Shady Hollow (the book as opposed to the town IN the book) is the kind of story that doesn’t lend itself to the easy description and characterization you think it will.

The U.S. cover makes it look like this is going to be a somewhat twee story about animals acting like humans. And it IS a story about animals acting like humans, but it’s not nearly so twee as you think it will be.

The original U.K. cover (at left) does a bit better job of conveying the darkness that is lurking inside the sleepy little town of Shady Hollow. Because this is the opening book in a series of murder mysteries – admittedly pretty cozy murder mysteries – where all of the characters are VERY anthropomorphized animals.

On her way to work one morning, Vera Vixen, new fox in town, discovers the dead body of Shady Hollow’s least popular resident, the cantankerous toad Otto Sumpf. With a knife in his back.

The toad was such an argumentative old curmudgeon that it’s not all that big a surprise that someone finally got angry enough to kill him.

But there has never been a murder in Shady Hollow that anyone can remember. The police – both bears – aren’t so much stumped as completely out of their depth. Which is where Vera comes in.

Vera’s not just a fox – although it turns out that the deputy police bear certainly thinks she is. Vera is an investigative reporter for the local newspaper, the Shady Hollow Herald. Before she came to sleepy Shady Hollow, she was an investigative reporter for a newspaper in a much larger town – where there was, both naturally and unfortunately at the same time – much more crime than Shady Hollow.

So Vera knows how an investigation is supposed to go – even if Deputy Orville Braun is still reading the manual while his boss is off fishing. Again. Perpetually.

When the most prominent citizen in town joins the toad in the town’s temporary morgue – a vacant jail cell, Vera and Orville join forces to find and catch the killer before the creature catches one of them – and adds their body to the pile.

Escape Rating B: I’ve been trying to think of what this book reminds me of, and the closest I initially managed to come was The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde, crossed with an adult version of the Beatrix Potter stories.

At its heart this is still a murder mystery, using those animals-as-people to tell a story that is really about people. Because that’s the perspective all writers have no matter what their characters claim to be.

So, like the Beatrix Potter stories, the author is using animals dressed as humans, doing human things, acting mostly like humans, to talk about what humans do while placing the story at one remove by making all the characters ostensibly animals.

The Constant Rabbit is both closer and further from the mark, as in that story the presence of the anthropomorphized rabbits alongside humans was used as a direct way of talking about shitty human behavior.

It’s possible the closest analogy to Shady Hollow is the movie Zootopia, and I’m a bit embarrassed about how long it took me to get there. And now that I come to think about it, the ending of Zootopia is even a bit of a spoiler for Shady Hollow.

So, we have the animal-citizens of Shady Hollow as the otherwise typical citizens of this cute, cozy and slightly quaint little town. And we have dead bodies piling up, a police chief who is always absent and everyone knows it, an ambitious deputy with no training, a nosy investigative reporter, etc., etc., etc. All fairly standard characters for a cozy mystery.

Viewed as creatures, they are adorable and the little touches that remind the reader these are animals draws the reader into the shtick with a smile. But the way the town thinks about itself, the motives for the crime spree, the investigation and most definitely the way that the nosy reporter nearly becomes part of the spree make this a fun, if slightly furry, cozy with just a bit of a twist.

So come for the animals – stay for the mystery. Or the other way around. It’s light, frothy and certainly fluffy either way. I’ll be back to visit Shady Hollow again in the next book in the series, Cold Clay. The amiable local coffee shop owner is about to be caught up in a hotter brew than anything he ever planned to serve.

Sweet, but ultimately a bit too twee for me. This was cozier where I wanted stranger, I think? A fine enough mystery, just didn't make me want to keep reading the series.

Welcome to the quiet northern town of Shady Hollow, populated by (anthropomorphic) creatures peacefully going about their daily business. Gossip columnist Gladys Honeysuckle is on her way in to work one morning when she spies something unusual in the waters of the millpond. Hovering closer, she discovers the floating corpse of town curmudgeon Otto Sumpf, and quickly flies off to alert the authorities.

Gladys’ colleague Vera Vixen hears about this and hightails it to check out the scene. In the absence of the police chief, Deputy Orville Braun has taken charge of corpse recovery, only to find, to his chagrin, that Otto’s body has drifted further into the waters than he can safely reach from shore. Vera tags along with him as he makes his way to the local sawmill in search of help, and takes the opportunity to ask questions for her coverage:

QUOTE
“I’ll have to commandeer a boat,” Orville growled on the way. “The chief took the police boat on a fishing expedition.”

“What’s he hoping to find?” she asked, curious.

“Fish, I’d guess.” Orville looked blankly at the fox. “What else?”

Vera stared back at the brown bear, suspicious. “A literal fishing expedition?”

