Review and Giveaway: Woof at the Door

Woof at the Door (Call of the Wilde - Book 1) by Laura Morrigan

Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0425257193
ISBN-13: 978-0425257197

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Laura Morrigan on the WEB: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Excerpt from Woof at the Door, courtesy of the author's website.

Synopsis:

Animal behaviorist Grace Wilde keeps her ability to psychically communicate with furry and feathered critters under wraps. But when a Doberman turns out to be the only witness to a crime, Grace will have to let the cat out of the bag in order to catch a killer.

Grace Wilde’s job is anything but normal. When she’s not helping out at the zoo by comforting agitated lemurs, she’s listening to the woes of annoyed house pets. Grace’s life gets even more complicated, though, when the cops summon her to a crime scene to help deal with the murder victim’s terrified Doberman.

The pooch turns out to be the only one who saw what happened the night of the shooting—and only Grace can get the information out of him. The problem is, how will Grace tell the distractingly gorgeous Sergeant Kai Duncan that it’s the dog who’s giving her the intel without spilling her big secret or sounding crazy? Left on her own, Grace will have to follow the pup’s lead to track down the killer. But she’ll have to be careful—or curiosity may end up killing the cat whisperer.

Thoughts:

Laura Morrigan's first foray in the cozy mystery sub-genre, Woof at the Door is a fascinating look into the psyche of animals. Heroine Grace Wilde is what some would refer to as a animal whisperer. She uses her ability to telepathically communicate with animals, who often provide her with some interesting information. Morrigan creates a story that will appeal to not only cozy fans but animal lovers as well.

Grace Wilde is such an endearing character. I liked her from the very first chapter. Grace who has a special knack for communicating with animals, can't communicate with people very well at all. I liked that about her, she is kind of different and eccentric all at the same time. Morrigan actually appears to have a bit of a bigger message with this character. It's about fitting in and feeling comfortable in your own skin. Grace grows during this book and I think it will be an ongoing theme throughout the series as well. How she copes with who and what she is and how she gets over being uncomfortable with it and learns to love herself for who she is and her uniqueness. 

Grace is able to talk to animals. I have always loved that idea. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the dog whisperer and the movie, The Horse Whisperer. This book reminds me of that mind set. Though Grace actually has a psychic connection to the animals in the story. I liked the fact that she was able to speak to all sorts of animals and not just one species. It was an interesting concept that could have come off as really cheesy, but it didn't. Morrigan treated it in such a way, that it felt almost real that Grace could do this. 

The mystery itself was full of adventure. The killers actual motive for the murder was a big surprise to me. I thought that was interesting since I thought I had read just about every motive that writers could come up with. In the cozy sub-genre I think it is difficult to find something new and different to bring to the table and I thought that Morrigan did that. She not only provided readers with lovable characters, but she also did a wonderful job of laying out the clues and letting the reader follow the trail. She didn't give away too much at a time, which kept the reader turning those pages.

I had an idea who might be the killer in this one before the end, but I was wrong. I love it when that happens! It means the author was able to drop so many red herrings and so many possible suspects and motives that most readers won't pick up on it til the very end.

Woof at the Door is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag! 

About the Author:

Spending the first years of her life on a Costa Rican coffee farm blessed Laura Morrigan with a fertile imagination and a love for all things wild. Later she became a volunteer at a local zoo, helping out with everything from “waste management” to teaching an elephant how to paint. Drawing from her years of experience with both wild and domestic animals and her passion for detective novels, Laura created the Call of the Wilde series. She lives in Florida with her husband and far too many cats, loves the Blue Angels, wearing flip flops in November, and thunderstorms.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a one copy giveaway of Woof at the Door by Laura Morrigan.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, July 31st. 

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