Passion, Poison & Puppy Dogs

Danger Cove Mysteries, Book 9

By: Sally J. Smith, Jean Steffens, Elizabeth Ashby

Narrated by: Angie Hickman

In this dog-eat-dog world, it’s people you have to keep your eye on.

When Lizzie Jones, pet sitter extraordinaire, is asked to watch over her best friend's two spoiled dogs at the posh gated community of Craggy Hill Estates, the last thing she expects is to wind up in the middle of a homicide. But that's exactly what happens when she finds her best friend's cheating husband and Danger Cove’s celebrity bodybuilder champ, Mr. Jupiter, floating face-down in his hot tub. To make matters worse, the police aren’t looking any further than the wife for a suspect - isn’t it always the wife? Well, not in this case - at least Lizzie refuses to believe it.

Between dealing with Craggy Hill's hot security guard, Tino Morales - who also just happens to be the man who broke Lizzie’s heart in high school - caring for her grieving friend, and watching three rambunctious dogs, Lizzie has her hands full. So she recruits her famous granddad, retired network field correspondent, Jimmy John Jones, to help her put two and two together to find the real killer.

Was Mr. Jupiter murdered by one of his women on the side? A jealous, disgruntled employee? Or someone with a bitter and deep-seated hatred of the superstar? It's up to Lizzie, Jimmy John, and Lizzie's own pug, Vader, to crack the case before the killer claims another victim...this one much closer to Lizzie’s own heart!

©2016 Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens (P)2018 Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens

Passion, Poison & Puppy Dogs

The authors have come together to write quite an enjoyable cozy mystery!
There was just enough mystery to keep me guessing and I loved the second chance, budding romance on the side.

Angie Hickman’s narration was very well done.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Held your attention to the end!

Great collaboration by Sally J. Smith, Elizabeth Ashby, & Jean Steffens. Very cohesive plot with twists and turns throughout. Very enjoyable.

Angie Hickman narrated it well. Brought her characters to life.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A DELIGHTFUL AND ABSORBING COZY MYSTERY !

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this story. The narrator, Angie Hickman did a fantastic job bringing the main character, Lizzie Jones to life and made it easy to differentiate the personas of the other characters.

The authors, Sally Smith and Jean Steffens did a wonderful job creating a story with many twists and turns and dilemmas as Lizzie, her grandfather Jimmy John, and Tino, her new love interest, struggled to prove the innocence of Lizzie's friend, Caroline, of the murder of her husband, Mr. Jupiter.

The attention to descriptive detail and the down to earth dialogue create an atmosphere of adventure and camaraderie among Lizzie and her peers. The humorous quips and subtle innuendos add spice to the story.

Kudos to Jean and Sally for a job well done. AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
And kudos to Angie Hickman for a fantastic narration!

A good cozy mystery with a touch of romance...

It's 4.5 stars for the story and 4.5 overall, really.

As cozy mysteries go, this is one of the good ones, with quite an interesting crime plot, investigation taking us here, there, and back again, as many suspects as you can think of, and a rollercoster kind of ending. There is a bunch of characters you like from the start, some that you may feel indifferent to and one or two that you'd really avoid in real life:)

The main character, Lizzie, is a likeable veterinarian in training, whose love for dogs and her best friend throws her in the middle of a murder investigation. As the police - one officer especially - are convinced that "the wife did it" Lizzie has to put on the shoes of a PI and with the help of her grandpa and a newly acquired boyfriend discover who really killed Mr. Jupiter:)

The plot is very fast-paced, with ideas as to who the killer might be jumping from virtually every other conversation Lizzie has with the inhabitants of Danger Cove and her fellow PIs; sometimes you have a feeling there are really too many of them... The dialogues are quite witty, especially the ones between Lizzie and Tony, her high school crush she just recently discovered had also had a crush on her. So, there is quite a romance in the air, too:)

The only thing that may bother you while reading/listening is that some of the ideas or twists and turns follow a certain predictable pattern but as it is a characteristic feature of the genre, I only took half a star away from my rating.

As for the interpretation, it is very good. Ms Hickman is a wonderful narrator with a very pleasant voice, the pace of her reading is just right and while she is good at differentiating voices, she doesn't overdo them or overact.

All in all, it's an interesting and relaxing cozy mystery listen.


DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Great Series!

This is a great book; this book is part of the Danger Cove Mystery series written by Sally Smith, Elizabeth Ashby, and Jean Seffens and narrated by Angie Hickman. I love the Danger Cove series, the books in this series are written by different authors but they do an excellent job entwining the characters. Lizzie Jones, pet sitter extraordinaire is asked to watch her best friend, Caroline’s two dogs in her gated community. Caroline has let her stay at her house since she is going out of town. What Lizzie is not expecting is to find Caroline’s cheating husband floating face down in his hot tub. When Caroline because the number one suspect it is up to Lizzie and her friends to find the real killer. This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. The story flowed very well and was very enjoyable. This book will keep you reading long into the night and you will not want to put this book down until you finish. This was such a great read and full of surprises. The narrator did a wonderful job with this book. She did a great job with the different voices of each character in this book. It was very easy to listen to and I didn’t want to stop listening until the end. If you are looking for a great book with well-developed characters then you need to listen to this book. I am looking forward to listening to the next book by this author and narrator. This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Boom.

Enjoyable enough.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, if I'm not enjoying a book, I generally will stop reading it. Too many books, too little time. This was book 9 in a series but the first one I have read so I suspect I may have been invested in the characters a little more if I had read the previous books. Also, I'm a sucker for any books that include dogs in the storyline. :-)

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I enjoy a good cozy mystery and a happy ending so I liked it.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes.

Was Passion, Poison & Puppy Dogs worth the listening time?

Yes, see response to first question above.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Little mystery and a little laughter

This was a fun book. The characters were very likable and the story was a good mystery with some good laughs along the way. This was my first book in the Danger Cove series. It was a good upbeat book and I would certainly listen to more in this series. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Awesome

This was the first book in this series i have read/listened to. I did not realize it was book/9/. None the less, i still enjoyed this mystery. I did not know who the murderer was till the very last. I would love to go back and read books 1 through 8, I received this book as a gift in exchange for a honest review.

Dogs, mystery and a great narrator!

This is my first book in the Danger cove pet sitter series. I was gifted this book with the understanding that I would leave an honest review. For me what was not to like a great mystery, great characters, and dogs! This is a recipe for a great story. The narrator Angie Hickman had me hooked from the first. I just found myself going back for more. Win win as far as I am concerned.

Passion, Poison & Puppy Dogs

This is a fun cozy mystery, I absolutely loved the plot twist at the end. That always makes for my favorite mystery books! Lizzie and her grandpa (Jimmy John) must help clear her best friends name when she is arrested for killing her husband. With the fun & quirky cast of characters you have lots of suspects since no one really likes Mr. Jupiter, well unless you count all the women he was having affairs with.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.