When George Glenn's flock wake up one morning they are shocked to find George not only dead, but someone has stuck a shovel in him as well.. They decide to investigate and find who killed George. Led by Miss Maple they use all their powers of deduction and the things George taught them from the Pamela books he used to read to them. The Butcher seems a likely character, but there is also God, the tall thin man who lurks about the village.
An interesting read mainly from the point of view of the flock. Fun.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann is a delightfully quirky and utterly unique cosy mystery, where a flock of intelligent sheep set out to solve the murder of their beloved shepherd, George.

In the quiet Irish village of Glennkill, George’s sheep find him lying motionless on the ground, a spade pinning him down. Having been read to every night by their shepherd, the flock is unusually bright and decides to investigate his death. Leading the charge is Miss Maple—possibly the smartest sheep in the world—alongside a cast of memorable investigators, including Othello, the strong outsider rescued from a zoo, Mopple the Whale, whose insatiable hunger is only matched by his remarkable memory, and Zora, a deeply philosophical ewe.

As they piece together the clues, the sheep encounter a host of suspicious humans, from a butcher who reeks of death to a sinister priest and a secretive newcomer to the village. Their observations, often humorous and filled with sheep logic, make for a fresh and witty take on the murder mystery genre.

This book is a charming, warm-hearted read with a clever premise that will appeal to fans of unconventional mysteries. Miss Maple instantly reminded me of my favourite human detective, Miss Marple, adding an extra layer of enjoyment. If you are looking for something light yet original, Three Bags Full is a mystery to savour.

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I chose this for the quirky premise, a fantastic idea. For me though, it was slow-moving and confusing and just didn’t hold my attention enough to finish. The premise was well used but I lost interest at 16%.

A flock of sheep solving the murder of their shepherd sounds absurd, but is so well written that it works. The descriptions of smells are my favourite thing about the book, how the sheep can distinguish between humans. I’m hoping the film will bring this to life as some parts are quite flat on the page.

I think "Three Bags Full" by Leonie Swann will translate better into film/visual than it does on the page (I'm think the talent show scenes in particular). It's quite difficult to describe this cosy murder mystery where the main cast of characters are sheep. I suppose it is a cross between Babe and Miss Marple. Enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

This is a difficult book to review.

It’s well written, extremely funny and the main protagonists are a flock of sheep!

Seeing the world from their point of view was funny and thought provoking! The meanings of words and phrases change beyond recognition when looked at without the cultural understanding we take for granted.

The way in which they investigate the murder of their shepherd, George is at turns ingenious and hilarious!

The thing that suffered from this restricted point of view however was the murder mystery itself. Their short attention span and inability to relate to human emotions and motivations meant that the story wasn’t carried through to the firm conclusion that I expect in a mystery.

All in all I would give this book 3 1/2 stars but am happy to round it up to 4. And I’d recommend it to anyone who loves a quirky story and doesn’t mind some loose ends!


*** Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher ***

I do love a cosy mystery novel and one featuring sheep as the protagonists, sounded both unusual and funny so I was looking forward to diving right into "Three Bags Full". While the 'observations' by the sheep of the humans in the community are certainly amusing, the cast of characters, in particular sheep, was simply to large to accurately keep track. I assume the large number of sheep was used to reflect multiple personalities and also the number of sheep owned by the unfortunate farmer, but their names/personalities tended to blue after a while and I kept needing to check the character list to keep track. Not for me sadly.

A cosy crime mystery featuring sheep detectives investigating a crime. Unusual and unique but there were too many characters and I lost focus in the narrative.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. Cosy crime is one of my favourite genres, so I was looking forward to this as it seemed a different kind than normal, but it as all so slow, and with so many characters that it was hard to keep track, that I gave up 1/4 of the way through as it became a task to read it, rather than enjoyable