4.5★s
Pachyderm is the second book in the Catherine Kint Mystery series by Australian musician and author, Hugh McGinlay. A client has invited Melbourne milliner, Catherine Kint to a social function at the Melbourne Zoo. Mixing business with pleasure, Catherine attends, but what occurs during that Saturday night out involves irritation, passion and tragedy: encountering Grace Chichester, her least favourite classmate at Chiefly Girls Grammar (and now a state MP), is something that Catherine could definitely have done without; the kiss she shared with hunky zookeeper, Beau Hacska felt like it could be the start of something good; but the death of the zoo’s female Asian elephant, Dong Zei was sad, strange and certainly sudden.

Days later, Catherine scores a commission for a very particular hat from an extremely demanding (and eerily psychic) client. It’s a rush job, but Catherine is confident she can fill the order. Unfortunately, when Beau is savagely mauled by the zoo’s African Wild Dogs, Catherine’s concentration is broken. She is convinced that the two zoo incidents are linked, and quite unconvinced by the Zoo director’s explanation, believing there has been foul play. Once again, she needs the able assistance of best friend Boris, but will her demands ruin yet another fledgling relationship for this capable barman?

McGinlay’s second Catherine Kint Mystery is as good as, if not better than, the first. It’s a tale with a dramatic climax, reached via not just red herrings, but an elephant, a tiger, a bunch of reptiles, some African wild dogs, generous quantities of gin and beer, and a lot of green felt. The same quirky support crew appear, and there is some character development in this instalment. McGinlay also touches on Alzheimer’s disease and the stigma of mental illness.

Despite some minor punctuation issues, in the category of a cosy mystery, this is just a shade short of a five-star read. McGinlay again conveys his Melbourne setting well, thus appealing to locals. While it is the second of what is, hopefully, a continuing series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone as there are no spoilers for the first book, Jinx. Very enjoyable!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and ThreeKookaburras Press

At first, the book seemed pretentious and without direction - however, it wasn't long before the characters' depths began to reveal themselves. This is not a kitschy cozy but a more realistic take on how the human condition can be so complicated. This was a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

This was definitely out of my normal read, and it was great. Loved the humor throughout the book despite the fact the book is a mystery/thriller.

murder, friendship, relationships, zoo, animals, Australia, snark-fest, milliner, suspense -----

Couldn't put it down! Irregular pace is a good thing in this instance, and the characters certainly are. Catherine is a milliner who has some very good friends, a crazy making client who is totally micromanaging, an evident professional past with the Homicide division, and a great sense of humor.
The hard stuff is the unnecessary death of an elephant and the complicated death of a zookeeper who has become as important to her as the investigation is not important to law enforcement. That makes her angry enough to risk everything by investigating on her own with the help of some very talented friends.
I'd really like to read more books with Caroline Kint as the main character!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Threekookaburras via NetGalley.

It begins with the death of an elephant and ends with the death of humans. If Catherine is not careful, she could be part of the body count...

Threekookaburras and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It has been published and you can grab a copy now.

Catherine doesn't usually visit the zoo but it's a big event with free champagne, so why not? Then she meets a cool zoo keeper and things are looking even better. That is until he's found in the wild dog enclosure, almost dead. They decide it was a suicide attempt. She disagrees...

What she finds is that the famous personality at the zoo has Alzheimers, one of the keepers has a false alibi, and people will kill to keep their secrets. It's a good thing she has Boris to help and he has her. Otherwise this could have turned out quite differently. Animals at the zoo are dangerous. So are some of the people...

I loved it!

There are thrillers which make give you nail-biting finishes and then there is Pachyderm. A slow meandering, funny and absolutely riveting read. A brilliant story and fantastic characters to match. Definitely recommend.