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Isle of Man Ghostly Cozy #4
Dogs and Danger
When Fenella Woods decided to cut all of her ties in Buffalo, New York to move to the Isle of Man, she didn’t even give pets a single thought. Not long after she’d settled in, however, she’d found herself with a kitten. Just back from a fortnight of research in London, the last thing she’s expecting is that she’s going to find herself looking after two dogs as well.
When Fenella and her good friend, Shelly Quirk, find a stray dog on Douglas Beach, Shelly quickly recognizes him and knows where he belongs. The problem is, his owner, Harvey, seems to have disappeared. Shelly’s cat won’t let Winston into Shelly’s apartment, but Fenella’s Katie is more welcoming.
When a second neighbor goes missing only a few days later, Fenella finds herself in the middle of two missing person cases, and looking after two dogs. When one of the missing men turns up dead and a third person goes missing, life begins to feel more dangerous for Fenella and Shelly.
Inspector Daniel Robinson is reluctantly on the sidelines as he’s busy getting ready to go away for a two-month training course. Missing persons isn’t really his area of expertise, either. Can Fenella and Shelly help work out what’s going on before anyone else ends up dead?
When Fenella and her good friend, Shelly Quirk, find a stray dog on Douglas Beach, Shelly quickly recognizes him and knows where he belongs. The problem is, his owner, Harvey, seems to have disappeared. Shelly’s cat won’t let Winston into Shelly’s apartment, but Fenella’s Katie is more welcoming.
When a second neighbor goes missing only a few days later, Fenella finds herself in the middle of two missing person cases, and looking after two dogs. When one of the missing men turns up dead and a third person goes missing, life begins to feel more dangerous for Fenella and Shelly.
Inspector Daniel Robinson is reluctantly on the sidelines as he’s busy getting ready to go away for a two-month training course. Missing persons isn’t really his area of expertise, either. Can Fenella and Shelly help work out what’s going on before anyone else ends up dead?
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2017
399 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Diana Xarissa
246 books265 followersDiana started self-publishing in 2013 and over a decade later she now has over a hundred books available for readers. Writing remains her passion and she has no plans to stop writing in the foreseeable future.
Diana grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and earned a history degree from Allegheny College. She met her husband, an Englishman, while living and working in Washington, DC. Following their marriage, she moved to Derbyshire. A short while later, the happy couple moved to the Isle of Man.
During their years on the island, Diana and her husband welcomed two children, and Diana completed a master’s degree in the history of the island. In 2008, the family made the decision to move to the US. Now empty-nesters, Diana and her husband are living in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and contemplating moving somewhere that doesn’t get snow.
Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future as Diana X. Dunn and Young Adult fiction as D.X. Dunn.
Diana grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and earned a history degree from Allegheny College. She met her husband, an Englishman, while living and working in Washington, DC. Following their marriage, she moved to Derbyshire. A short while later, the happy couple moved to the Isle of Man.
During their years on the island, Diana and her husband welcomed two children, and Diana completed a master’s degree in the history of the island. In 2008, the family made the decision to move to the US. Now empty-nesters, Diana and her husband are living in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and contemplating moving somewhere that doesn’t get snow.
Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future as Diana X. Dunn and Young Adult fiction as D.X. Dunn.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 4, 2018
I spent most of the day on the Isle of Man with Fenella and company. Very good mystery- I didn't have a clue whodunnit until towards the end when I began to suspect the killer. This particular mystery makes me want to have lots of pets -- haha so unlike me!
August 27, 2017
Missing Elderly, Dogs, & Too Many Men
Fenella has just returned to the Isle of Man from her research trip "across"--in London and surrounding area. Neighbor & friend Shelly & Fenella find a familiar dog, Winston, running loose on the promenade & beach near their home in Douglas. They quickly find his owner is missing, and call in homicide detective Daniel, one of the men Fenella's been seeing. Winston's owner, Harvey, is known to both Shelly & Fenella, and lives in the building next door. When a second man from the building goes missing, it leaves his dog, Fiona, homeless, and the women wanting to investigate. The other men Fenella's seeing--ultra-wealthy Donald & next-door neighbor/business owner Peter, are both still vying for her attention. Daniel is set to go on a homicide detective course for 2 months, but the current investigation throws he & Fenella together quite a bit.
Well written with interesting characters, this 4th book in the series didn't feature the ghost, Fenella's Aunt Mona, nor did it advance any of the relationships between Fenella & her men. The mystery/crime was unique, but it felt as though the denouement was a bit hurried, rather as if it had been crammed into the last 6-8 pages.
I recommend the series as well as the author's Aunt Bessie series.