“Is there another kind?”
END QUOTE

What Orville lacks in imagination, he makes up for in authority, quickly securing a boat and, ahem, fishing Otto’s body out of the water. To his horror, he discovers that the toad wasn’t a mere victim of misadventure. Otto was stabbed, and the knife is still lodged in his back. Vera quickly returns to the office to report on this scoop, which soon has the entire town all a-flutter. Otto had never been the most popular person in Shady Hollow – he was a misanthrope who often complained about the sawmill, the town’s biggest employer, for disturbing his afternoon naps – but who on earth could have hated him enough to murder him?

Vera is determined to find out, especially since her encounters with the local constabulary haven’t exactly raised her opinion of them much in her esteem:

QUOTE
In fact, Vera was fairly certain she was by far the most experienced investigator in Shady Hollow. She had worked the crime beat in a big city down south before opting for a quieter life in Shady Hollow. Not many of her neighbors knew about her past, and Vera wasn’t inclined to enlighten everyone else. She had her own secrets, and she preferred to keep them close.
END QUOTE

Vera isn’t the only one with secrets, however, as she’ll quickly discover in the course of her investigations. Plenty of her fellow citizens have lots to hide, even if major crimes have been a vanishingly small part of their everyday lives. And with crime such a rare occurrence in Shady Hollow, Vera can’t really hold Deputy Orville’s lack of experience against him. It’s to his credit that he’s ready to accept help where and as he can, even if it comes in the form of a meddling newspaper reporter with a too-high opinion of her own survival skills.

The way these characters (and several others, including the charming bookseller Lenore Lee and the mysterious restaurateur Sun Li) come together to get to the bottom of the case makes for an absolutely delightful cozy read. The cast may be somewhat unusual in that they’re all woodland creatures, but that honestly adds to the escapist atmosphere, a bit like a prose, pastoral version of Disney’s Zootopia film. A remarkable empathy is also on display in these pages, putting this book firmly in the category of heartwarming reads despite the murders it chronicles.

Two sequels are already slated for publication later this year, and I’m happily anticipating getting to spend lots more time with the creatures of Shady Hollow as they solve crimes and bring murderers to justice. These are the perfect cozy mystery reads for our pandemic times, with just the right amount of wholesome fantasy to leaven any darkness.

This is a charming mystery novel populated with anthropomorphic animals (animals that have human characteristics).

Shady Hollow is a peaceful village inhabited with all sorts of animals. It is a typical small town, with one major employer (the sawmill) and all of the businesses you find on a typical Main Street - shops, restaurants, a bank, police department, and a newspaper. But the unofficial news source is Joe's Coffee Shop, where everyone goes to get a cup of coffee and the latest gossip.

This morning, the gossip columnist, Gladys, is flying to work when she sees something strange in the mill pond. She swoops down and realizes it is Otto the toad, dead. Gladys goes to work and tells the investigative reporter, Vera Fox, who rushes to the scene to see what happened. Otto is a grumpy hermit that argues with everyone. But no one deserves to be poisoned and stabbed.

Vera interviews all of the residents of Shady Hollow, getting closer to the murderer. But then another resident is murdered, and Vera must work fast to figure out who is responsible before someone else dies.

If you're looking for a fun cozy mystery, Shady Hollow is a great choice! And to make this mystery even better, there are two sequels coming out in March and April, so you won't have to wait long to see what happens to your favorite Shady Hollow citizens!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this fun book.

I was incredibly excited to read this cozy mystery, but i found the writing to be too bland, and there were far too many characters.

One of the pleasures of watching a movie mystery is seeing the players. We apply our conceived notions on the looks and mannerisms of them, then we have in our minds who looks guilty and lies. In a novel it is more difficult, without a physical view. Yet the writing duo who call themselves Juneau Black creates a physical view without much description. Shady Hollow is a mystery involving a town of animals via anthropomorphism. It is difficult not to push a specific personality onto individual animals involved, just because of their traits in nature that we know. This book is a cozy mystery which involves a study of the lives in this town done by the local newspaper reporter, a fox named Vera. She has to report on a murder, and fancies herself just as much a detective as those in the police department there. The amount of characters is daunting, but they are introduced slowly and carefully with their personality and background, which aids in building the citizens of the town. The murder mystery itself is somewhat light, which goes with the neighborhood where it happened. Whimsical and easy to fly through, the writing makes me want to grab the other books that have been written in this series. I highly enjoyed Shady Hollow, and appreciate the ecopy of the book given by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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The is a cute, alternative cozy mystery. I'd recommend it to those who like the genre and who would enjoy the typical human characters being replaces by various woodland creatures.

Shady Hollow by Juneau Black is a fun mystery set in an animal populated world. This is a fun departure from the usual mystery story and the animal characters are fully believable. I hope there will be many more stories set in this world.

