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To Kill A Mocking Dog
Meet Marty Hollis. His death just got a whole lot worse.
Marty Hollis is a serial killer. He murdered nine people. He was hoping to make double figures, but his own death intervened.
The mysterious Mr. Scarlet offers Marty the chance to live again, only now he must travel back in time and save someone’s life.
Marty decides to accept the challenge. Then he meets his new partner:
Weedgie, a Scottish dog with attitude. It was irritation at first sight.
And so Marty and Weedgie step into the swirling blackness to begin their first mission together.
But Marty has a dastardly plan of his own…
A Marty & Weedgie Mystery #1
Marty Hollis is a serial killer. He murdered nine people. He was hoping to make double figures, but his own death intervened.
The mysterious Mr. Scarlet offers Marty the chance to live again, only now he must travel back in time and save someone’s life.
Marty decides to accept the challenge. Then he meets his new partner:
Weedgie, a Scottish dog with attitude. It was irritation at first sight.
And so Marty and Weedgie step into the swirling blackness to begin their first mission together.
But Marty has a dastardly plan of his own…
A Marty & Weedgie Mystery #1
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2011
6 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Angela Cowan
16 books4 followersAngela began drawing and telling stories as soon as she could hold a crayon. When she graduated to a ball-point pen, she churned out cartoon strips about herself and her best friend from primary school. The cartoons were pretty mad, as anyone who knows her would expect, and they in turn gave way to illustrated stories written in old ledgers and booklets consisting of however many sheets of paper Angela could staple together without losing a finger.
At some point in her adult life Angela became a community artist and has helped hundreds of children, young adults and adults to create paintings, sculptures, murals, and a seven foot tall Elvis, among other things. But the writing crept in now and again - funny articles for the local paper, a winning short story in a Daily Mail competition - and during this time she created the characters Leon and Clive and their script for an animated film.
More recently, a bizarre dream led to the YA novel 'The Next One' and the antagonist Marty Hollis, who stayed in her head for some time afterwards. As a result, Angela became more dreamy and abstracted than usual until she did something about him. She teamed him with Weedgie the Dug and set about giving him his comeuppance.
And so the Marty & Weedgie mystery series was born...
At some point in her adult life Angela became a community artist and has helped hundreds of children, young adults and adults to create paintings, sculptures, murals, and a seven foot tall Elvis, among other things. But the writing crept in now and again - funny articles for the local paper, a winning short story in a Daily Mail competition - and during this time she created the characters Leon and Clive and their script for an animated film.
More recently, a bizarre dream led to the YA novel 'The Next One' and the antagonist Marty Hollis, who stayed in her head for some time afterwards. As a result, Angela became more dreamy and abstracted than usual until she did something about him. She teamed him with Weedgie the Dug and set about giving him his comeuppance.
And so the Marty & Weedgie mystery series was born...
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 18, 2013
To Kill a Mocking Dog by Angela Cowan
209 pages
Kindle Edition
Redemption?
I have to admit, I was both intrigued and turned off by the premise of turning Marty, a serial killer into a serial saver, but Angela Cowan’s skillful writing made me identify with and like Marty and his partner Weedgie the mocking dog. I was able to suspend my skepticism within a few pages.
Despite the serious aspects of this book, Cowan wrapped it with humor and whimsy making it deceptively easy to read and hard to put down. I appreciate it when an author gets her point across without bludgeoning me with her position on morality.
If there was one thing I would fault, is I felt the reason Marty became a serial killer a bit too convenient and not entirely convincing to me. That did not affect my enjoyment of the book, however.
So if you are looking for a fun read with some substance, I heartily recommend this book.
Review first published Jan. 17, 2013 on my blog, Random Thoughts of an Accidental Author.
209 pages
Kindle Edition
Redemption?
I have to admit, I was both intrigued and turned off by the premise of turning Marty, a serial killer into a serial saver, but Angela Cowan’s skillful writing made me identify with and like Marty and his partner Weedgie the mocking dog. I was able to suspend my skepticism within a few pages.
Despite the serious aspects of this book, Cowan wrapped it with humor and whimsy making it deceptively easy to read and hard to put down. I appreciate it when an author gets her point across without bludgeoning me with her position on morality.
If there was one thing I would fault, is I felt the reason Marty became a serial killer a bit too convenient and not entirely convincing to me. That did not affect my enjoyment of the book, however.
So if you are looking for a fun read with some substance, I heartily recommend this book.
Review first published Jan. 17, 2013 on my blog, Random Thoughts of an Accidental Author.
March 13, 2013
Funny book, easy read with a simple storyline. Weedgie "speaks" in West of Scotland vernacular. I'll probably read the next in the series.
May 10, 2014
This is a book of intrigue... Most excellent! Can't put too much here for fear of 'spoiling' suffice to say READ THIS!
March 30, 2015
Ok I think this is nearer 3.5 stars but I will be kind and round it up to 4. I haven't read any of Angela's books before but really like the idea of this one. The plot involves a Marty (an ex serial killer) and Weedgie (a Glaswegian dog) in what is very much a Quantum Leap type mystery, where they are given a second chance and have to save someone before moving on. The characters were great I really warmed to Marty and Weedgie (except all Weedgie speech is in the Scottish accent and did become a bit annoying after a while), the supporting characters were lively well thought out and believable. There were plenty of twists in the mystery to keep it fresh. I will be giving the second book in the series a go, if only to see how the interaction between the main characters develops.
June 26, 2020
Loved this book! It's a page turner with some brilliant surprises. Weedgie the dog has a great turn of phrase and had me giggling away. Well worth reading and part of a series which makes it even better :-)
May 13, 2019
Angela Cowan takes us on a wonderfully absurd adventure in To Kill a Mocking Dog. Marty Hollis is a serial killer who has recently died. When a strange being called Mr. Scarlet gives him a chance to live again provided he saves someone’s life, he takes it (with plans of his own). Marty makes a good antihero and the plot has some great twists. Cowan also laces everything fantastically with voice making To Kill a Mocking Dog fast-paced, interesting, and fun!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews