Annie Knox

I suspect there are more than a few really talented authors that are forced by publishers to write compelling mysteries wrapped in a shell of silliness because the marketing department decided that's what's "hot". I suspect this is just such an author.

Annie Knox is a pseudonym for Wendy Watson who wrote a way-too-short-lived series about an ice cream shop. I thought the ice cream shop setting was beyond silly and passed the series by for ages before a friend assured me it was not only good, but better than most cozies; she was right. Unfortunately, I'm not the only person who must have been put off: the series was cancelled and the last book ended on a monster of a cliff-hanger.

Collared for Murder was a great read. Once you get beyond the marketing-approved premise you have a very well-written story set in small town Minnesota with an outstanding cast of complex, diverse characters who all like, or at least respect, each other. Knox writes real relationships between real people and is very talented particularly with achieving the perfect touch of romance that leaves the reader breathless; I miss that in my cozies nowadays; everything's so damn chaste.

The mystery plotting is good; a little convoluted, but easy enough to keep up with. The plot was TSTL moment free and the ending was great because it didn't follow the formulae of "MC's life must be in peril!"

These are definitely staying on the shelf.… (plus d'informations)

I'm not sure after this one that, were I living in this quaint town of Merryville, MN, I'd be having any events at Izzy's Trendy Tails Boutique. 2 books, 2 events at her shop, 2 dead bodies. The Moose lodge might not be as pretty, but I'd betting it's got better survival statistics.

What I didn't like about the book: Ghandi the guinea pig survives the winter! He's back! Oh, wait, he's gone again! Apparently he's going to be running through the series, in one shop door and out another. This is not really something to complain about, but I was looking for Ghandi's HEA and instead he's pulling a Born Free.

There's a thread running through the book concerning an endangered species of burrowing owl - I don't honestly know if these owls exist or not and the book isn't here for me to get the name and look them up but it doesn't matter; what I didn't like was the ultimate attitude about building a major development in the habitat of a critically endangered species: "We'll just move them". And apparently that's what was going to happen, since that's the last word on the matter. That left me vaguely pissed off at the end of the book.

I really liked the rest of it though; well written with well-developed, intelligent characters and a very well-plotted mystery. I didn't feel like the author telegraphed anything with her clues; I "got-it" just before Izzy did. I'd have preferred that Izzy didn't go around deposing the other characters as if she were entitled, but I did appreciate her full-disclosure attitude towards the police.

Speaking of police, there's a love triangle, sort of. Between Izzy, Sean and Jack, the police detective. I HATE love triangles, but this one is - so far - the least offensive I've endured for quite a while. There was no established relationship the author is trying to screw with here. Izzy is single and Sean and Jack are both putting their hat in the ring. I'm not sure I like Sean, but I am totally on board with Jack - for a cozy mystery, it had an excellent date scene between him and Izzy chock full o' romantic tension. It would be a nice twist against a cliche if Izzy didn't end up with her childhood friend.

A solid start and I'm looking forward to book 3.… (plus d'informations)

When Izzy McHale's life falls apart because her doctor boyfriend decides to hightail it out of town with another woman, she decides to open a pet clothing store and 'barkery' with her friend Rena Hamilton, and she thinks everything is going to be fine. But she doesn't count on Sherry Harper, trust fund baby and local activist, who thinks it's cruel to dress up pets, picketing on opening night.

When there is a set-to outside her store during the opening, she finds Sherry and her ex-boyfriend Nick in the middle of a heated argument. After Rena successfully ends the fiasco, the party continues. Later in the night when Izzy is taking out the trash she sees something near the dumpster...which turns out to be Sherry, quite dead indeed.

When Rena is suspected of the crime, Izzy realizes her best friend couldn't possibly be guilty and since she thinks the police aren't even looking for anyone else she opts to find the killer herself rather than see her friend jailed for something she didn't do...

Well, this book started out interesting enough with a conversation between Sherry and Izzy. But the more I read, the more it seemed rather silly. A store dedicated to dressing up your dogs and cats? Honestly, I own cats (and have owned dogs) and I can't imagine trying to put clothing of any kind on my cats. Just trying would have me paying for it for months, if you know what I mean.

And to tell the truth, I've never really liked the idea of people clothing their dogs. They're pets, for goodness' sake, not people. While you think they may love being dressed up, they're dogs. They only know they're getting attention, and are probably wondering what you're doing to them. It's rather silly to see a dog in a tutu and makes me wonder about the person who did it - but enough about that...

Anyway, it is the first in a series and that always makes me want to give a book a chance, because you never know what you might find. Sadly, it wasn't much. Why did she decide to design for pets? Especially in a small town? She trained to be a clothing designer, and she could just as well have made clothing for people, even in said small town. If the designs were nice enough, she could have started small and worked her way into a high-end boutique. This would have made the series much more interesting.

Anyone who's read any of my reviews knows I'm a stickler for details, so to that end, this is where the book lost me: early on in the book we are told (as I've mentioned) that Sherry is a trust fund baby. Then later on - and this isn't much of a spoiler since it also occurs fairly early in the book - Rena tells Izzy how during a protest in Minneapolis Sherry hid a can of spray paint (she had used to deface a building) in Rena's backpack to hide it. Rena then goes on to say that she got arrested for it and didn't have bail money, so spent three weeks in jail and had to sell plasma to pay for a bus ticket home. (Not to mention that's a lot of plasma; I don't think they pay that much for it). Hmm...Sherry was the reason she went to jail in the first place, and knew it. Again - Trust Fund Baby. So why didn't she pony up the bail money for Rena? Why didn't she pay for the ticket home? Rena just took the rap and didn't even do anything about it? Really? We’re supposed to buy this? Rena is either the stupidest person in the world or the author thinks her audience is if they don't even question this.

Anyone knows that the incident in Minneapolis wouldn't have come to light as it was previous and had no bearing on the case. She killed her because of three weeks in jail years ago? Not plausible; so why it was even considered is beyond me.

Unfortunately, once a book loses me it's very hard to take anything else in it seriously, so I won't be reading any more of this series.… (plus d'informations)