I voluntarily asked for and received a copy of this book for review purposes.
What do you do if you’re a struggling veterinary student trying to come up with enough money to get back to school? You become the town’s animal and house sitter, and you go after the wealthiest clients you can. That’s Lizzie Jones’s plan, and she’s smart and capable enough to pull it off. One of her clients also happens to be her long-time best friend, Caroline. Caroline is married to a narcissistic body builder who has announced his intentions to leave her. But when the shallow body builder is found dead in the family hot tub, is it even remotely possible that Caroline killed him? There is no shortage of suspects; he tossed off one dalliance after another without any real regret once he tired of the conquest. It’s up to Lizzie to sort through the town’s sometimes-eccentric, sometimes-bizarre characters to determine who killed the guy, and it’s a race against time, since local authorities are eager for a conviction.
While the plot and writing style will appeal to you, it is Angie Hickman’s narration that will turn this from just another cozy mystery into something you’ll remember and even revisit. Angie breathes so much life and vibrance into Lizzie that you’ll feel sure she has watched and walked your dog. Hickman moves with so much verbal grace among the characters in this book. She is the youthful Lizzie, the somewhat saddr and wiser Caroline; she manages the characters such that there’s never any confusion as to who’s speaking. Her narrations are a treasure that adds tremendous value to an already fun cozy mystery with just a tiny bit of romance tossed in.