Book 78, 2022

[chez_jae]

Woof at the Door by Laura Morrigan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Friday night I finished reading Woof at the Door, which is the first installment in Laura Morrigan's "Call of the Wilde" series. The main character is pet psychic Grace Wilde.

Grace uses her ability to communicate with animals to establish a pet sitting career. She also helps out at the local zoo. However, she keeps her odd ability under wraps. When she's summoned by the police to the scene of a murder to calm the victim's Doberman, Grace soon learns that Jax was the only witness to the murder. Now it's up to Grace to try to glean what information she can from Jax and pass it along to police Sargeant Kai Duncan without letting him know what she's truly capable of. As Grace tries to follow up on the clues that Jax has given her, she finds herself in the killer's crosshairs. Will Jax, still grieving that he was unable to protect his owner, be able to save Grace?

This was an interesting story. I've read other pet-sitting centered mysteries, but this one was the first where the mc could communicate telepathically with animals. Grace was engaging and lively, and I loved how she put the welfare of animals ahead of her own safety. I enjoyed her interactions with her sister, Emma, and her own dog, a wolf hybrid named Moss. I could have done without the romantic interest being in law enforcement. Yawn. Characters were wonderful, the plot moved quickly and convincingly, and I was kept guessing until the end.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Your birthday was in June." // "You know we Geminis can't just celebrate once."
♦ He was making noises foreign to human ears. Moose in Canada awoke and began to migrate toward Florida.
♦ Cowardice was pretty high on my list of things I did not want to be afflicted with. Right up there with the stomach flu and thong underwear.
♦ "It's hotter than six shades of hell out here."
♦ "You're nuttier than squirrel poo."
♦ "Why not make it official and get an ice cream cake that has 'Poor You' written on it? Get some balloons, too, and make it a proper pity party."
♦ His purring vibrated in my head like the lull of ocean waves. I needed to get a cat. They were better than Prozac.
♦ He had reached the meditative state achieved only by cats and Shaolin monks.
♦ "The woman's a predator--she might be able to smell my smugness."

And, because I recall that once upon a time, someone online had made mention of the fact that so many books/stories use that tired old line of 'releasing a breath you didn't know you were holding', I'm going to begin cataloging them in reviews. First up, this gem from this book:

Relief flooded through me, and I let out the shaky breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding.

Overall, a charming and refreshing story. I'll definitely look for more in this series. Four stars.

First in a series means it gets my
1. Does the mc work at/as one of the following: baker/bakery/sweet shop/tea shop/coffee shop, library/librarian, antique/vintage shop, book store, fashion/boutique, bed & breakfast? No, she's an animal behaviorist
2. Does the mc live at her (or his) place of occupation? No, she doesn't
3. Is the love interest involved in law enforcement? (Police officer, sheriff, detective, PI, FBI) Yes, alas
4. Does the mc have a dog/cat as a pet? Yes, she has a dog
5. Is the mc's BFF either a gay guy or a ditzy/zany woman? Yes, her BFF, Wes, is gay
6. Did the mc find the body? Not the first one, but the second one, yeah...
7. Did the mc wind up in mortal danger at the end of the book? Yes, she did.
8. Is the mc's mother either: dead, absent, far removed, ditzy and dithering, or overbearing/disapproving/meddling? Yes, her mother is absent.
9. If mother is dead/absent, does the mc have another mother-figure (grandmother, aunt, mom's friend, or an older friend)? Her older sister, maybe
10. Is the mc child-free? (Either no children or else grown children--i.e. no small children to look after) Yes, she is child-free