• Title: Bells, Tails, and Murder: A Cozy English Animal Mystery
  • Series: Dickens and Christie Mystery (Book 1)
  • Author: Tessa Dare
  • Date Reviewed on GoodReads: 7/6/2021

Bells, Tails & Murder was an average British cozy style mystery. It could have been much much better, except for one small detail. When Leta Parker's husband dies suddenly and tragically she realizes that she can actually afford to not go back to her job at a bank but retire - and live her dream of retiring to a small English village in the Cotswolds with her dog and cat. I liked Leta, and the village, and her friends in the village.

However, Leta also has a "gift", she can talk to and understand her dog and cat, who can talk to her. This I didn't like - at all. Why not just a normal dog and cat? And the talking animals really didn't add anything to the story, they didn't provide plot points or anything. I'd rather have a normal cat, who the main character does talk to, maybe a form of "thinking out loud" to figure things out, but not have the cat (or the dog) talk back. And both pets seemed really cute as a cat and dog - the constant chatter made them like annoying children. Quiet animals would have been better.
Anyway, on with the story. So Leta is settling in, making friends, and the story opens with her at a cocktail party with several of the main characters for the story, which is a great way for the reader to meet them. The next day, she walks her dog in the morning and stumbles across a body. And not just any body, but the body of someone she knows. Leta contacts a police officer friend of hers, who also knew the victim. But Leta and her friend, Wendy, as well as a few other friends end up working on the case, much to the chagrin of their police constable friend.

The book is a good read, despite the talking animals, and it moves at a good clip. I like how Leta and her friends followed leads, talked to friends and acquaintances who might be suspects, and did the typical amateur mystery investigation thing of your typical cozy mystery. It really was well-handled with logic in the way the case unfolded, and an excellent final confrontation and conclusion, which made it all the more frustrating that the pets talked - because there was no reason for it. It's a cute gag, but too cute.

The other main flavor in this story was being set in the Cotswolds, there's a lot of information about J.M. Barrie (who wrote Peter Pan) and just happens to be Wendy's grandmother's close "special friend". This book never states the two were having an affair, and it's not that important if they were or weren't, but Barrie was close enough to Wendy that he paid for a cottage (a small house) for her grandmother, left them copies of his letters, gave them original signed copies of Peter Pan and Peter and Wendy, and even wrote, had illustrated, and had bound a storybook for young Wendy. Oh, and Wendy has a brother - named Peter. But the Peter Pan references, as well as references to A.A. Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are fine. Actually, that would have been enough as a hook to set this book apart. But a woman who has a special ability in being able to talk to animals?

Anyway, the book itself was well-written. I liked how the Cotswolds were described. The characters were interesting. The literary references were fun. I just didn't care for talking animals. I'd call this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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