Fenella has just returned to the Isle of Man from her research trip "across"--in London and surrounding area. Neighbor & friend Shelly & Fenella find a familiar dog, Winston, running loose on the promenade & beach near their home in Douglas. They quickly find his owner is missing, and call in homicide detective Daniel, one of the men Fenella's been seeing. Winston's owner, Harvey, is known to both Shelly & Fenella, and lives in the building next door. When a second man from the building goes missing, it leaves his dog, Fiona, homeless, and the women wanting to investigate. The other men Fenella's seeing--ultra-wealthy Donald & next-door neighbor/business owner Peter, are both still vying for her attention. Daniel is set to go on a homicide detective course for 2 months, but the current investigation throws he & Fenella together quite a bit.
Well written with interesting characters, this 4th book in the series didn't feature the ghost, Fenella's Aunt Mona, nor did it advance any of the relationships between Fenella & her men. The mystery/crime was unique, but it felt as though the denouement was a bit hurried, rather as if it had been crammed into the last 6-8 pages.
I recommend the series as well as the author's Aunt Bessie series.
September 22, 2020
I almost abandoned the series about a third of the way through this book. I've read all 25 of the Aunt Bessie novels, and I'm eagerly anticipating next month's release of Aunt Bessie Zeroes In so I sloughed through. It got a little better after the midpoint reversal, and I hope the next book will be better.
The thing with this one is all the dog and animal stuff. There's just so much of it, and it's so tedious. I feel as if it adds nothing to the case or the plot. Having so much about the dogs, their care, and walking is just too much. I think it should be in there once, and you've made your point. Now please get to the murder/missing person case.
Yes, Shelly is friendly and feels terrible that the dogs have upended Fenella's life by adding a demanding menagerie but seriously, ugh. Just stop with this. It's not like she has to rush off to a job, and that book she's researching still feels like a vanity project more than anything else.
Talking about the dogs all the time and how they're such a burden rather than a bother makes Fenella seem weak and incapable - is that really how her friends perceive her? Fenella is the same woman who bravely upended her life to move to the island, so I don't think it's too much to ask her to stand in her truth, be proud of the new life she's creating and forge ahead. I get that she has boundary issues - that's why she's trying to juggle dating so many men.
I've never really liked Fenella. As a person, she treats men rather poorly and can't be honest or authentic with people. I get that she's agreeable for the most part, but it comes across as insincere to me. She has a lot of energy invested in being nice - Aunt Bessie in the other series does too, but she's from an older generation where politeness and manners were more paramount. Living on a small island for so many decades, Bessie has trained herself to take a deep breath and hold her tongue. As a female academic in an American university, Fenella may have had to learn a similar technique, but we never see that. It's like she's never fought for her ideas in a teacher's lounge or union meeting.
I think Fenella uses her niceness as a shield to keep people at arm's length. It's a common defense mechanism against feeling too vulnerable in the world or being rejected. By putting up an extra nice persona, Fenella can maintain emotional distance, so I don't see her manipulative treatment of the men in her life as intentional or mean-spirited in any way. She does the same thing to Shelly and the suspects she interviews. I think that as the protagonist, we're supposed to root for her and identify with her, and perhaps there are plenty of female readers who juggle men with wishy-washy excuses to continue hedging her bets, but that's not me. In America, we have "Midwest Nice," so maybe that's a thing in Buffalo, NY as well. She was sleepwalking through her life with Jack, so this type of thing runs deep with her.
I'm still rooting for Daniel, and perhaps as the series progresses, he'll get over his divorce and make a bolder play to be with Fenella. Maybe if she's able to focus on one man and develop a sense of intimacy and attachment that she's never really experienced, she'll drop the persona and allow herself a greater level of authenticity and a more comprehensive range of emotions.
The thing with this one is all the dog and animal stuff. There's just so much of it, and it's so tedious. I feel as if it adds nothing to the case or the plot. Having so much about the dogs, their care, and walking is just too much. I think it should be in there once, and you've made your point. Now please get to the murder/missing person case.
Yes, Shelly is friendly and feels terrible that the dogs have upended Fenella's life by adding a demanding menagerie but seriously, ugh. Just stop with this. It's not like she has to rush off to a job, and that book she's researching still feels like a vanity project more than anything else.
Talking about the dogs all the time and how they're such a burden rather than a bother makes Fenella seem weak and incapable - is that really how her friends perceive her? Fenella is the same woman who bravely upended her life to move to the island, so I don't think it's too much to ask her to stand in her truth, be proud of the new life she's creating and forge ahead. I get that she has boundary issues - that's why she's trying to juggle dating so many men.
