Book 82, 2023

[chez_jae]

Paw and Order by Diane Kelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I had very little left to read of my work book; therefore, I brought it home yesterday and finished it last night. The book was Paw and Order by Diane Kelly, and it's the second in her "Paw Enforcement" series.

Police officer Megan Luz and her canine partner, Brigit, have achieved some notoriety after catching a bomber. For that reason, the police chief assigns Megan and Brigit to patrol the grounds at a rodeo--both to provide a police presence and to provide PR for the department. It should be a simple enough assignment, but a series of purse snatchings soon has Megan on the trail of a thief. Since she aspires to be a detective some day, Megan puts in a lot of leg work on her own in an effort to stop the crimes and catch the thief. In the meantime, her love life is a jumble as Seth, the firefighter she's been on again off again wants to be on again, and Megan also meets mounted police officer Clint at the rodeo. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, Megan may just catch a crook...and her man.

Hm. Not sure how I feel about this story. I haven't read the first in the series, and the author unfortunately spoiled quite a bit of that book in this one. Megan is likeable. I appreciated that she has a minor stutter; it made her more personable. I didn't like that the point-of-view vacillated between Megan (1st person), Brigit (3rd person), and the thief (3rd person). I don't think Brigit's pov added anything to the story at all. Aside from that, she's surprisingly ill-behaved for a (supposedly) well-trained police dog. I will acknowledge that reading part of this in the thief's pov offered insight the reader wouldn't otherwise have. And that's another thing I liked. This wasn't a murder mystery at all. Megan was investigating thefts. Plus, since she's an actual police officer she had a reason to investigate, unlike the main characters in many other cozies. I would have liked to see Megan enjoying some down time. However, she was either patrolling at the rodeo, following up on her investigation, or spending time with Seth or Clint. One aspect I truly enjoyed was how the victims (women) offered up descriptions that only a woman would have noticed, and how Megan (a woman) followed up. It was the clue that ultimately broke the case wide open, but I doubt a male police officer would have even made note of the clue, and he certainly wouldn't have chased down the lead like Megan did.

Favorite lines:
♦ If a rodeo groupie throws herself at a bareback rider at two hundred miles an hour, how long until their genitals meet?
♦ I've got a story for you. It starts with a dark and stormy night and ends with a house crushing you flat, you witch.
♦ Partnering with another bitch definitely had its benefits.
♦ I'd do my best. Give that 110 percent. Maybe I'd even go for 111 percent this time.

I'm waffling on this one. It was interesting and different, but there was a lot of unnecessary bogging down of the narrative. I'll award it three stars.