Paw of the Jungle

November 1, 2019

Officer Megan Luz and her K-9 partner, Brigit, take a break at the Fort Worth Zoo only to become involved in a case of two missing macaws. In between the routine police work of issuing traffic citations, catching a shoplifter, and recovering a number of missing rings, more zoo animals (including a monkey and a springbok) also disappear. When the springbok is killed at a game ranch and a rare black rhino is stolen from the zoo, the hunt for the thief turns urgent. Clues seem to point to an ex-con working as a zoo custodian. The story is told in alternating voices--Megan's, Brigit's, and the poacher's, which allows readers to put many pieces of the mystery together before the detectives do, but without ruining the story. Add a dash of romance for a complete winner. VERDICT While part of a series, this cozy can be read as a stand-alone and will be appreciated by animal lovers. Recommended for readers of Spencer Quinn's "Chet and Bernie" books.--Margaret Bentley, Shiawassee Dist. Lib., Owosso, MI

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2019
When animals go missing from a Texas zoo, an officer and her K-9 colleague investigate as the poacher tries to stay under the radar. Megan Luz lives her love for animals on the job every day as a K-9 officer with the Fort Worth Police. The dog she works with, Brigit, is Megan's partner, friend, and a voice in interspersed chapters throughout the series (The Long Paw of the Law, 2018, etc.). Further chapters this time are presented from the viewpoint of The Poacher, a man whose identity Megan must uncover. The poaching starts small, with the disappearance of Hyacinth macaws Fabian and Fernando from the zoo. New hire Danny Landis is dismissed over the crime, and though he asserts his innocence, he's the reader's most likely suspect, and Megan's too. Megan's love of animals spurs her determination to solve the crime as more, larger, and pricier animals go missing. The Poacher, meanwhile, is drawn in surprising detail and given complex motivations, like a family that inspires his criminal escalation, making him more nuanced than a cut-and-dried villain. Though she's not sure it will help, Megan, along with Brigit, gets an assist from her boyfriend, Seth, whose role as a firefighter and whose own K-9 colleague, Blast, just might give Megan the edge she needs to figure out who's behind the animal thefts. Crime-fighting aside, sharing insights from the case turns out to be a good way for Megan to connect with Seth, and Brigit with Blast--an ability that's especially valuable because Seth's newest paramedic colleague is a cute 20-something with her eye on Seth. Police officer, K-9 partner, and poacher have complex inner worlds in this tale. Well, police officer and poacher do.

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November 1, 2019
Megan Luz, a police officer in Fort Worth, works her beat with her shepherd-mix K-9, Brigit. Here the pair visit the zoo for a bit of diversion and find crime instead: valuable animals are being kidnapped, the first being a pair of hyacinth macaws. The initial suspect is a recently released man, jailed for stealing, but working as a zookeeper. He is fired but remains under suspicion as two more animals go missing. When a springbok is taken, Megan determines that the zoo's fence is being breached and then rewelded, narrowing their search; but, finally, it takes Megan's investigative skills and Brigit's nose to solve the case. As in her Tara Holloway series, Kelly tells the story from multiple perspectives; this time it's Megan's, the criminal's, and Brigit's, with the wry commentary sure to bring a smile to any dog owner's face. The extensive background on the zoo, the illicit trading of exotic animals, and the hunting ranches in Texas bring to mind Carl Hiaasen's novels based in the Everglades.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)