I've never really liked Fenella. As a person, she treats men rather poorly and can't be honest or authentic with people. I get that she's agreeable for the most part, but it comes across as insincere to me. She has a lot of energy invested in being nice - Aunt Bessie in the other series does too, but she's from an older generation where politeness and manners were more paramount. Living on a small island for so many decades, Bessie has trained herself to take a deep breath and hold her tongue. As a female academic in an American university, Fenella may have had to learn a similar technique, but we never see that. It's like she's never fought for her ideas in a teacher's lounge or union meeting.
I think Fenella uses her niceness as a shield to keep people at arm's length. It's a common defense mechanism against feeling too vulnerable in the world or being rejected. By putting up an extra nice persona, Fenella can maintain emotional distance, so I don't see her manipulative treatment of the men in her life as intentional or mean-spirited in any way. She does the same thing to Shelly and the suspects she interviews. I think that as the protagonist, we're supposed to root for her and identify with her, and perhaps there are plenty of female readers who juggle men with wishy-washy excuses to continue hedging her bets, but that's not me. In America, we have "Midwest Nice," so maybe that's a thing in Buffalo, NY as well. She was sleepwalking through her life with Jack, so this type of thing runs deep with her.
I'm still rooting for Daniel, and perhaps as the series progresses, he'll get over his divorce and make a bolder play to be with Fenella. Maybe if she's able to focus on one man and develop a sense of intimacy and attachment that she's never really experienced, she'll drop the persona and allow herself a greater level of authenticity and a more comprehensive range of emotions.
February 14, 2020
It could not have taken much time or imagination to Draft this particular story. If one is to ignore the very thinly veiled parallelism between this series and that of Aunt Bessie (which is even referred to in this story), and a clearly established template of Duplicitous Dialogue, making up the first third of the book, one is left with a Dragging Dogma of the main character’s Diverging opinion of Dogs.
Add to this a consistently rude referral to one of the other main character’s as “the man” rather than his actual name, and a continued vying for whose vocabulary (English or American) is more correct, made for a Disappointing read.
It appears obvious that there is a greater developing relationship between Fenella and Daniel, but rather than allowing a natural progression, the reader is continually confounded with an overly complex tripartite arrangement.
Add to this a consistently rude referral to one of the other main character’s as “the man” rather than his actual name, and a continued vying for whose vocabulary (English or American) is more correct, made for a Disappointing read.
It appears obvious that there is a greater developing relationship between Fenella and Daniel, but rather than allowing a natural progression, the reader is continually confounded with an overly complex tripartite arrangement.
June 10, 2018
Isle of Man Ghostly Mystery
Fenella and her friend Shelley find a dog in the beach and since Shelley knows the owner they go to check on him. They file a missing persons report and Fenella takes the dog home with her. Soon another man is missing and then a Woman disappears. How Shelley and Fenella discover what happened to the missing people is scary. This book is another great addition to the series.
Fenella and her friend Shelley find a dog in the beach and since Shelley knows the owner they go to check on him. They file a missing persons report and Fenella takes the dog home with her. Soon another man is missing and then a Woman disappears. How Shelley and Fenella discover what happened to the missing people is scary. This book is another great addition to the series.
March 29, 2020
Fenella's life gets complicated by dogs, missing persons and her friends and contacts. I think this is one of the best in the series as all people noted have enough characterization so that the reader feels connected to the Isle of Man and the people therein. In the first 3 of the series I really got the base of the series and am enjoying reading more in the series and finding out more about the mysteries, murders, romances, and friendships of Fenella and the Isle.
August 19, 2017
Intriguing story.
This is a well put together story that has unexplained deaths, fantastic dogs, humor. It also has Fenella finding herself with three men in her life. Unfortunately, she is in a quandary about th man she is most interested in. I am looking forward to the next installment. This is a very good book worthy of a 5 star rating.
This is a well put together story that has unexplained deaths, fantastic dogs, humor. It also has Fenella finding herself with three men in her life. Unfortunately, she is in a quandary about th man she is most interested in. I am looking forward to the next installment. This is a very good book worthy of a 5 star rating.
March 4, 2018
You know the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction" right? Well in this book, fiction was stranger than fiction! I have to say, this is definitely a unique plot and I enjoyed it for the most part (since when do pets need to be fed or walked every 3 hours?) and I can honestly say I didn't guess the ending.
July 30, 2018
Once again, Ms Xarissa has served up a hefty helping of romance and suspense with Fenella, her friend Shelly, their cats Smokey and Katie, Fenella's deceased Aunt Mona, and Fenella's three beaux. I do hope newly-introduced supporting characters Harvey, Winston, and Fiona will continue to make appearances in future adventures.
