The third book in the Dogsitter Detective Series and Gwinny Tuffel is trying to resurrect her acting career, for financial reasons, and is currently filming Draculania, a female Dracula remake. Filming is taking place in Hendale Hall in Yorkshire and Gwinny has been walking her friend’s dog Lucy every day since she arrived. A well written story with an interesting plot.

Briefly, after her friend has a bad fall Lucy has now moved in with Gwinny at the Hall. But then filming comes to a halt when the body of the male lead is found dead in the trailer belonging to the lead actress and it’s locked from the inside. As usual Gwinny feels the need to investigate, as does the lead actress who believes she was the target. And for once the detective in charge, DCI Pierce, is willing to let Gwinny do what she does as long as she shares the results of her investigations with him.

As usual, for me at least, the dog steals the show - as they do in real life! The side story of Gwinny’s love interest at home added a little welcome distraction to the main event, alongside her attraction to the Lord of the Manor. There were some very good red herrings and I was constantly reevaluating my ideas about the killer, who wasn’t revealed until near the end of the book. An enjoyable and entertaining locked room mystery, with dog, a perfect cozy, light read.

Another brilliant entry to this series, this time on a film set.

There is a real Jonathan Creek energy to the mysteries that Antony Johnston writes. Fiendishly tricky to unravel, you will always be surprised by whodunnit!

This is the third book in the Dog Sitter series. Gwinny has an acting job at Hendale Hall in Yorkshire, the biggest since her retirement, although not the female lead. The movie is a female version of Dracula called Draculania. She is also taking care of the dog of a friend in the hospital. The male lead is found dead in the locked trailer belonging to the female lead, and the police appear to believe he must have killed himself since no one else could have gotten in. Meanwhile, Gwinny finds out that her best friend Tina may be seeing the policeman in whom Gwinny in interested.

Can Gwinny find the real murderer before the police give up? This is a clever mystery, and we don't find out who the killer was until almost the end. I thank Netgalley and Alyson & Busby for the ARC so that I could read the book before publication.

The third in the Dog Sitter Detective series finds Gwinny back on set and again juggling her acting career with a new dog and a new murder. Another fun read from Antony Johnston, though the romance subplot is irritating and feels out of place.

A cosy crime story featuring actress Gwinny Tuffel and the murder of a cast member during the filming of a gender swap interpretation of the Dracula story. Set in a country house in Yorkshire, it features an entertaining cast of characters and a wayward Jack Russell called Lily, who Gwinny is babysitting for a friend. An okay whodunnit but a bit generic and lacking a certain something.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review a copy of this story.

A gentle, amusing read in the company of a charming amateur detective. The pace is perhaps a little on the slow side and you'll want to let the plot unroll without thinking too hard about it, but this was a lovely book to sink into in the post-Christmas lull. Will be keeping an eye out for other books in the series :)

With Gwinny Tuffel's acting career debatably back on track, she's on location at a grand house in the Yorkshire Dales, playing Dr Jacqueline Seward in a gender-swapped Dracula. Then one of her co-stars turns up dead in a classic locked room (well, locked trailer) scenario – and the diva lead, convinced that she was the real target, determines to solve the case herself, sure that having played a detective (with a terrible catchphrase) on screen makes her the resident expert in solving crimes. Normally I'd call that sort of figure a dark mirror to the lead, but here it's more a case of an enjoyably annoying mirror, though she did at least pick up on one detail where Gwinny's obliviousness had been irking me.

There's also, of course, a new canine charge, Lily, a Jack Russell who, though senior, is still an absolute menace, because at no age do Jack Russells ever really chill out. Also because a lively pooch is better for keeping the plot moving, of course, though I do hope the series eventually finds room for some loveable lump of a creature whose main contribution is to trip up escaping suspects, sit unshiftably on crucial evidence &c. And yes, a little fancy footwork is needed to explain why Gwinny is still doing her titular side-hustle at the same time as a comeback in her ostensible main job, but it mostly works, just as the long-running romantic subplot had me gritting my teeth at times but justifies all that in the final stretch.

The most disconcerting thing, though, was reading this right after a Gladys Mitchell, and so getting chance to compare a modern cosy crime novel with one of the broad canon retroactively deemed to have been their forebears. Now, I believe Christie is a different kettle of fish, but my word Johnston – and I would assume the same goes for his contemporaries – is much more meticulous about playing fair, sharing the information available to the sleuth, and providing what we think of as a classic whodunnit than some of the original Detection Club usually deigned to do. Which I'm not saying is better or worse, you understand, just an interesting disconnect within a perceived lineage.

(Netgalley ARC)

Dracula will never be the same. If you are a Jack Russell fan you will love Lucy. Gwinny is filming in Yorkshire at a supposedly haunted mansion where the only inhabitant is the Vicount. Gwinny ends up looking after the dog after an elderly friend has a fall but it is not as easy as she thought. The leading lady has a trailer and before long the leading man,Yash, is found dead in there with the doors locked from the inside and windows shut.
Murdered to look like Dracula. All cast members are suspect but can Gwinny and Lucy find out who the murderer is before the police and before any one else ends up dead?

A meandering cosy crime mystery, number 3 in the series. I liked the setting and the characters. It was interesting to have a protagonist who was a dog sitter.

This is a lovely meandering murder mystery that somehow seems to take its time to unwrap the clues and get to the end whilst at the same time is quite full of action! There is a genteel feeling about the plot, with relatively elderly Gwinny fighting to keep her dignity and not get lost in the foggy film set, not fall into the lake chasing her dog Lily and not give in to feelings of jealousy over her sometime boyfriend and her best friend spending time together. There is a pleasing array of cast members, all of whom could have some sort of motive, and picking it through with Gwinny is a fun read.

actors, amateur-sleuth, closed-circle-mystery, country-estate, cozy-crime, film-crews, film-industry, filming, friends, friendship, investigation, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, murder, read, unpleasant-co-worker, Yorkshire****

How do you decide that a stake through the chest/heart is an accident?
Gwinny Tuffel is sixty years old and coming back to acting after a hiatus. A friend lives close by to the location and has Gwinny helping her out by taking her terrier out for walks. When the friend falls and winds up in hospital, Ginny is forced to take the terrier with her on set. The film is about a female Dracula, but the male victim is found murdered in the trailer of the female lead (who is a real pain). Let the investigation and situational laughs begin!
I requested and received a free temporary uncorrected advance proof from Allison & Busby via NetGalley. Thank you!
Avail Jan 23, 2025 #TheDogSitterDetectivePlaysDead by @AntonyJohnston #TheDogSitterDetectiveBk3 @AllisonandBusby #CosyCrime #Dogs

'The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead' by Antony Johnston.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I'm a big fan of this series and this book did not disappoint. It had murder, drama and a determined little terrier called Lily (who in my opinion breaks the case wide open). I didn't guess who the murderer was till the very end.
If you're a fan of murder mysteries and cozy crime then give this series a read.

Gwinny is at a stately home in the Yorkshire Dales, filming a small part in a gender-swapped remake of Dracula while looking after the dog of an elderly friend who lives nearby.
During filming, an actor is found dead inside a locked trailer - with a stake through their heart! The film's star, an obnoxious big-shot Hollywood actress who once played a cop on TV, decides she will solve the crime. But Gwinny isn't impressed, and they clash as both women mount rival investigations.