Book 43, 2021

A Deadly Tail by Dixie Lyle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Stayed up a tad late last night to finish reading A Deadly Tail by Dixie Lyle. It's the fourth book in the "Whiskey, Tango & Foxtrot" mystery series, featuring Deirdre "Foxtrot" Lancaster, her spectral dog Whiskey, and the latest incarnation of her cat, Tango.

Foxtrot is used to dealing with the weird and unusual as the personal assistant to billionaire Zelda "ZZ" Zoransky, but zombies take the cake. Fortunately for all involved, the zombies are costumed actors in a movie being filmed on the grounds of ZZ's mansion. Unfortunately, Whiskey's keen nose detects that one of the corpses is real. Close on the heels of such a gruesome discovery, there is an explosion in the mansion, and one of the stars of the movie is gravely injured. Foxtrot is convinced the two incidents are related, but she's content to let the police handle the investigation...until Eli, the ghostly crow who oversees the animal cemetery abutting ZZ's property, tasks Foxtrot with looking into the matter.

Trying to conduct a subtle investigation while massaging Hollywood-sized egos would be bad enough, but Foxtrot must also deal with disruptions at the animal cemetery, most of which are being caused by her cat. Tango has the movie bug and wants to rally the animal ghosts into a production of her own. Foxtrot is going to have her hands full trying to juggle two impending disasters at once, but that's what ZZ pays her for.

I enjoy these stories, but this has been my least favorite so far. I didn't like that there were two main plots, rather than one primary plot with some subplots thrown in. Reading the story was like watching Pong on hyperspeed. Guh. I also didn't like ( Spoilers )

Favorite lines:
♦ He made the word cat sound like a euphemism for an unspeakable act of depravity.
♦ When I'm caught in a flat-out lie, I sometimes revert to corporate-speak as a defense mechanism--which is stupid. It's like treading water when you realize a shark is circling you. It might buy you a little time, but does nothing to reduce your profile as an Unhappy Meal.
♦ "A cat...a cat is chaos unbridled. A cat is mischief wrapped in deviousness. A cat is the embodied potential for disaster on four silent paws. They are impulsive, contrary, self-centered, and oblivious to consequences."
♦ "Really?! I'm shocked. What a shocking piece of shocking news that has totally shocked me. Also, I'm shocked. Shockingly."
♦ "A cat is never hapless. We are hap-rich. We're hap-hap-happy. We have so much hap that large hap corporations are hiring us to oversee their hap operations."
♦ "You're not going to stab me, are you?" // "Not right now. I'm not wearing my stabby clothes."
♦ It's hard to argue with the optimism of a dead bear in a tutu. Especially one carrying a unicycle.
♦ "I do believe that's the most frightening look I've ever seen cross your face, Foxtrot. It's like that scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when he first gets the idea to give the gift of home invasion to all the Whos."
♦ I had plenty of suspects and lots of motive, but nothing really concrete. In fact, what I had was the approximate consistency of Silly Putty, but not as clever. Stupid Putty, if you will.

As usual, a laugh-out-loud romp, but the ending sort of ruined it. Giving this one a four.