March 5, 2020
Disappearances and Death, plus Dogs
Fenella gets 2 doggie houseguests when their owners disappear.
I enjoy the characters and their interactions. She continues her relationships with the men in her life. (That's what has me going straight through the series.) And there are hints about how Mona always looked perfect.
Fenella gets 2 doggie houseguests when their owners disappear.
I enjoy the characters and their interactions. She continues her relationships with the men in her life. (That's what has me going straight through the series.) And there are hints about how Mona always looked perfect.
June 2, 2020
I enjoy this series. I realize their is a ghost, Mona, but I am not bothered by this as much as one would think. I love Fiona and Shelly. I am really rooting for Daniel to be with Fiona. I enjoy how Fiona, an American is dealing with getting used to British life, customs and language. I don’t think she will ever get her book done.
March 27, 2024
A bit more substantial than the average cozy mystery with the lovely setting of the Isle of Man. You wouldn’t think a somewhat smaller geographical area would harbor so many murderers but there you have it. When older, lonely dog owners begin disappearing the amateur sleuths step up to pets it and help solve the crimes.
September 4, 2017
Totally enjoyable read!
As usual, a great read that just made me want to read even more by Diana Xarissa! I loved the crossover of characters from other series - that was a fun added touch!
As usual, a great read that just made me want to read even more by Diana Xarissa! I loved the crossover of characters from other series - that was a fun added touch!
February 24, 2019
Loved it
Since I love dogs, I especially loved the dogs in this book. The whole book was just such fun, characters so real - well, ok, I have never had three hot guys after me at once ... but I’m willing to try imaging it 😉.
Since I love dogs, I especially loved the dogs in this book. The whole book was just such fun, characters so real - well, ok, I have never had three hot guys after me at once ... but I’m willing to try imaging it 😉.
January 11, 2020
Awesome series
Disappearing islanders with dogs. One turns up disoriented with loss of memory. Fenella and Shelly take care of missing owners pets with hysterically lasting consequences. Read the entire series. Oh and I forgot about ghost Mona!
Disappearing islanders with dogs. One turns up disoriented with loss of memory. Fenella and Shelly take care of missing owners pets with hysterically lasting consequences. Read the entire series. Oh and I forgot about ghost Mona!
May 25, 2020
WOW!
The premise of this book, that folks with dogs are disappearing from the same area, is a very clever premise. I enjoy all interactions Fenella has with Daniel and also with the animals. Plus, everyone needs a friend like Shelley. Cannot wait for next book
The premise of this book, that folks with dogs are disappearing from the same area, is a very clever premise. I enjoy all interactions Fenella has with Daniel and also with the animals. Plus, everyone needs a friend like Shelley. Cannot wait for next book
April 21, 2021
This was really quite interesting.
I like the dog element. I'm a huge dog fan so I hope we see more of the dogs over the series.
I also quite like how she plays the field. Curious who she ends up with.
I like the dog element. I'm a huge dog fan so I hope we see more of the dogs over the series.
I also quite like how she plays the field. Curious who she ends up with.
December 22, 2023
All of the books in this series are enjoyable light reading, this one seems to be getting a little lighter in the believability department. I'll try another one, but I need a break right now with something a bit more serious.
August 24, 2017
Totally enjoyed the book, sort of narrowed down who did it but not why. Can hardly wait to see what Finella and friends get into next...
September 24, 2017
Daniel!!
October 15, 2017
I really am enjoying this series. I love the Aunt Bessie series, and am very interested in the Isle of Mann setting. Definitely a great read, and I highly recommend this authors work.
July 16, 2018
New stories
These are brilliant I really enjoyed this book I know the isle of man so it helped me to enjoy this book .
These are brilliant I really enjoyed this book I know the isle of man so it helped me to enjoy this book .
March 18, 2021
Great
Just the sort of book I need when I want nothing taxing or an feeling low. Fenella and her friends are the tonic I want to make me feel better.
Just the sort of book I need when I want nothing taxing or an feeling low. Fenella and her friends are the tonic I want to make me feel better.
July 23, 2021
Enjoyed series.
It is a fun read. I liked the mystery but most of all I enjoyed the quirky characters. I recommend this mystery.
It is a fun read. I liked the mystery but most of all I enjoyed the quirky characters. I recommend this mystery.
January 3, 2023
This is the fourth in a cute cozy mystery series. I am really enjoying them. They don’t take much brain space for me to read and that is just what I need now.
December 17, 2018
I can just picture the promenade dog walkers!
Read
March 30, 2018Light, easy read with likable characters. These are fun mysteries to read.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews