Dying for a coffee? Or simply dying for a cute cozy to pass the time with? Olivia Rickard is a dog walker who is as disorganized and flighty as many of her furry clients. Change is a four letter word in her book, but murder on the other hand...Fleeing from potential commitment, Olivia manages to stumble across the body of Yvette Dean in the back of her coffee truck. The chance to solve a murder like the heroine in her favorite mystery series is as tempting as one of her sister Janelle’s delicious muffins...especially when Janelle becomes a suspect. Although her extremely patient boyfriend urges her to play it safe, Olivia has other ideas.

Barking Up the Wrong Bakery is an extremely cute novel. Olivia’s extreme response to anything that looks like it means “commitment” is at times so profoundly over the top it is humorous. At other times it is simply annoying. I liked the other characters more, even the self-centered toupee wearing mayor who goes out of his way to try to get the resident psychic’s attention - to the point of adopting an ancient basset hound.

As pet cozies go, Barking Up the Wrong Bakery is pretty solid. It isn’t particularly innovative, but it is a cute and entertaining with a touch of romance.

4 / 5

I received a copy of Barking Up the Wrong Bakery from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Entertaining, Fun Read
Barking up the Wrong Bakery is the debut installment in Stella St. Claire’s Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries series. This is an entertaining and fun read with likeable characters. The storyline is interesting and kept me guessing until the reveal. I found it a little distracting when sections of the audiobook the protagonist is listening were included. Overall, this is a good start to a new series.

Olivia Rickard is a dog walker in Lexingburg, has a wonderful boyfriend, Andrew Patterson, who she thinks will propose to her soon, loves her sister, Janelle, and doesn’t like change. Janelle wants to purchase the brownstone where she operates her bakery, Happy Endings, but can’t swing a loan by herself and would like Olivia to help her and use the upstairs as an office for her dog walking business. Franklin Kennedy, Janelle’s current landlord, has only made minimal repairs and the building is in need of lots of TLC. While walking dogs with Andrew one morning, Olivia saw Jump Start Coffee, the food truck Yvette Dunn rented from Franklin, was still in its early morning location and decided to stop for some much needed coffee but instead of caffeine, she discovers Yvette lifelessly lying on the floor soaked in coffee and Olivia thinks it was murder. Nicholas ‘Nick’ Limperos is a good sheriff but doesn’t have much experience with murders and Olivia, who loves mysteries, really wants to help him. After viewing surveillance camera feeds, Nick brings Janelle in for questioning. Unfortunately, she and Yvette, who were arguing outside, went into the food truck and only Janelle came out. Yvette sold baked goods from Happy Endings and Janelle confronted her because she wanted her to stop selling items that weren’t fresh but insists she didn’t kill her. Olivia and Andrew find evidence that takes Janelle off the suspect list but even though Andrew want her to leave the investigation to the professionals, she can’t control her impulses.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

This was a good start to a new series. Working as a dog walker has its benefits, but not when a dead body gets in the way.
There were some bits that felt like they were dragging, otherwise it was an interesting story with several twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

Cute little cozy mystery but not sure if I will read the sequels because the character of Olivia is so annoying. Olivia is constantly in disarray, afraid of commitment, gets involved in things she doesn't need to etc.

A fairly well written mystery. Good plot and characters.