Murder by Death

Kirsta Davis is a solid cozy mystery writer and this is the first in a new series.  Animal themed cozies seem to be all the rage at the moment, with new ones coming from left, right and centre.  Luckily, I love animals and as long as they don't talk, they aren't abused and they don't die, I'm willing to give 'em all a read.

Murder, She Barked is a pretty good first.  Holly is a likeable protagonist whose visiting her Oma - also quite likeable.  Independent, capable, smart; no TSTL moments to speak of for either of them.  Oma owns an Inn that caters to people and their pets.  The author keeps all readers happy by giving Holly both a dog and a kitten, whose name is Twinkletoes, which I think is a perfect name for a cat.

Since it's a first book, it's hard to know which characters beyond Holly and Oma are going to stick around, but most everyone is likeable.  Of course, we have to have the hateful, spiteful bitch (of the human variety), but luckily we only see her once and I hope in future she remains far away.  I don't get the over-the-top animosity authors feel obligated to include; a bit of cattiness here and there - sure, but not the outright nastiness.  Personally I think subtle animosity is more powerful.

The plot is labyrinthine - there's no other word for it.  Ok, convoluted would be another appropriate word.  There were no obvious clues or culprits that stood out but when all was said and done I was left a bit agog at the tangled tale.

If you're a cozy fan and really like 'em cozy, I'd recommend this book - I didn't put it down thinking "Oh! I can't wait for the next one!" but I did put it down thinking "Yes, I'll definitely read the next one when it's published, I'm interested in knowing more."