Case of the Hobbit Heist (Corgi Case Files Book 19), by Jeffrey (JM) Poole

 

This book was exactly what I needed this weekend. It was great to relax into the amazingly complex and intriguing world of Zach and Jillian, not to mention their corgis. Heck, who am I kidding? It was the corgi connection that drew me to this series to begin with and I'm glad it did. Sherlock and Watson aren't just your ordinary corgis. They are crime solving corgis with an amazing ability to sniff out clues almost without effort. Unfortunately, their humans are more often than not initially bewildered as to what the dogs are trying to tell them. What the heck does the number eight, for instance, have to do with stolen movie memorabilia? Having learned his lesson in previous books, however, Zach knows he needs to take a photo of whatever the dogs indicate because it will be important. Part of the fun is for us as readers to try and show we're smarter than Zack and the other humans involved, including their good friend the police chief who uses the dogs as police consultants. They've become internationally famous, I might add, not to mention got to meet Queen Elizabeth. I will note, their humans, including Vance, the police chief, are getting better, albeit not much faster at sorting out clues.

The plot revolves around what turns out to be a much larger than initially believed theft. Who is stealing movie memorabilia and why? Why is that gun so special? How the heck do the dogs just know? Will Zach ever take advantage of that fancy gym? How does Jillian get fooled? And, oh, I don't want to spoil the fun and surprises for you so I'll leave it at that. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. You'll also get a tour of Zach and Jillian's rather monster sized home with all just about every feature you can imagine, from a hidden library to a theater complex, and some you can't imagine. You'll laugh as Zach describes the place while searching its vast footage in search of his wife, I might note.

You're going to love this series and this book in particular. Co-starring with Sherlock and Watson, and, oh, yeah, Zach, is real life actor Michael Biehn as they sort out all the "what ifs" involved. Biehn and Poole are genuinely friends, btw. Biehn's foreward regarding how they met and bonded, which seems to have included a trek into a remote area of Arizona to try to find and dig up an old grave is a hoot, as is Poole's reference to it later. Biehn says he did NOT take that movie prop, however, and I believe him.

Bottom line, it's a quick, fun read with both humor and some tense moments but, hey, Sherlock and Watson are on top of things. Now, if Zach could just catch up with what the clues mean.