Doghouse: A Gin & Tonic Mystery

By: L. A. Kornetsky 
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: July 2014
ISBN: 978-1476750040
Reviewed by: Kristi Benedict
Review Date: October 6, 2014

While helping in private investigations is something that Ginny Mallard and her bartender friend Teddy do together as a sideline, it seems that this 'job' is taking more and more time. After uncovering some shady truths about a local shelter this team thought it would be a while before they would have to jump back into investigating. Of course, as fans of the series, we all knew they were mistaken.

In the newest Gin & Tonic mystery, a man named Seth who works at Mary’s (the bar Teddy manages) has a friend named Deke that he believes is being wrongly evicted by his landlord. Seth explains that Deke is an ex-boxer and when a situation gets stressful there is a strong chance that Deke could act out in ways that would get him into more trouble. Not wanting to spend money on an actual lawyer, Seth asks Teddy and Ginny to look into this problem and figure out why Deke’s landlord is throwing him out of his rental. So, here the dynamic duo goes again trying to figure out the right questions to ask and the right people to find to solve this mystery.

Of course there are two more members of this team, Penny, an independent cat that has made her home in Teddy’s bar, and Geogie, a shar-pei dog that lives with Ginny. Both of these animals have proven their worth before in helping to solve mysteries and also protect their owners. Penny will not hesitate to use her claws on someone attacking Teddy and Georgie has spent the last year training with Ginny in order to protect her effectively. Although Penny is the brains of the two as she will quickly remind Georgie many times a day, both know that they need to make sure and pay attention to every sight, sound and smell that they come in contact with. Any little clue could help their humans solve this new case as long as they can get Teddy and Ginny to listen and understand them before anyone gets hurt.

This was a fun and exciting mystery that has great characters I found myself easily liking. I thought it was unique having the relationship between Teddy and Ginny along with the relationship between their two animals Penny and Georgie. The rough exterior but soft center of Teddy and the no nonsense but gentle ways of Ginny make for an amazing team and I enjoyed reading a story where these two characters played off each other in such humorous ways. At the same time it was so much fun bringing the characters of Penny and Georgie to life as this author had me laughing out loud with the way these two animals talked to each other. It was hilarious as in perfect cat-like fashion Penny reprimands Georgie for not noticing or remembering a specific detail and then in perfect dog-like fashion Georgie tries so hard to think of anything she missed to please Penny. These characters are what made this book such a great read.

Quill says: A well written and humorous mystery that had me quickly turning pages.