Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
It is my pleasure to feature Murders of a Feather:
A Veterinarian Cozy Mystery
(Dr. Kate Vet Mysteries) by Eileen Brady today!
Murders of a Feather: A Veterinarian Cozy Mystery
(Dr. Kate Vet Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – New York
Poisoned Pen Press (October 3, 2023)
Mass Market Paperback : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 1728249376
ISBN-13 : 978-1728249377
Kindle ASIN : B0BSVMVK8Q
It’s February in the Hudson Valley and Oak Falls veterinarian Dr. Kate is once again up to her galoshes in corpses.
Hudson Valley winters can be brutal…and deadly! Dr. Kate is once again on the case (not to mention thin ice) after discovering a young engaged couple frozen to death in the lake. To make matters worse, her temporary receptionist appears to have overdosed from a recreational sedative used at the animal hospital. Kate barely has time to dread Valentine’s Day (and the fact that she’s alone on this holiday, once again) as the police investigation shows that all three fatalities are in fact homicides.
But who would want the young couple dead, just as they were embarking on a new life together? And who pumped the temp employee full of enough animal tranquilizers to drop an ox? Kate doesn’t know where to begin until she stumbles upon a connection between the three victims and decides she needs to investigate further. But will her investigation leave her any time to get to know the handsome large animal vet she’s just met on a house call? And is the injured wild crow she’s taken under her wing in fact an omen of more bad things to come?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Winter is still going strong in the Hudson Valley and Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. Mari and Dr. Kate are out doing house calls when they see a man waving his arms on the side of the road. When they stop to help the man tells them he found a dead body in the woods. After notifying the police they ask the man to take them to the body to be sure he is beyond help. He was, but he wasn’t the only dead body in the woods. Kate and Mari discover a woman under the frozen water of the lake not far away. They turn out to be a young engaged couple getting ready to start their lives together. Was it a murder/suicide? or were they both murdered?
A couple of days later Dr. Kate and Mari are clearly sent to the wrong address by the temporary receptionist but she isn’t answering their calls. They head back to the office to find the receptionist dead from a sedative sometimes used on their animal patients. Again, was it suicide? maybe an accidental overdose? or was she murdered?
The police determined all three were homicides. Are the deaths connected or coincidence? Are there one or two killers on the loose? Kate is having a hard time dealing with the deaths and she needs some answers.
Kate also has met a large animal vet she would like to get to know better and she has an injured wild crow she helped that now checks in with her every day and brings his friends. She is not sure if either of these things is good or bad.
Kate, Mari, and Cindy have become true friends and work together like a well-oiled machine. Cindy is taking some time off so Babs Fields comes in to take her place. She has her own way of doing things and Kate and Mari quickly adjust never dreaming that Babs would be killed. The banter between all the characters is genuine and they do get to know Babs well enough to know she would have left clues to help them pinpoint her killer, they just have to find them.
I really enjoyed the introduction of Mike, the large animal vet, and the bit of confusion about his status. Who can identify the life of a vet better than another vet? He and Kate have a lot in common, I just hope the author lets the relationship evolve in a realistic way.
My favorite character though is Kate’s Gramps. Just a phone call away with advice or a little story to make Kate smile. He is also close enough for a quick visit when she needs a real hug and some face-to-face time. I can almost smell his pasta sauce from here.
While I feel like I am getting to know Kate, Mari, and Cindy better, in this story we learn a huge piece of Mari’s history and it is heartbreaking. I am so happy that she has such strong friends in Kate and Cindy.
The mystery was very intriguing from the get-go. Who was this man on the side of the road? Did he have anything to do with the murders? Were the three deaths connected? Who would want these people dead? Digging into their lives reveals some secrets and leads to quite a few suspects. There are also several twists and so many clues. It was hard to determine what was really relevant and what to cast aside, only to find after casting out it was actually pretty important. Ms. Brady plotted this one out so well. I finally decided to just read and enjoy the ride rather than trying to solve the mystery myself. That was the right choice because I was totally caught by surprise when all was revealed. I was impressed by the way Kate could think on her feet. The showdown was so exciting. My heart was racing as the drama played out.
Part of the fun of this series is all the animals that Kate takes care of. This time there was a pot-bellied pig named Porky, a litter of puppies, some barn kittens, named Tootsie, Tommy, Taffy, and Tiny, the birth of some baby goats, a couple of horses, and an injured crow and his friends. She had other patients too and her own dog Buddy. I love the way the animals are worked in throughout the story and that we see a little bit of each of their personalities.
Kate receives some news at the end of the story that is going to force her to make a big decision. I think I know what she will decide and I am looking forward to the next book in the series to see if I am right.
Murders of a Feather is a marvelous addition to this series. It is my favorite of the three. An intriguing mystery, with great characters, set in a small New York town, with animals galore. A Perfect Escape!
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About the Author
Eileen Brady is a veterinarian and author. A wife and mother of two daughters, she often has to chase her six cats and two dogs away from her laptop keyboard. She currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”