Izzy McHale wants her new Trendy Tails Pet Boutique in Merryville, Minnesota, to be the height of canine couture and feline fashions. But in a week of wedding bells, someone is about to hold their peace…
forever. Love is in the air, and Izzy is hard at work coordinating two special weddings at Trendy Tails. First, Izzy’s friend and mentor, Ingrid, will be tying the knot with her old flame. And a week later, Izzy will host “pupptials” for two lovable dogs.
But even with the hullabaloo, the Trendy Tails crew is intrigued by Daniel, an enigmatic writer boarding above the shop who’s caught the attention of Izzy’s zany aunt Dolly, who gossips like most people breathe.
Unfortunately, it’s Daniel who stops breathing when he drops dead at the altar on Ingrid’s wedding day. Then Dolly is found at the scene with the murder weapon, and it’s up to Izzy, her Trendy Tails pals, and her scrappy pets, Packer and Jinx, to find a killer before the two affianced doggies bark down the aisle….
For fans of: Wendy Lyn Watson, Jenn McKinlay
Izzy McHale and Rena Hamilton have their hands full running their busy pet boutique, Trendy Tails, but when their friend Ingrid announces her impending nuptials, the pair doesn’t hesitate to offer their assistance. Ingrid wants to keep things simple, so the wedding shouldn’t mean too much extra work for Izzy and Rena, right? But then the I-dos are interrupted by the murder of a local journalist and Izzy’s Aunt Dolly becomes the police’s prime suspect, and just like that, not only do the women have to find the time to plan a do-over ceremony, but they’ve got to catch a killer, as well.
Groomed for Murder is the second of Annie Knox’s Pet Boutique Mysteries. I adored Knox’s series debut, Paws for Murder, and I’m happy to report this latest installment proves a worthy successor.
The cast of Groomed for Murder is stocked with beautifully drawn characters. Izzy’s a great heroine – smart, funny, loyal, and brave; her quirky best friend and business partner Rena makes for a perfect sidekick; and Dolly, Izzy’s aging sex-crazed aunt, provides great comic relief. Perhaps my favorite part about this tale, though, is the unlikely love triangle developing between Izzy, her childhood tormenter Jack (now a cop), and her childhood friend Sean (now a lawyer). When the series started, she had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with both men, but with antagonism comes passion, and it’s been fun to watch their chemistry change. I, for one, can’t wait to see what future books hold in store for the trio.
I do wish Knox had taken more time to reintroduce her series characters at the start of the book. I may have read the first Pet Boutique Mystery, but I did so a year ago and have long since forgotten most of the details. As a result, I spent several chapters scrambling to figure out who was who and how they were related, which distracted me from the setup and the plot. That minor quibble aside, though, Groomed for Murder is definitely worth a read. Knox’s descriptions are evocative, her prose is graceful and intelligent without calling attention to itself, and her story has great flow. The pace isn’t exactly breakneck, but Knox provides both a victim and a suspect by the end of chapter two, and every single scene does something to forward the plot. Knox’s mystery is clever, she offers readers a ton of viable suspects, and while I wish some of her clues were a tad less obvious, her denouement is fun and her solution satisfying.
Reviewed by Kat
