June 22, 2015
Dog-loving cozy fans will welcome Delaney’s series launch, an extension of her Ellie McKenzie series (Dying for a Change, etc.) featuring Ellie’s good-natured, high-energy aunt, Mary McGill, a retired schoolteacher in Santa Louisa, Calif. Mary starts poking into the business of show breeding after two children glimpse a tall man in robes fleeing the final inn of the town’s Christmas pageant, leaving behind in the manger the bloodstained body of Cliff Mathews, discredited and error-prone alcoholic former vet, and an adorable black-and-white cocker spaniel puppy. A look at Cliff’s diary and a second stabbing, this time of a beloved local pet store owner, show Mary and her police chief nephew-in-law, Dan Dunham, that the motivation for Cliff’s murder may go beyond old grudges. Neither fearful nor reckless, Mary investigates mostly because she’s already involved in everything in town. Christmas cheer, puppies, and cute, resourceful children add to the fun.
July 1, 2015
Mary McGill is your average neighborly busybody, just the person for running village committees. A retired teacher, she knows everyone. But when Cliff Matthews is found dead in the manger at St. Theresa of the Little Flower Church, all of Mary's careful planning goes out the window. Cliff was the town veterinarian, until he drowned his sorrows in a bottle one too many times and harmed too many pets, including sterilizing a purebred cocker spaniel. The witnesses to the murder are two young children who don't understand what they saw. Mary has to keep the children safe from the killer, even if it means sacrificing a few board meetings. VERDICT The author of a number of cozies (And Murder for Dessert; Murder by Syllabub) launches a new canine-flavored series set in small-town California. Everyone knows a Mary in their town, and this amiable mystery is bound to please fans of Elaine Viets and Kate Carlisle.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2015
Mary McGill has her hands full as chair of the Christmas pageant in her small-town California home. And that was before she learned from her neighbor's children that there's a dead body in the mangerand, worse, the children saw the murderer. Less threatening, the kids also found a puppy that no one seems to own. Naturally, victim and dog are connected, and Mary can't resist the temptation to nose around. The subsequent murder of a beloved pet-store owner heightens the tension and the concern over the safety of the children. Delaney's intelligent mystery has no lack of red herrings and suspects. Fans of Laurien Berenson may especially enjoy this well-crafted canine holiday mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)