Paperback, 216 pages
English language
Published April 25, 2022 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.
The third novel in the Shady Hollow mystery series, in which Vera Vixen takes on her most challenging case yet: solving the murder of a rat who appears to still be alive.
Change is afoot in Shady Hollow, with an unusually tense election shaping up between long-serving Chief of Police Theodore Meade and Vera's beau, Deputy Orville Braun. But the political tension takes a back seat when resident eccentric Dorothy Springfield becomes convinced her beloved husband, Edward, is dead, and that the rat claiming to be him is actually a fraud.
While most of the town dismisses Dorothy's rants as nothing more than a delusion, Vera has her doubts. More than a few things don't add up in the Springfield household, but Vera will have to tread carefully, since, with Orville's attention on the election, she may be more exposed than ever.
As cozy and enjoyable as the ones before it, but I just continue to wish that the mystery itself was less predictable. The outcome is exactly what you think it is, and it’s even worse off when you find out that the culprit made an error so obvious that it’s almost insulting.
But like, the mystery itself isn’t really why I’m here. The vibes continue to be the draw, and they succeed.
