I always feel a bit like I'm visiting ol' friends when I stop by to catch up with Melanie's hectic life. New readers, never fear, however. Berenson does an excellent job of filling us in on who is who and their connections early on. Even Terry and Crawford make an appearance, long time readers, albeit a brief one. The focus here is on Melanie's quest to find out who killed pet shop owner Gregory Willet and, in the process, save her school from any unnecessary bad publicity due to him being one of the businesses taking part in the prestigious Howard Academy's Thanks For Giving fundraiser. I won't detail that but will note that lots of pumpkin spice is involved. And, hey, we even get a recipe for pumpkin spice cookies at the end, so it's definitely a win-win.
I also won't detail the plot, that's what blurbs are for, but will just say Melanie's reputation for solving mysteries precedes her, as usual. Unfortunately, she's also the one to find the body, so she has a personal stake in the mystery, too. Long time readers will be delighted to know there are lots of dog related sections with Faith usually along for the ride. And, yes, no surprises where Aunt Peg is involved. For those new to the story, you'll quickly grow to know and like the main characters, from the always busy but caring and persevering Melanie (and you'll get a quick backstory on her failed first marriage) to Alice, a friend and helpful neighbor who steps in when Melanie needs help with her children's school schedule, and, the indomitable Aunt Peg. I also liked how the author gave us a sense of who those children were, with Davey once again being the responsible big brother but also trying to please Aunt Peg as her go-to dog show handler, and Kevin and his wild-child of a dog Bud. Sam, as always, is the always calm, cool headed husband whose relationship with Aunt Peg seems to have escaped the stress that Melanie so often feels around her. You may even come away feeling like you know Detective Young a bit better. It's fun to see Melanie's interactions with him and I was definitely glad to see Melanie escape the TSTL (too stupid to live) label. You'll see what I mean when you read it.
Bottom line, while I'm always astonished at how upfront Melanie is with her questioning and isn't really challenged on it, though that perhaps tells us a bit about Melanie's personality, too, when you think about it. She's someone people trust and I admire how seriously she takes her job including the use of Faith to help cross and chasm between the students and herself. We should all be lucky enough to have a Faith in our lives. As for the mystery, the clues are all there, of course, whether we as readers can sort them out before Melanie or not. Okay, true, she's not the world's best snowball fighter, not one you'd choose for your team willingly, but her intentions are always good and she has the perseverance to follow the path of clues no matter where it might lead. Thanks #NetGalley and #KensingtonPress - #KensingtonCozies for allowing me a sneak peek into what's going on in Melanie's world. It's always a pleasure to be surrounded by those beautiful dogs, that's for sure.
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