PET IN PERIL

A pet chef leaves no mystery unsolved.

Kitty Karlyle’s life has improved since she acquired a fiance and a roommate to help pay the bills as she struggles to grow her gourmet food business for the pets of Hollywood’s elite. She also hosts the TV program The Pampered Pet, for which her roommate, Fran, is the makeup artist. Fran thinks Kitty’s pets, Fred the dog and Barney the cat, are depressed and need a visit to the pet psychologist. Dr. Newhart’s been recommending Kitty’s food to his clients, so it’s hard to say no when her producer books her, Fran, and the pets into the pet-friendly Little Switzerland Resort and Spa for relaxation and a spot of filming. No sooner have they checked in than they run into Victor Cornwall, an obnoxious drunk, in the lobby. Only after he leaves do they discover that he’s dropped a valuable ring. When they go to his room to return it, they find him murdered. The police fasten on Fran as a suspect, since she was the last to have seen him, and she bade him farewell by telling him to drop dead. So Kitty, who can never leave a mystery to the police (Lights, Camera, Murder!, 2016), has all the more reason to snoop around and find some other suspects. That’s no problem, since Cornwall has defrauded many victims and is hated by everyone, from his beautiful wife to the head chef at the resort. His wife is no pet lover, but she refuses to give up his two valuable poodles and seems to be trying to get back together with her former husband, who soured on Cornwall after he too lost money in a scheme. The local police chief wants nothing to do with Kitty and Fran’s sleuthing attempts, and every time Kitty’s fiance calls from his police training course, her phone is answered by an annoying guy who keeps dropping in. Kitty barely escapes becoming a victim, but she does find the killer.

Although Celine keeps the killer hidden till the end, her scatterbrained heroine’s antics become ever more trying in this day-at-the-beach cozy.