What do you think?
Rate this book
Dead Cows Talking
In Saskatoon, Canada, a newly graduated veterinarian shoots wildly at a horse in the clinic of the veterinary college. A few miles away, in the middle of a frozen slough, veterinarians find the frozen body of a butcher, cradling a cow's head. Nearby, a successful cattle embryo transfer farm has something to hide. Veterinarian Abner Dueck, back in Canada after being expelled from Indonesia, once again finds himself trying to solve problems which the people around him think are none of his business. Fear of Landing, the first Abner Dueck mystery, was listed by Publishers Weekly as one of the top 10 mysteries and top 100 books of 2008. Margaret Cannon wrote, in The Globe and Mail that "David Waltner-Toews is a genuine polymath. He's a published poet, author of books on subjects as diverse as Mennonite history and exotic animal-to-human diseases. He's a professor of population medicine at the University of Guelph, an epidemiologist, a founder of Veterinarians Without Borders and the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health. In his free time, he's written his first mystery novel, and it's terrific."
216 pages, Paperback
Published July 20, 2020
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 2, 2020
This is the second in Waltner-Toews' mystery series about a Mennonite-background veterinarian. His mysteries have a somewhat breezy character to them. Most of the characters other than Abner Dueck have limited character development but rely on immediate impressions.
As might be expected from a veterinary epidemiologist, the plot centers on some unusual deaths among cattle, and then various people within Dueck's veterinary practice and at the local vet school. Are they murdered? Are they unfortunate victims of illness or misadventure?
Abner also likes women, though he mostly resists temptation and remains true to his "fianceé," Sarah. I like the fact that Waltner-Toews has strong women in his fiction.
Dead Cows Talking is an easy read except for a few instances of technical language. The plot resolution is surprising; at least I didn't see it coming. And the family relationships of some of the characters were a bit hard for me to track.
As might be expected from a veterinary epidemiologist, the plot centers on some unusual deaths among cattle, and then various people within Dueck's veterinary practice and at the local vet school. Are they murdered? Are they unfortunate victims of illness or misadventure?
Abner also likes women, though he mostly resists temptation and remains true to his "fianceé," Sarah. I like the fact that Waltner-Toews has strong women in his fiction.
Dead Cows Talking is an easy read except for a few instances of technical language. The plot resolution is surprising; at least I didn't see it coming. And the family relationships of some of the characters were a bit hard for me to track.
Displaying 1 of 1 review