FOR DUCK'S SAKE

As Meg Langslow’s town of Caerphilly, Virginia, prepares for its seasonal Mutt March, murder is on the march too, or at least is out for a leisurely stroll.

The Mutt March is an annual parade of rescue animals—mostly dogs, but other species are welcome, too—through the center of town in order to raise money for local shelters and encourage citizens to adopt their favorites as companions. As executive assistant to Mayor Randall Shiffley, Meg would naturally be involved in the festivities even if it weren’t for her long history with animals established by 37 bird-themed titles. As usual, however, the most innocuous animal-oriented event spells trouble. Mayoral cousin Aaron Shiffley, excavating a site for a duck pond on the property Meg’s brother, Rob, bought from 90-year-old widow Iris Rafferty, unearths what looks like a human arm. Other body parts are disinterred under the expert eyes of Meg’s father, who’s the medical examiner, and Caerphilly College archaeology expert Dr. McAuslan-Crine, who thinks they’ve been buried for at least 30 years. But whose bones are they? A 5.24% match with the DNA of the late Eustace Pruitt suggests that the corpse, shot through the head, is that of another of the despised Pruitts, who used to run the town in the bad old days. But it’s hard to gather more conclusive evidence when the only Pruitt still living in town is Eustace’s elderly Aunt Ethelinda. As if she knows how slowly the story is unfolding, Iris Rafferty disappears, but the pace still remains leisurely, the stakes low, and the big reveal distinctly anticlimactic.

Andrews’ once-snippy heroine, whose wit has certainly mellowed over the years, now makes a better neighbor than sleuth.