A Deadly Bone to Pick by Peggy Rothschild – a Review

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Description:
Ex-police officer and former P.I. Molly Madison is starting over. After the death of her husband, she and her golden retriever, Harlow, move cross-country to California. But as charming and peaceful as the beachside town seems, she soon learns its tranquil tides hold dark secrets.

On her first day in the new house, a large, slobbering Saint Berdoodle wanders in. Molly winds up taking on the responsibility of training Noodle since his owner is too busy to do the job. On one of their daily beachside walks, Noodle digs up a severed hand. Once Molly alerts the police and they run a background check on her, she’s an immediate suspect–after all, Noodle’s testimony to clear her name won’t hold much water in court.

To prove her innocence, Molly must rely on instincts keener than a canine’s to sniff out the real killer. But when Molly’s life is put in danger, will her two very loyal pups be able to rescue her?

Review:

A Deadly Bone to Pick by Peggy Rothschild is a stand-alone mystery novel.  Molly Madison (our heroine) has just moved with her golden retriever, Harlow to a small beachside town, Pier Point, California. Molly is a former police officer and P.I., and after the death of her husband, she plans to start over, becoming a dog wrangler.  Turns out, Molly is very good training dogs, and as she meets her friendly neighbors, and she gets off to a great start.

However, on the first day she moved in, a big slobbering Saint Berdoodle, stands outside her door, wanting to come in. Molly meets one of her neighbors, who explains that Noodle (the dog) is always walking into people’s houses, as he is an escape artist, when his owner (emergency room doctor) is away working long hours at the hospital. Molly, of course, takes it upon herself to train Noodle, after getting permission from the doctor.

Molly takes Harlow and Noodle on their daily walk on the beach, and Noodle finds a severed hand; she calls the police.  She meets two detectives, who question her, one being nice and cute, and the other a mean and nasty. In a short time, it will be discovered that Molly was a suspect in the death of her husband, who had been murdered; but the real murderer was found, exonerating her; the bad detective kept pushing that she might be responsible for all the bad things happening in town.  Molly doesn’t want to get involved, but her police training makes her look into finding clues.

While the mystery remains, it was nice to see Molly become friendly with some of her neighbors, helping train their dogs, and teach a young girl. I thought that was a fun part of the story, especially with so many dog tips along the way.  Most of all I loved both Noodle and Harlow.

What follows is an exciting, fun cozy mystery in a town filled with secrets that will put Molly’s life in danger.  I did like some of the secondary characters, especially the good cop, and some other neighbors.  Harlow and Noodle were so great with Molly, and it was fun to see other dogs benefiting from her expertise. A Deadly Bone to Pick was an excellent story that was very well written by Peggy Rothschild.  The last half of the book was tense and exciting. If you like mystery suspense stories, you should read A Deadly Bone to Pick.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher