Shady Hollow #3
3.5 rounded up

It's mid October in Shady Hollow and there's a glorious blaze of colour surrounding the annual Harvest Festival. All the occupants of the usually peaceful place are there and they greet Vera Vixen the local reporter and Deputy Orville Braun as they wend their way around. Something catches Orville's eye and he then takes them all by surprise by announcing his candidacy for Chief in the upcoming elections. The following day a terrified scream pierces the air around Mirror Lake, which turns out to be the rat, Dorothy Springfield who claims her husband Edward has been murdered. How can this be? He's standing right in front of her. Vera's interest is most definitely piqued and that can only mean one thing .... an investigation and she makes some startling discoveries.

I have really enjoyed this trilogy with its creative take on cozy mysteries that oddly works so well that you forget the characters are woodland creatures! Vera is my firm favourite but all of them have their own brand of charm even Lefty whose bungled attempts at thieving make you want to suggest he goes straight! We also get to finally meet the much talked about author Bradley Marvel who fancies himself as a Lothario. This time we have some more shady characters in Shady Hollow and some very shady doings which aren't that hard to figure out but there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. As ever, Vera is dogged ( or should that be vulpine?) in pursuing the truth.

The storytelling is colourful, it's very well described using all the senses and theres humour although it never achieves the laugh out loud of book one. The dialogue is clever and witty with some delightful touches such as 'wingmail' which makes me smile!

Overall, this is a fun, entertaining quick read with the added bonus of a sugar rush and caffeine boost courtesy of Vera!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Juneau Black’s Mirror Lake is the third full-length novel about the creatures of Shady Hollow. (There is also one short story so far.) This is a small American town inhabited by creatures, all living together in harmony (apart from the occasional murder – but that’s never motivated by speciesism). Yes, I know, I know: how can rabbits and foxes live alongside each other in peace and harmony? Equally, why would they wear clothing? And how can, say, a fox and a bear have a romantic relationship? Just suspend your disbelief gland and accept that they do.

Dorothy Springfield insists that Edward, her husband, is dead – even though he’s standing beside her, talking to her gently. Vera Vixen, the local ace reporter, scents a story and also does want to help Dorothy. Is Dorothy imagining things or has her wife’s intuition told her something? The whole town can see it’s Edward and Dorothy does have a history of ummm… episodes. Why would Dorothy say this? Is it connected with Edward’s mother’s death the previous day and the now disclosed contents of her will?

It’s a well-written undemanding whodunnit with a nice sub-plot featuring a famous author coming to the local bookstore, Nevermore Books, for a signing session. This hero definitely turns out to have feet of clay. Black neatly skewers a certain tiny minority of authors who perhaps focus too much upon themselves and not enough upon their readers. I read this cosy book in a few hours, under a warm duvet, before going to sleep, refreshed in both body and mind.

#MirrorLake #NetGalley

This book was well written with an interesting premise that was original and witty with endearing and well developed characters. I havent read anything like this before and I really liked it. I also LOVED the front cover.