Lilly Echosby has to leave on a sudden business trip, so she decides to spoil her toy poodle, Aggie, by boarding her at the luxury pet hotel, Pet Haven, in Bark If It’s Murder by V.M. Burns. One of the offerings for pet parents is the ability to check up on their pets by watching a pet cam to see the animals in real time. Taking advantage of this feature to check up on Aggie, Lilly is shocked to witness the strangling of the woman who owns Pet Haven. But when Red, Lilly’s man friend who is a police detective, goes to Pet Haven in response, not only is there no body, but there is no indication that a murder ever took place there. Determined to prove herself correct, Lilly volunteers to do the taxes for Pet Haven, hoping that her CPA status will help herb locate some kind of irregularity that might lead to the truth. This job involves those surrounding Lilly, but besides the ridiculous degree of security used for an animal hotel, the place doesn’t seem to have anything sinister happening.
I enjoy the writing of Burns, though my favorite of her series is the Mystery Bookshop series and not this one. The Dog Club Mystery Series is lighter and spends plenty of time on each of the dogs who have roles in the books. Some cozy mystery books that feature animals anthropomorphize the animals to make them the real, if secret, detectives, but in this series, the dogs (poodles mostly) serve as catalysts for the action, not actors themselves. I learned about details of dog training and behavior, but the lessons blended in with the script.
The audio edition of Bark If It’s Murder is performed by Madison Vaughn. I found it an interesting choice on her part not to use accents for the various regions. Lilly is most likely African American, though that fact is hard to catch within the text. Vaughn doesn’t give any indications in her performance that she is playing an African American. However, she uses effective expression and timing to bring this book alive. The personal narration is generally gentle and low-key, while any dialog is full of animation. This made listeners connect closely to the performance.
I enjoyed getting to listen to Bark If It’s Murder and spend time with Aggie and the other dogs. The book was fun, with a creative way of addressing well known stories. It just went a little slowly. I give it four stars.
