The Spotted Dog

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       October 29, 2018

 

Author  Kerry Greenwood

Distributor:      Allen and Unwin
ISBN:                 9781760528485
Publisher:         Allen and Unwin
Release Date:   October 2018  

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After an absence from the printed page for several years’ baker extraordinaire and amateur sleuth Corinna Chapman returns with her absolutely gorgeous lover Daniel, who seems to have links into the world of crime solving better not asked about, a wonderful and colourful array of neighbours who all patronise her bakery Earthly Delights.

Her early morning reverie was interrupted with the arrival of a man walking down the alleyway, his stride stating he was either a soldier or policeman; a man who was obviously looking for something, very aware of his environment, but moving in a manner that made her take a second and then a third look. When he reached her doorway, he held out an envelope with words scrawled on it from the dominatable Sister Mary, saying Daniel Cohen will help you.

And so once again Corinna and Daniel are plunged into a world of danger, intrigue and baking that takes some seriously dangerous gang members to task. Alasdair is a British soldier returned from Afghanistan, a man who has experienced he nightmare of a brutal war first hand, a man who along with this beloved dog Geordie, who has also served along side him as a trained ‘sniffer’ dog, is in dire need of help.

It would seem that Geordie has been kidnapped by men who are considered as seriously vicious members of a gang setting up in the world of drug running and involved in a turf war with a rival gang in Kilmarnock, an up and coming neighbourhood of smart houses and even smarter cars.

 Alasdair’s arrival seems to set off a train of events which, while appearing not to be associated with the ‘dog napping’ are beginning to be a cause for alarm for the residents of Insula and the long-suffering Senior Detective Letitia White.  After the second break in to Professor Monks apartment the events of the week are beginning to look like anything but random break-ins but seem to be something different to gang related disappearance of Geordie.

As the hot days of an endless summer slowly meander along, accompanied by the delicious baked delights to come forth from Earthly Delights, the plot thickens and it takes Daniel and all his intriguing associates, to finally discover just what is really happening in the underworld that has come a calling to disturb the peace.

Danger is a reality as Corinna, Daniel and Alasdair discover the whereabouts of Geordie and set out to rescue him, with explosive consequences.

Once again Kerry Greenwood and her heroine Corina have delivered the goods in a warm-hearted, aromatic and genteel, but of course, well ordered detective story of the very best kind; low key but definitely dangerous and populated with a wonderful cast of eclectic people who add their own particular specialities to an entreating yarn.