Of Birds and Beagles

Allie Babcock Mystery #5

by Leslie O'Kane

Dog therapist Allie Babcock is excited to give a presentation at the Pets! Pets! Pets! Expo in Denver. With the bring-your-own-pets policy of the expo, Allie's dog-phobic boyfriend is hyperventilating as soon as they enter the building. When he runs into his gorgeous-but-crazy ex-girlfriend and her parrot, Magoo, sparks are flying in all the wrong directions. Before Allie can take the stage, Magoo nips the ear of an adorable dog--Beagle Bailey--who belongs to Allie's friend Tracy, a local radio-talk-show celebrity. Havoc reigns, and Tracy drags the dog-friendly community of Boulder into the fray by broadcasting her version of the bird-versus-beagle altercation.

One thing leads to another until Allie is enmeshed in two love triangles, as well as one hate triangle. With her own love life in dire straits, Allie takes solace in playing cupid for her mother and Frank, a charming neighborhood volunteer fix-it man. Little does she know that Frank's work repairing the wires in an elderly client's home that squirrels have gnawed through will lead Allie to find a dead body...and Frank to be named as a suspect.

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 8, 2015

Reviews

[Fran Bisconer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birds and Beagles

This is about a dog behaverist and a couple of murders. The plot thickens when a friend tries to kill her.

[Danae Couture · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad story. Quick read but the editing errors are distracting.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cozy mystery continues the story of Allie Babcock and her dog training career, which keeps being interrupted by her finding dead bodies. The mysteries are always good, with enough complications that leave me guessing who did it. The clues are there; just not obtrusive.

The other part that I enjoy is the story of how Allie's life is going. This one ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger. It's realistic, but I now I want to have the next book in my hands.

The problem comes in rating it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think it deserves 4.5 stars. I'm rounding up because I like dogs.

I think that dog lovers will thoroughly enjoy the series. If you like cozies, you might well want to start with the first book.

[Joyce Kirkwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gteat storyline!

I enjoyed the book, but there was a murder in the previous book. Too many murders take away from the dog happy story and it is not necessary to make the book interesting. Leslie is a wonderful writer. Closer editing would be helpful, too. Thanks, I really enjoyed the book.
Joyce

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining

The book has a lot of talk of dogs and some useful hints. The characters are entertaining. She could use an editor or proofer - but she obviously has good use of language and expresses herself well.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series. Looking forward to next book.

[Rose Blum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story :)