a distinct Odd Couple vibe, mixed with a little bit of Golden Girls thrown in for good measure. The plot is fun; late middle aged sisters-in-law with decades of unpleasantly fractious interactions. They couldn't be more different, one's a former nun who renounced her habit to marry a priest, the other is a pragmatic professional purebred dog show judge who generally has little time for what she considers distractions and non-practicalities. Rose (former nun) has convinced Peg (no-nonsense professional show judge) to try out online dating. Potentially disastrously funny encounters actually lead to a promising date match-up, who unfortunately soon turns up dead (yikes!). Peg & Rose are soon on the case.

As with most of the author's oeuvre, there is a surprisingly educational amount of minutiae and interesting behind-the-scenes nuts and bolts info about the dog show world and especially poodles. Additionally, the characterizations are subtly rendered (especially for a cozy mystery) and the mystery itself is well written and clever.

Four stars. Recommended for fans of cozies, and especially for fans of the author's other work. This series lightly ties in to the author's Melanie Travis canine mysteries, although they certainly can be read independently of one another, there are some occasional mentions or crossover cameos.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

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Reading updates

  • 22 November, 2023: Started reading
  • 22 November, 2023: Finished reading
  • 22 November, 2023: Reviewed