Book Review: The Pawful Truth (murder mystery with cats and a college)

The Pawful Truth, A Cat in the Stacks Mystery, by Miranda James (Berkley Prime Crime, 2020, $26, 288pp)(Review by Skye Anderson)

A cozy mystery, The Pawful Truth, is set in a small sleepy college town somewhere down in the deep south. Our hero and sleuth is a male college librarian widower with a sort of boarding house for professors and whose housekeeper-cook is the mother of the town's chief police officer. Charlie suddenly decides to audit a course, only to become snagged in a triangular love affair turned deadly.

We love the fact that he walks his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, on a leash to his office!

Thus begins a temporary type of book review - written one-handed since my other hand is broke (but with three stainless steel plates). So, for a while, dear reader, these reviews will be shorter than usual. . . .

The Pawful Truth illustrates the fact that men can be as good at gossip as women are and just as interested in food menus. More complex and longer than The Cat Who books are, these titles are a marvelous play on words.

Book Review: Daniel, The Golden Retriever (children's book)

Daniel,  The Golden Retriever, by Tammy Tomlinson (Feiwel and Friends, 2022, ages 4-8, 32pp, $18.99) Review by Skye Anderson) 

Golden Retrievers are the friendliest of dogs and Daniel is no exception!

Daniel is based on a true story, the true story of a very good boy who loves making new friends (especially the little ones) plus all the spoiling he gets ("fluffed, brushed, and watered") at dog shows. This is the story of taking one such trip to a dog show in New York City (in 2020) because he is a champion and is vying to become the all-around champion. 

Daniel glides, stands, stays, trots, and poses along with six other breed representatives but will he win?

With lovely colorful illustrations by Kiersten Egan, Daniel will capture your heart with his joy, whether he wins or not. "Dog shows are fun, but being home is even better."

Bonus: the final two pages depict the characteristics of goldens and their favorite jobs.

Book Review: Flawed Dogs, The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster (a Scholastic book)

Flawed Dogs: TheNovel: The Shocking  Raid on Westminster, by Berkeley Breathed (Puffin Books, ages 3-12, 240pp PB, $6.99, grades 3-7, 2017)(review by Skye Anderson)

Do you remember the year the Westminster Dog Show* was raided? If you don't it's probably because it happened only in story form but what a great story it makes.

Peopled with numerous unlikely underdogs, Flawed Dogs contains anything but - at least in this reader's opinion. As a matter of fact, it may just be that this book originated the designer dog, such as "A Bolivian flat-nosed spittin' spaniel. An orange-crested Dutch baby dusenstruegal. A Chinese kissin' tellin' terrier." (p37) while, for the dog show: ". . . fur being poofed, nails polished and painted, teeth whitened, noses wiped, eyelashes curled, tails trimmed, breaths sweetened and bottoms perfumed." (p176)

Replete with a myriad of color illustrations as well as black-and-white ones, with full page illustrations as well as smaller ones, author and illustrator Berkeley Breathed has created a unique story line as well as nearly unbelievable characters and plot lines, starting with today and then going back three years. For example, who would win the very first dog show she entered?

Girls will like this book because Heidy (our star) is a girl and boys will like it because of the scare-factor and unbelievable dogs and action as boys try to guess what will happen next.

Love the single word chapter titles and short chapters, too.

Question for you, dear reader: are the flawed dogs really flawed?

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*not the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show