In Traitorous Toys by Mildred Abbott, Winifred Page, or Fred, is settling into Estes Park, Colorado after moving there a month earlier to open the Cozy Corgi Bookstore. Going Christmas shopping with her new friend Katie, the pair makes the rounds of the shops when Fred’s corgi, Watson, relieves himself, causing Fred to have to return to her shop for a bag. This causes her to delay going into the toy store three minutes after Katie, whom Fred discovers bending over the body of Declan Diamond, the ruthless toy shop owner. He has a garland with sharp fiberglass wrapped around his neck, and Katie has been trying to release the garland, which gives Fred a chance to cut it with scissors. Declan has a faint pulse.
When they call the police, Officer Susan Green, who has a vendetta against Fred and her family, treats Katie with suspicion and arrests Fred’s friend for the attempted murder of Declan Diamond. It takes the arrival into town of Sgt. Branson Wexler, returning from his vacation, to release Katie. But Fred decides to emulate her detective father, who died in the line of duty, and snoop around the community to solve the case.
As with the first book in the series, Candy Corgi, I really enjoyed Traitorous Toys. I appreciated the plotline, which was creative in its details, though not as deep as the first book. The town of Estes Park truly comes to life in this book, and we feel that we know the shops in town personally. I also liked seeing Fred spend her time getting her shop together, a feature that many cozy mysteries neglect. Too many have the protagonist spend all her or his time investigating and neglecting the person’s professional life. So it was nice to see Fred’s being busy at her career as her primary priority and her investigation as her secondary priority.
A strong point of this book is its creative characters. Fred reveals more about herself and her background in this book, giving us a small peek into her past that we hadn’t seen before. As a sympathetic character, Fred soon makes us come to identify with her and feel her emotions. We also come to appreciate Katie and want her to succeed, and her refusal to discuss her past opens up new realms of exploration for future books. The crazy characters come from Fred’s family, from her hippy step-father to his identical twin daughters who married another set of identical twins. The husbands team up to invent all sorts of crazy things and have done very well in their company, with a major exception being the light up garland full of fiberglass that was used to strangle Declan Diamond. But the star of the book was Watson, the corgi who never leaves Fred’s side. He is there for every action and even helps to solve the mystery.
Angie Hickman performs the audio version of this book. She uses good expression in the book and creates realistic voices, especially for Katie. However, I feel that her voice is a little young- sounding for 38- year- old Fred. I would have selected a more mature voice and given Hickman a role of a teenager or an early 20- something. That being said, Hickman gives a good delivery in general of the book.
Traitorous Toys proved to be a fun, light- hearted listen that I enjoyed very much. With vivid descriptions and lively characters, the book springs to life and transports us to Estes Park. I give the book five stars.
Disclaimer: I received this copy for free for review purposes, but that had no effect oin the content of my review.