The Mysterious Case of the Missing Dog Walker by
Michele Pariza Wacek
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
Sheer chaos and sheer entertainment!The Mysterious Case of the Missing Dog Walker is the second book in author Michele Pariza Wacek’s fun and, at times, frenetic Redemption Detective Agency featuring a ‘fully-licensed’ private investigations firm staffed by three ‘mature’ sleuths (women of a ‘certain age’) with little professional training and even less practical experience in the field and the owner’s ‘straight-man’ niece who is trying to make a silk purse out of this investigative sow’s ear. What sounds like a recipe for disaster was a fun and entertaining tale, and a perfect way to kick back and enjoy the ensuing hilarity.
When successful financial manager Emily Hildebrandt’s life is suddenly upended, her only fallback plan is to accept the generous invitation of her elderly Aunt Tilde to come live with her in the nearby town of Redemption, Wisconsin, and take over management of her new business venture, the Redemption Detective Agency. Tilde, a retired nurse; Mildred, a teacher; and Nora, the owner of the used bookstore in the same strip center as the new PI office, are the well-meaning but woefully underprepared sleuths. But what they lack in knowledge, skills, and abilities, they more than make up for in enthusiasm and the desire to employ all the high-tech investigative gadgetry available (in the 1990s).
When the girlfriend of the business’s attorney asks the ladies to find her elderly aunt’s dog, which went missing a year ago, and they readily accept, Emily figures it’s a case with little chance of success. But upon her initial contact with the new client, the aunt claims she didn’t have a dog a year ago and certainly not one that had gone missing, saying her niece was mistaken. However, Trish (the niece, girlfriend, and Emily’s oftentimes frenemy) insists that there was a dog, Rex, and the miscommunication is somehow Emily’s fault. Puzzled, her interest definitely piqued, Emily continues the case. In the meantime, a paying customer, a woman who thinks her husband is cheating on her hires the ladies to obtain solid proof she can use in a divorce proceeding, and the gungho trio are all in for a stake-out, surveillance, and the chance to obtain and use all detective tech they can get heir hands on. Emily tries to ride herd over it all, keeping the enthusiastic and unpredictable loose cannons from crossing too many ethical and legal lines, while metaphorically dipping her toe in the local dating pool.
The pace of the story, while carefully building the setup, is still exuberant and frenetic at times. The clever and chaotic dialogue among the women had Emily and me both breathless with its “Who’s on first?” nature. The ladies are so intent on investigating (and wanting to mete out a little old school justice) and the results had me laughing even more. Emily tries her best to keep the legitimate investigation on track and enjoy a little downtime getting to know Jerome, the local school principal, and Nick Stewart, the guy who really makes her heart speed up and is dating the beautiful but obnoxious Trish.
While this is the second book in the series, it works well as a standalone, and readers new to the story should have no trouble catching up. I recommend THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE MISSING DOG WALKER to cozy mystery readers, especially those who enjoy stories including dogs and cats and, perhaps, a series headed toward the little less cozy in the future.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through
Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
View all my reviews
Karen A. Phillips lives in Northern California and writes humorous, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are engaging and fearless. She has several short stories published in various anthologies. The Rocky Nelson Boxing Mysteries combine her love of boxing and the mystery genre. Sign up for her newsletter at: KarenAPhillips.com.
