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As a veterinarian, she’s more experienced with paw prints than fingerprints. But thanks to her dogged persistence and her knack for landing on her feet, Jessie’s got murder on a very short leash.The sun is barely up and the day is already going to the dogs. Literally. As Dr. Jessica Popper embarks on a house call to a local horse farm, her one-eyed Dalmatian, Lou, and her tailless Westie, Max, stumble upon something unexpected: a corpse half buried in the woods. As Max happily digs up the dead canary planted near the body, Jessie realizes that this corpse was clearly about to sing. But about what? Or whom?Enlisting the aid of her on-again, off-again lover, PI Nick Burby, Jess applies the stubbornness of a bloodhound and the agile moves of a cat to identify a menagerie of suspects…including one who wants her off the case badly enough to kill again.
Customer Review: Interesting Premise...
In the 1st book in the Reigning Cats and Dogs Mystery series, we meet mobile veterinarian, Jessica Popper. Jessica runs her own vet service on wheels, and is out making one of her many house calls of the day when her dogs dig up a dead body at a horse farm. Near the body, a dead canary is found buried as well, and Jessica immediately feels she must investigate how she happened on this man's body. Being overly inquisitive, she starts an exhaustive search into the PR mogul's death, and quickly learns that the police don't seem to have much interest in the case. The victim has many enemies, even though he was a widely lauded Long Island businessman, and Jessica must tap into the help offered by a private investigator. This PI is none other than her ex-boyfriend, Nick Burby, who unsuccessfully tries to keep her off the case. And when Jessica is followed, and receives threats, everyone but Jess is convinced that she needs to leave the sleuthing to the professionals. I gave this series a try even though some of the other reviews on Amazon were not very complimentary. I enjoyed the book, even though I feel that the book was a bit too long. I noticed that all of the books in the series are of similar lengths, even though I felt this one could have been at least 50 pages less than it was. I agree with previous reviewers that I was able to figure out the mystery pretty quickly, but I really enjoyed the character of Dr. Popper (what a funny name), the animals, and her tumultuous relationship with Nick. I definitely will try future books in this series, as I feel the strength of the characters is what make this book interesting. You may want to try this series if you love animals and are looking for a fresh, new cozy series. The next book in the series is called "Putting on the Dog". Enjoy!
Customer Review: An annoying main character who only works as an anti-heroine
Dr. Jessica Popper follows all the paperback mystery character stereotypes with none of the charm. 1. She has the easily confused name - Dr. Popper not Dr. Pepper. (See Lacey Smithsonian.) 2. She has an on again-off again relationship with a sexy crime experienced man. (See Janet Evanovich's Joe Morelli and Ranger.) I felt far more empathy with Nick than I did Jessica! She's such a drama queen, run Nick, RUN! 3. She's all confused about life, but somehow can get the most damning details out of people. All this would be fine, if she wasn't so *irritating*. She's shrill and childish with her ex -- far more so than any woman over 17 should be. She has the capacity for compassion of a wading pool and her snoopy habits are grating, not amusing. And while the veterinary details are fun, any moron can tell you that a dog who humps your leg is establishing dominance, not his sexual attraction for you. All in all, skip this series. There are too many other books out there for the animal loving mystery lover!


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