Who can predict what evil the death of a toad might unleash...?

Juneau Black's SHADY HOLLOW is a refreshing twist on the cozy mystery: here, the local animals are the stars of the show. (And the victims of the crimes....)

Treat yourself to a visit to Shady Hollow.

I've been reading cozies for a short while now and absolutely loving them! The one thing I love most about cozies are how different each series can be and Shady Hollow has a truly unique setting. The characters are not people but instead are wild creatures and the setting is in the wilderness... This caught my attention right away and I was eager to check this book out! I was instantly captivated by these charming animals.

I fell madly in love with this book and the characters and the mystery was so good and clever! The murder took place right away and it truly had me guessing all the way to the very end, which is a plus for me. There was even a hint of romance that was just adorable. While reading this book I couldn't help but visualize a Zootopia or Winnie the Poo type setting but with murder thrown into the mix, it was a delightful read and I couldn't put it down.

Would I recommend this book? Yes! I was skeptical going into this book thinking that it may be aimed more at younger readers but I was so wrong. Such a fun read and the pace was very steady!

I enjoyed this novel and look forward to others in the series. I have recommended it to patrons looking for a caper type adventure.

A cozy with animals representing people. Vera Vixen, an ace reporter, finds herself investigating the death- the murder- of Otto the toad. She's new to Shady Hollow so she doesn't know all the back stories and issues among the various town residents. If you're a cozy reader, much of this will be familiar territory so how much you enjoy the book will depend on how you feel about the quirkiness. The mystery isn't very twisty (more time is spent easing the reader into the world of Shady Hollow). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A different sort of read.

A short and sweet mystery featuring animals including a Sly Fox reporter and a Bumbling Bear policeman.

Shady Hollow is a comfy, cozy small town murder mystery book with a delightful cast of woodland creatures.

Mystery fans will love that this book has all the elements expected in a traditional mystery, even if the murder victim was a toad.

I cannot wait to read more of this series, and can't wait to recommend it to mystery fans!

I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't read a lot of mysteries, but I do prefer cozy mysteries when I do read them. This fits that description. What drew me to this book was the idea of a small community of animals living together -- it reminded me of any number of animal fantasies I read when I was younger. Unfortunately, the authors rely too heavily on stereotypes to create these characters, which took away from my enjoyment of what would otherwise be a simple and fun quick read.

DNF

I did not really enjoy this book and I couldn't find the energy to finish it. The writing style seemed too juvenile to me for a supposedly adult book, and I wasn't invested in the plot at all.

I haven't read many cozy mysteries, but the ones I have were fun and engaging, and this one just didn't hit the spot for me, so I didn't want to waste my time finishing it. I just don't think I'm the right audience for a book like this, although I appreciate the publisher sending me a review copy.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

Shady Hollow is a comfy, cozy small town murder mystery book in an early 20th-century-ish setting, with a cast that entirely consists of anthropomorphic animals. Indeed, the stereotypes of the creatures often match with the stereotypes within a murder village, from the overly-busy logging company magnate beaver to the protagonist small town reporter who is also a nosy fox.

The fact that the entire cast is animals adds an extra dose of whimsy and gives opportunities for some laugh-out-loud jokes at times, but this is really quite the traditional murder mystery. It has twists and turns, attempted murder, extra murder, sordid affairs, family secrets--all the drama one would expect. It's a fast and breezy read that had plentiful surprises even as it stayed true to form. I would definitely read more in this series.

Woodland creatures, a picturesque setting and a murder investigation is where this story starts and I didn’t want it to end.

This inventive, curious tale of the creatures of Shady Hollow was enticing to my cozy spirit. As soon as I saw the cover for the book I knew I wanted to get my hands on a copy without even reading the synopsis.
This lovely little mystery is very reminiscent of older Agatha Christie books that I have loved for as long as I have been reading.

Vera Vixen a fox with a nose for news, is this quaint little towns best investigative reporter. After the town’s grump Otto is found murdered she knows it’s her time to shine. She sets out to find clues hoping to lead her to the murdered but will she get too close?

All of the characters personalities fit with their animal counterparts. I had a hard time picturing them as animals throughout the entire book though and sometimes imagined them as people just with the traits of the animals that they were. The mystery was not a hard one to solve and in the end it was just a short, comfy, fun read. I look forward to delving into the other stories with these characters. This version will be released as a new kindle edition this coming January.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

a really fun light-hearted murder mystery for middle grade or YA readers! takes place amongst animals who symbolize different portrayals that humans do. definitely zootopia vibes!

A cute, clever cozy mystery for those who loved Beatrix Potter's animal stories.. The denizens of Shady Hollow are all anthropomorphic animals, with the character traits usually associated with the animals. I look forward to reading others in the series!