Doghouse: A Gin and Tonic Mystery

by L.A. Kornetsky

Pocket Books,   2014

278 pages     Mystery

The Shortlist

This is just a quick shout-out in honor of Animal Welfare Week, October 5-11, and the Gin and Tonic Mysteries.

Doghouse is a delightfully quick and quirky mystery—the third in the series about Teddy Tonica, a bartender and Ginny Mallard, a professional concierge. The duo solve pet-related mysteries, along with Teddy's cat Penny and Ginny's dog George. The series is called the Gin and Tonic Mysteries. It took me a while to figure out the "gin and tonic" allusion. And just like the name of the series, Doghouse, is a cute mystery that makes a serious point about animal welfare. Even the animals get in the act as they add their two-cents worth to solving the mystery. (Their discussions are written in italics, so you know the dog and cat are having the discussion. Cute, huh!) 

 Gin and Tonic are hired by the bar's dishwasher to solve a crime involving his friend. The elderly man has been accused of running a dog fighting ring in his rented house, and he is about to be evicted. Although this is part of a series, you don't have to start at the beginning. Doghouse is a stand alone book. If it weren't October, I would call it a beach read, but at less than 300 pages, it would be a great airplane ride book. The other books in the series are Collared and Fixed.

The series reminds me of other popular cat mystery series—The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun and the cat mysteries by Rita May Brown. This series is just as fun.

L.A. Kornetsky is the pen name of a New York writer, Laura Anne Gilman, who is the author of several other series of books. This is her website.