Book 23, 2020

[chez_jae]

Dr. Nightingale Traps the Missing Lynx by Lydia Adamson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I took a short mystery to work to read, and between the brevity of the story and the fact that I stayed in for lunch three days this past week, I'd read all but the final chapter. I brought it home and finished it late last night. The book was Dr Nightingale Traps the Missing Lynx, by Lydia Adamson. The main character was Dr Dierdre "Didi" Nightingale, a small town veterinarian. Story is told in third person pov, and it bounced between characters.

With her vet business dwindling during the winter months, money has become a concern for Didi. Therefore, when an eccentric local, Buster Purchase, offers her $500 to give a clean bill of health to a litter of mixed-breed kittens, Didi takes him up on it. The kittens are meant to be auctioned off, and it seems like a simple job. Unfortunately, however, Purchase drops dead at the party, covered in cat scratches. Didi suspects foul play, because she recognizes the symptoms of snake venom when she sees them. When a doctor, who was also at the party, confirms Didi's suspicions, the police treat Buster's death as a homicide. What they can't figure out is how someone could coat a cat's claws with snake venom and then encourage said cat to scratch the victim. Didi can't help but think it somehow involves the kittens, especially once she determines they are not half-bobcat; they're half-lynx. When someone else is murdered, but not without managing to press an unusual key on Didi, she begins to follow her own intuition in an effort to find out why people involved with the auction are dying.

That was the premise of the story. Beyond that, it was a big ol' mess. Nothing made any sense, the plot ping-ponged hither and yon instead of flowing, point of view bounced between far too many characters, none of the characters was well-developed, and I don't know as that I actually liked any of them. Granted, this book is part of a series, and it's the first one I've ever read. It will also be the last. I've read and enjoyed books in the author's "Alice Nestleton" mystery series, but I just could not find anything redeeming about this book. Perhaps most confusing of all is, why on earth did Didi feel compelled to look into things at all? She had no reason to.


- Coating a cat's claws with snake venom and then compelling it to scratch someone must be the most absurd method of murder ever. But wait! It wasn't murder at all! We learn (in the last chapter) that Buster committed suicide via this method. I guess he wanted to go out in the most dramatic fashion possible? More like most ridiculous fashion possible.
- I am boggled at the thought of a male lynx knocking up a regular housecat. I know there are hybrids called Pixiebobs, which are bobcat hybrids, but they're crossed with large breed cats, like Maine Coons. I found this plot point to be rather implausible.
- Albert "Allie (wtf kind of nickname is that for Albert?!)" Voegler was Didi's main squeeze, but now he's been suspended, he's out of town, and he must attend mandatory meetings with a shrink. We know this, because some of the book was from Allie's pov, which added absolutely nothing to the narrative. He misses Didi and thinks he loves her, but all he ever did was tear her down to his shrink. The worst was when he had an epiphany, in which he believes his mental malady is all Didi's fault. He thinks she's the unstable one and that it rubbed off on him. Er...? This passes for love?!
- I just can't emphasize enough how little sense any of this made. Didi following up on Buster's death, Didi finding some baggies with hundred dollar bills rolled into them and just KNOWING they were used to signal people, one character convincing another to develop a comedy routine, the fact that several people must have known about the long-dead bodies in the basement of an abandoned home yet none of them alerted the police or even talked about it. I just...I must have had a "wtf?" look on my face throughout the entirety of this story.

Favorite line:...it sounded like dogs with cymbals chasing cows with snare drums.

In short, this was awful. It was confusing, nothing made a lick of sense, none of the characters was relatable or even likable, and the plot was a hot mess. This doesn't deserve any stars, but one is the minimum, so that's what it gets. I regret wasting my time reading this.