The Spotted Dog – Kerry Greenwood

Release date: 10 September 2019
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The Spotted Dog (Corinna Chapman, #7) blurb:

Rising at four o’clock every morning isn’t Corinna Chapman’s favorite part of running her Australian bakery, Earthly Delights, and the glowing light of dawn starts to feel even harsher when a seemingly disturbed man collapses in her shop. When the man, a military veteran, comes around and reveals that his beloved ex-service dog is missing, Corinna and her longtime companion, Daniel, feel compelled to help.

It soon becomes clear, though, that they have gotten involved in something much bigger and more complicated than they had bargained for… especially when threatening notes begin to appear in Corinna’s apartment.

Along with searching for the kidnapped dog and trying to stay out of range of the gang of drug runners who are probably responsible for his disappearance, Corinna has to make sure the delicious breads, muffins, and treats that she has become known for are still fresh and ready for her eager customers. Can she take the heat?

I really enjoy Kerry Greenwood’s Corinna Chapman series – it’s one of my favourite crime / mystery series. However, this book, the seventh in the series, fell flat for me. I’m not entirely sure what it was about this one, but I just don’t think that it had the same spark that the previous stories did.

SYNOPSIS

In this one Corinna and her partner Daniel are tasked with finding a dog that has been kidnapped. Now, this isn’t just any old dog, it’s a retired serviceman’s dog that had been enlisted with him. The victim, Alasdair, and his missing dog, Geordie, have become unwittingly wrapped up in a crime that is far bigger than they, Corinna, and Daniel could even fathom.

Of course, there is also the mysteries of the constant break-ins at the Insuela apartments, the spyware installed at the Greek restaurant down the street, and the suspicious drama kids that have taken over one of the apartments all keeping Corinna from resting well after being up at 5am every morning to bake bread.

THOUGHTS

In the previous books I feel like Corinna was a real ‘go-getter’, whereas in this one I felt like she kind of left a lot of the sleuthing to Daniel, Alasdair and Letty, and instead just supervised the others as they did their parts (like the nerds in the basement).

I’m also not sure how I felt about the way Greenwood portrayed some of the outer suburbs in Melbourne.

The action scenes felt more like I was reading a Matthew Reilly book rather than a clever detective, and the whole premise felt a bit rushed.

It’s not a bad read, but much like when Charlaine Harris came back to Aurora Teagarden after a lengthy hiatus of the series, I felt like Greenwood had forgotten some of the spark that resonated with me at the start of the series.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.