Case of the Unlucky Emperor (Corgi Case Files #17), by Jeffrey M. Poole

 

"If you like dogs, especially corgis, and enjoy sniffing out sometimes vague clues, this series is for you." I said that in a previous review and, as always, it still holds true. How do they do it? Who knows? Surely not their humans, Zach and wife Jillian but, know what? It doesn't matter. Poole writes a fun, good story and it's always entertaining. It's fun to watch the dogs exasperation at the slowness of the humans about them to comprehend the clues they've so diligently provided, not to mention the mental gymnastics of Zach, in particular, as he tries to figure it all out.

In this book, they're in my beloved Alaska. Now, true, it gave me pause when I saw Alaska and penguins as part of the plot. I mean, Alaska doesn't have penguins. Long story, but they're just not suited to survive in the wild here. One not-too-well thought out attempt in the1950s was a disaster, let's just say. In any case, let's just say that this setting was a highly sophisticated, well designed enclosure with all the marvels high tech and big money could provide. In other words, no bringing in penguins and shoving them out to be polar bear dessert. 

The mystery that the dogs, who seem to be famous everywhere, are called in to help solve is the disappearance of the facility's first penguin chick. I have to admit to looking up pix of emperor penguin chicks and, yes, they are darn cute. Who'd do such a thing? At first the dogs clues seem vague and barely connected. I mean, a banana? Moose? True, Alaska has tons of moose but what is the connection to the missing penguin? This all takes place in Sitka, Alaska, a rather isolated place where disappearing isn't easy as everyone knows each other and you can't drive out. Watching the corgis solve the crime, which takes their humans far longer to put together than it did them, is simply fun. 

I've enjoyed each and every book in this series. We frequently learn something new about the places Zach and Jillian visit as we experience the sites through their eyes. We view the story through Zach's eyes and author Poole has given him a conversational, easy to follow style that makes for fun, easy reading. The interactions between Zach and Jillian come across well, too, showing their love and humor. Toss in interesting side-characters (and the side characters here are all new ones as even best friend Vance isn't along this time) and bits of info about, well, this-and-that, and, well, it's fun. Give it a read. Then go back and check out the whole series, including book one where Zach is a suspect in a murder!

Finally, having done a whale/wildlife cruise, Poole's description of the one Zach and Jillian embark on is right on target. Made me smile as it brought back memories of a mother whale breaching into the air almost within arm reach, then crashing back into the water moments later to swim directly beneath our suddenly seemingly very small tour boat with her calf. Ah, memories.