All Willow Wells wanted was a fresh start. After a divorce that left her a dog trainer with no dogs to train, inheriting her Aunt’s property (complete with a downtrodden dog gym) seemed like the answer to her prayers. That is until the first day of excavation uncovers a dead local real estate mogul, and pins her current contractor as the lead suspect. With his funds frozen, and with no way to … way to return Willow’s money, contractor Griffin Maynard has no choice but to join forces with his high school crush who also happens to be his current client—new arrival Willow Wells. Together they must find the real murderer and get construction back underway before both of their businesses go bottom up.
But as they follow the trail of town gossip, Willow and Griffin discover more buried secrets than they first thought, and time is running out to solve this murder before they lose everything.
more
Loved it! Well written.
A well written fun quick read that is easy to follow. While Willow was getting her grandma’s house and dog run renovated for opening her Doggie Gym a body is found out in the yeard. Following Willow and her sister Wednesday while the try to solve the murder being the daughters of the police chief was very entertained. Look forward to more from series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It has a perfect pace, edge of your seat non stop squirming. This a gripping story that had me hooked certainly turning pages.
Willow is starting over again, she is back home after inheriting her Aunts house which is good timing seeing as though she lost everything in her divorce and is going to get the dog training area back up and running. Unfortunately Griffin is the prime suspect for the body they found and now she needs to brush off her investigation skills she learnt from her Dad to find the real killer not only to clear Griffins name but so he can get the work completed for her business. I really liked how this was not just a cozy murder mystery but also about Willow reconnecting with her family and find herself again. I look forward to reading more in this series and seeing how Willow and her sister Wednesday (and her Dad hypothetically) solve some more cases!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I loved this story with characters Willow and Griffin and enjoyed the sleuthing that saves the day. Add a dog to the mix and I am hooked! Very enjoyable read and highly recommended for anyone who loves dogs and cozy mysteries. More to come in the series and I am ready!!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Lots of Dogs in this Cozy Mystery!
This is a good mystery for the dog lover! It is a cute a cozy mystery with a promise of romance to come. Our heroine’s life is centered around building a dog training facility on an old property she just inherited. It is a small town cozy with lots of intrigue and everyone knowing each other’s business. The plot is great with an abundance of suspects. The characters are real people with real emotions. This is the first in a series that should be quite fun to read, this one sure was. I received this book for free and this is my honest review.
This was an outstanding book. I truly loved reading it. It was filled with love, passion and intrigue. It was great. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book in exchange for a free copy.
If like me you enjoy curling up with a good mystery then you will enjoy this one I was pulled right into the storyline and was completely hooked It is the first book in the series and I cannot wait to read the rest. When Willow moves back to her hometown after her divorce she decides to turn her Aunts place into a dog training facility and hires Griffin to do the work the last thing she is expecting is to find a dead body and for Griffin to be the main suspect. So they decide to try and figure out who did do it.This was a good read and I really enjoyed it
What an enjoyable read. She has a run of bad luck and ends up inheriting a house from a relative. She has a contractor fixing up the house. They find a body in the yard and things get exciting. The dog just adds a lot more to the excitement. It is enjoyable, fun, emotional, suspenseful and a lot more. I was given a review copy by booksprout and voluntarily review it.
This was a great cozy mystery. It was funny, entertaining, and captivating. It has heartache, lie, deceit and betrayal. The characters were well developed. the the storyline was spot on. A great read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
When Willow unexpectedly finds herself divorced and stripped of her business by her ex, she also receives an inheritance from her Aunt.
The house and doggie gym give her a second chance at her training career and a home.
If only they could finish both.
A dead real estate investor and a contractor with frozen accounts leave Willow in deep dooty.
Can they work together to get things resolved in time to save both their businesses and her life?
action packed critter cozy
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a really good story. I loved the whodunit. It kept me guessing until the end! The characters are well written and well developed. My favorites are Telescope and Rover, of course. It’s so great to read a book where the animals don’t die! I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.
This book is a cute and fun cozy mystery to read. A totally new series from Stella St. Claire. Willow Wells has come back to Pineview to start her dog training business in the house her late Aunt Edna had left her. The home already was set up for this business but had run down over time and needed repairs to get her business up and running. Problem is, missing real estate mogul, Lee Hunter has been missing and is found buried in the Obstacle Course area and is now cordoned off by police tape and her Dad is investigating the murder. Bigger problem is he is focusing completely on her contractor, Griffin Maynard, was Frank Wells’ top suspect. Willow is going to have to solve this murder herself if she wants Griffin to be free to get her renovation done in time for business to open before the Dog Show season began.
A fun and fast paced story. You feel Willow’s frustration and are entertained by her sister, Wednesday’s aspirations to become an Instagram Influencer. And Willow’s Chihuahua, Telescope is just adorable and the smartest.
I hope you enjoy this fun foray into a whole new cozy mystery series. I know I can’t wait for the next book to come out!
3.5 stars
It wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t exactly good either.
Things I liked:
+ Telescope, the three-legged dog, was cute. He was smart, special and intuitive.
+ I liked Willow’s banter with Tele. Favorite quote: “Having a loyal canine companion meant that you were never really talking to yourself. You were simply being polite and including your dog in the conversation.”
+ It was pleasant, easy-to-read, and enjoyable up to a point (see the negatives for further explanation).
+ It was a good motive and it was well explained.
Things I didn’t like:
– Telescope the dog was made to look too human. Nodding in confirmation and shaking your head in denial? That’s a human thing, not a doggy thing.
– The syntax was very simple, clumsy almost.
– Willow got angry too fast and too outrageously at Griffin. It made me like her less, even though with everyone else she seemed nice enough. Oh, she turned around okay but still, she was very judgmental at first.
– I already suspected whodunit at 12% but knew for sure at 72%. And you weren’t to know until 85%. But it was sooooo obvious it was practically screaming the solution! Now, the part between the 72% and 85% may not seem long, but that whole time I was just thinking ‘why can’t she see the obvious, she’s supposed to be so smart’! It irritated me. From that moment on I couldn’t enjoy it much. The suspense and surprise were gone.
– She did something really really really incredibly stupid at the end. And something else happened, that I can’t reveal because that would be spoiling, that was highly unlikely. It was supposed to be cute, but ended up being annoying because it was just too unbelievable.
All in all, this was a very standard cozy, not the best.
Willow Wells has returned home after a divorce that left her a dog trainer with no dogs to train. She has inherited her Aunt’s property, which seems to be an answer to her prayers as there is enough room to set up a dog agility gym. No sooner does she have her contractor start excavation, but a body of a local real estate mogul is found.
As if things couldn’t get worse, Willow’s contractor Griffin is considered prime suspect number one and all of his assets frozen. This means no renovations can be completed until the murder case gets resolved. Willow, her sister Wednesday, and Griffin all team up to prove Griffin’s innocence and find the real murderer before Willow’s dream business goes belly up.
This is a classic cozy mystery with fun loving characters, lots of potential suspects, an adorable pet companion (Tele), and many red herrings.
4.4 stars
Who does not love a chihuahua? They are cute and fun-loving just like this cozy mystery. Willow is a dog trainer who moves back to her roots after a divorce. She hires Griffin, who she knew from school to do the renovation on the house that she is planning to use to set up a gym for the dogs. However, when a dead body turns up, the first person to be suspected of the crime is Griffin. Not one to believe in his guilt, Willow, her sister and Griffin team up to try and get to the bottom of the mystery. Will they be successful or will the town gossip mills throw a wrench into the investigation?
I volunteered to read a copy of this book and the opinions are my own.