Big Little Spies by Krista Davis continues the Paws and Claws series set in Wagtail, a resort town dedicated to all things animals. When a pet detective comes to town to try to find a missing German shepherd, he gets murdered. Holly, co-owner and manager of the inn, finds that the ladies of WAG, an animal rescue group associated with Wagtail, all seem to have secrets they are hiding. Further, three older women are busy fighting over one widower, whose wife died only six months earlier. Trixie, Holly’s Jack Russell terrier, and Twinkletoes, Holly’s calico cat, locate the body and serve important roles in catching the killer.
This audiobook was fun, but it felt like perhaps Davis is running out of steam after seven books in this series. It is a very cute series, with a lot of fun in its premise of a pet resort town, but a series can’t rely on the setting for seven books without needing more depth and plot. Now that Holly and Holmes have finally gotten together, a lot of the tension has gone out of the books, and the dynamic between the pair is less interesting or creative than in the previous books, where one or both of them is engaged throughout. It was still highly enjoyable but not as good as some of the previous books.
Elise Arsenault is a fun narrator who does a good job of keeping the book alive. I like her audiobook performances and enjoy the books she narrates.
I give this audiobook four stars.
