Book 27 of my 2014 Goal

A Shot in the Bark by C.A. Newsome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Shot in the Bark: A Dog Park Mystery (Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries Book 1) by C. A. Newsome is a book I was hoping would be interesting since I like dogs and mysteries. For some reason the dog on the cover gave me the impression this was a YA read but I have read many of them too and enjoyed them so how can I resist at least giving it a try? After starting the book I just couldn't put it down! This book could stand alone as it leads you to believe who done it. Just don't read the Epilogue at the end or you will be doing what I did and order book 2 so you could continue the story.

A couple of things I loved about this book is that it wasn't bogged down with a lot of complicated stuff. It is a light read that I found very entertaining and it is down-to-earth: I could meet people like that on the street or my local dog park (if I had one) although at times one can be a little eccentric, they are like everyday people.

Let me start by saying I did read a few comments already and I don't know if this book was edited or not but some said the characters weren't developed but I did not find this true. I thought the characters were nicely developed. Sure, they weren't all done at once, now how dragging would that have been if they were? They were developed throughout the book and I thought the author did a great job with them in respect to the time frame of the story. In other words, time and space wasn't wasted on where the characters were born or what school they went to, it has nothing to do with the story. These are adults who all met at a dog park (for the most part) so they are developed from that point in their adult life with references made to the past when it pertained to the story.

The mystery part of who done it just gets deeper and deeper as time goes by and more happens. There are quite a few twists and I really had no clue who done it. What adds to the mystery is that the thoughts of the killer are known so you can hear what this person is thinking and feeling but I just didn't know who it was. I thought the author did this beautifully as there is no doubt when I was reading the thoughts of the killer (even the print is different) from the rest of the story.

Now a lot of the comments I read were about the ending and how she didn't tell who done it. As I said before, if you just read this book and not the epilogue after the end, basically your killer is caught and the story complete. If you do read the epilogue then you may as well go on to book 2, Drool Baby (if you like book 1, you'll love book 2)! Since I don't want to write any kind of spoilers I can't say much more than I personally love the way that was done.

Apparently this seems to be one of those books you either hate or love. I loved it! I recommend it to everyone who likes mysteries (and dogs).


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