The Particulars: Mystery, Gallery Books, available in print and as e-book
The Source: Purchased at Bokus
The Grade: B+
The Blurb:
They rely on animal instincts…
Meet “Gin” and “Tonic.” She’s a dog person. He’s a cat person. But when these two friendly rivals team up to solve a mystery, you can bet their pets aren’t the only ones getting collared…
Ginny Mallard and her shar-pei, Georgie, are about to run out of kibble and cash, unless she digs up another client for her private concierge business. So she heads to her neighborhood Seattle bar, Mary’s, to sniff out an opportunity. Or a gimlet or two. The bartender, Teddy Tonica, is usually good for a round of challenging banter, and Georgie is oddly fond of his bar cat, Mistress Penny.
Before she can say “bottoms up,” Ginny lands a job tracking down some important business papers that have gone missing—along with the customer’s uncle. If Ginny hopes to track him down, she’ll need more than her research skills: she’ll need a partner with people skills—like Tonica.
The Review:
I have been waiting for this book since the first time I heard about it. LA Gilman writing mysteries? Could it be anything but good?
The Seattle that Ms Kornetsky described, felt like it was written by a Seattlite. It managed the fine balance of being detailed enough to be believable, yet not so detailed that the description bogged down the narrative.
The characters were deliciously snarky, but what I especially liked was how Gin and Teddy complemented each other. Ginny was good at finding information and Teddy talking with people.
I also liked how they had… not a love-hate relationship, but they were definitely not the best of friends.
The mystery was well plotted and kept me hooked from the beginning. I loved how Gin and Teddy gradually started to realise that they were in over they heads. Yet, they refused giving up. After all, Gin had promised DubJay to find his uncle and her reputation was important for her busniess.
I loved seeing how the attitudes in the Estate business had changed from when Joe started it in the 80’s.
One thing that I especially loved was that every scene in the plot was actually related to the mystery. (Yes, it might sound like an odd thing, but that’s my pet peeve: Mysteries where something happen in chapter one, and then there is 150 pages of describing the characters life, and then they stumble upon the sollution.)
So… What I didn’t like. The pets POV:s. I enjoyed reading them, but it felt like they didn’t add anything to the story. But maybe that will change in the second book.
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