The Spotted Dog

by Kerry Greenwood

Overview

Melbourne's favorite baker is back in her 7th delicious investigation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464211195
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/21/2020
Series:	Corinna Chapman Series , #7
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	514,942
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has degrees in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written three series, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy, is an award-winning children's writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written twenty books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. In 2003 Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Association.

Editorial Reviews

07/29/2019

In Australian author Greenwood’s busy seventh mystery featuring baker Corinna Chapman (after 2012’s Cooking the Books), several unusual incidents in Corinna’s Melbourne neighborhood trouble her. The cherished dog that saved the life of a Scottish soldier in Afghanistan is stolen; the computers of a Greek café are hacked and pornography left behind; and the homes of Corinna and her neighbor, professor Dion Monk, are burgled. Signs seem to indicate that people are searching for a religious artifact, but Corinna is puzzled as to why she has been singled out and uneasy about hints of a criminal gang’s involvement and the professor’s activities. One traumatized character is unable to speak, but the narrative presents a unique way of conveying her voice that builds suspense. Though the novel is light on actual detection, the action reaches a tense climax. Readers will enjoy warmhearted Corinna’s stout defense of the vulnerable and welcome the chance to spend time with the baker and her eccentric circle of friends. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Fans of the series will be thrilled by Corinna's return after a seven-year absence." — Booklist

"The action reaches a tense climax. Readers will enjoy warmhearted Corinna’s stout defense of the vulnerable and welcome the chance to spend time with the baker and her eccentric circle of friends." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Audio has to be the best way to read a Kerry Greenwood novel. The Australian accents are delicious, and a deft narrator sweeps you happily past any momentary questions about believability. Jennifer Vuletic is that utterly deft narrator, and Phrynne Fisher fans who have not yet discovered Corinna Chapman, the contemporary plus-size heroine who bakes for a living and solves crimes on the side with her sexy P.I. boyfriend, are in for a treat. The title dog is the sole companion and comfort of a shattered Afghanistan war veteran. Corinna’s whole charming village of oddball neighbors, customers, and friends gets involved in working out which ugly but not very bright gangsters took the dog and why. All’s well that ends well, plus there are recipes. B.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JULY 2019 - AudioFile

★ 2019-07-15
A missing dog, a series of break-ins, and several dangerous gangs provide a jam-packed agenda for Melbourne baker/sleuth Corinna Chapman and Daniel Cohen, her tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous Israeli lover.

The delightfully laid-back Corinna (Cooking the Books, 2012, etc.) and her talented apprentice, reformed junkie Jason, are up early baking for her shop, Earthly Delights, when retired Sgt. Alastair Sinclair arrives and swiftly collapses, but not before showing Corinna a note from her friend Sister Mary saying that Daniel will be able to help him. Sinclair is haunted and exhausted by the loss of Geordie, the sniffing dog companion who served with him in Afghanistan. Unable to fathom a reason for his having been attacked and Geordie stolen, he's come to Daniel for help while Sister Mary has people out on the streets searching. Daniel uses all his connections as a Mossad agent in search of Geordie and the reason for his dognapping. Meanwhile, the peace of Insula—Corinna's unusual apartment house, where mostly charming tenants enjoy spending time sharing food and drink in the magnificent roof garden—is disturbed when the panic alarm goes off in the apartment of professor Monk, a biblical scholar whose neighbors arrive to help guard a captured thief until the police arrive. The putative thief is a young man, a Catholic religious fanatic looking for something he thinks Monk possesses that belongs to the church. When a ninjalike figure breaks into Corinna's home, she furiously attacks him with her umbrella before he manages to knock her out. It's possible that one of the rival gangs may have dognapped Geordie for his sniffing abilities, but Corinna and Daniel are puzzled by the apparently unrelated break-ins. Their sophisticated and ditzy friends, from witches to spies, are lovingly portrayed along with a bounty of food and drink, all sizzling under the summer sun.

Sterling prose and captivating characters enhance a topical mystery with surprising undertones out of Dan Brown.

Kirkus Reviews