A Good Dog's Guide to Murder by Krista Davis

Available September 6, 2022

Rating: 5 cookies

What's better than a town where dogs and cats are treated like people, there are no cars, there's a neighborhood of hobbit houses, there are stores catering just to animals, and bordering it all is an enormous lake? Only one thing. This same town at Christmas time.

A new conference center has opened in Wagtail, designed by Holly's boyfriend, Holmes, and it's buzzing with activity as everyone prepares for a gingerbread house contest. Before the center is even open to the public a body is discovered encased in cement inside a large tree on the lawn surrounding the center. The body isn't a fresh one and no one is even sure who the victim is. Holly has her work cut out for her figuring out who killed the person and how he ended up becoming part of the landscaping.

Setting is always important to me in cozies and this series has quite possibly my favorite setting of all. I absolutely love Wagtail and wish it was real so I could go there! This might have been my favorite book of the entire series. There were so many fun things happening with everyone getting ready for Christmas and the guides on murder provided by Trixie in between chapters were adorable. I had an inkling of who the killer was but I was leaning pretty heavily through most of the book toward the one person who I really didn't want to be the killer, and in the end this person is one of few who has a really happy ending.

I've really enjoyed this entire series and highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.