Big Bad Wool

By Leonie Swann
Narrator: Caroline Lennon

The narrator had her job cut out for her. So many different voices and she did them all very well.

I was given a lot of information about the first novel from a good friend. So I began listening to this 2nd story with that knowledge.

I rarely listen to mystery/thrillers.
It takes something truly unique for me to start one. This is a fun mystery and I giggled often.

I had a bit of trouble following along with the story. But I stuck with it and listened in a quiet room without distractions. I also listened to this twice. That helped a bit.
My advice would be to really take this novel in without distractions if you can. At least for me it worked better that way.

A lot happens, tons of twists and turns. It’s hard not to give spoilers. Many characters are involved in the mystery and of course the goats are the busy bodies. Those goats can’t be trusted.

For myself I loved Mople the Whale and the silly winter lamb.
Their personalities are the complete opposite in the very best way.

The best part was how these sheep, who are moved to a new location and with a new shepherdess, adjust and take on the new meadow and mystery, with little fear and a big dose of spunk.

I wont be able to look at sheep or goats without thinking of this novel.

Many thanks to RBmedia/Recorded Books for the free copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.
#BigBadWool #NetGalley

Second in a series of “sheep detective stories” by the German author Leonie Swann, this 2025 release of Big Bad Wool is a new English translation of the book first published in 2009. Its predecessor, Three Bags Full, is scheduled for release as a major motion picture in 2026. This charming sequel, enjoyable on its own without reading the previous story, feels like a fusion of Animal Farm, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and of course, Little Red Riding Hood. The narration by Caroline Lennon, adds a delightful Irish lilt to the experience in the Audible version.

In this story, a flock of sheep from Ireland are spending the winter in France with their shepherdess. The sheep are curious about the surroundings of their temporary home, but quite hesitant about exploring beyond the pasture. In the adjacent field is a herd of French goats who seem more lively but not at all inquisitive, and, in the sheep’s opinion, the goats are quite foolish. Though apprehensive about wandering away from their safe meadow enclosure, in order to evade the visiting vet the sheep form an expedition into the adjacent forest through a gap in the fence. There, they see alarming signs suggesting that a terrifying and predatory “garou,” a werewolf described by the nonsensical goats, might truly exist. As more strange events occur that worry the sheep, it is a treat, often humorous, to hear them cautiously reason and attempt to solve an increasingly scary puzzle by proposing alternatives to their natural “herd mentality.”

Readers who seek mysteries that are fast-paced and thrilling will likely find the story’s pace slow, as the sleuths in this story are the observant, but dawdling sheep - not professionally trained human detectives. Those who enjoy imaginative stories at a cozy, relaxed speed, with central characters that are more enchanting than terrifying, will find this unique, adult fairy-tale very appealing.

Thank you to Net Galley and Soho Crime for this ARC.

3.5 stars.

A mystery that is told half (or more) through the eyes of the sheep has the potential to be really dumb or utterly adorable, and this fell into the latter category. I smiled a lot throughout the story and laughed out loud a couple times. Humans and human things, from a sheep's perspective, are hilarious. It's endearing, a bit slow at times, but then the sheep say something like wanting to set a "booby" instead of "boobytrap" and get the booby up into the tree, and I'm giggling like crazy. This is a great palate cleanser or an offbeat cozy to shake up your normal reading.

Thank you to Leonie Swann, RBmedia & NetGalley for the audioARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Genre(s): crime, thriller, humour.

Overall impression: an unconventional and humorous murder mystery told from the perspective of a flock of sheep. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this story but it exceeded all my expectations. The sheep were my favourite characters with their unique personalities and overly-literal way of interpreting the world. The goats provided plenty of sass and comic relief, and helped introduce some adventure and exploration into the story. The pacing was a bit on the slow side but I had a thoroughly enjoyable time listening to the audiobook on my commute.

Tropes:
➵ Untraditional story
➵ Told through the eyes of animals
➵ Murder mystery
➵ Animal sacrifices
➵ No witnesses
➵ Superstitions
➵ Tarot reading
➵ Set in isolated village
➵ Everyone is a suspect
➵ Witty dialogue
➵ Unintentionally hilarious

⤷ Plot:
The story followed a fairly simple central plot - trying to discover who was killing animals, breaking into the shepherdess' caravan and threatening the safety of the flock. Because it was told from the perspective of the sheep, the story ended up taking lots of twists and turns making deciphering the evidence even more difficult. You have to really pay attention to keep up with what was going on because the characters often split up and there were a lot of moving parts. It was a very unconventional murder mystery and I had a lot of fun trying to solve it!

⤷ Characters:
Funnily enough, the sheep all had such unique personalities and it was the humans that all seemed to blend together to me. They were fiercely protective of their shepherdess (and their meal, TV and reading time), and worked together to solve the mystery of the werewolf. The goats also played a critical role - helping the sheep escape their pen to avoid seeing the vet and initiating their first adventure into the woods. They had sassy personalities and provided comic relief.

⤷ World-building:
Most of the book was set in the field overlooked by the shepherdess' caravan. But through the sheep's adventures, we got to explore the surrounding forest and chateau. The world-building was really nicely done and we got to see the landscape through a new animal-centred perspective. Their appreciation for nature was obvious and there were a few funny scenes where they interpreted things differently, like when they saw their reflection in a puddle and thought it was a fabled underwater sheep.

⤷ Writing:
The pacing of the story was a bit too slow for my liking. It was easy to follow but it seemed to take a while for anything to happen. The writing style made it easy to read for long periods of time and I was constantly wanting to know what would happen next.

⤷ Everything else:
The narrator was really good at voicing different characters and changed her accent/tone enough that I could picture the various animals and people while she was talking. The pacing of the story was really slow, so I probably wouldn't have rated it so highly or enjoyed it as much if I was reading the print format. The audiobook definitely made it more engaging!

Clever, fun and a terrific follow up to the surprise hit, Three Bags Full. The mystery solving sheep are now in France and have some surprise assistance from goats in trying to figure out what is going on. I so appreciate that Leonie Swann manages to keep the animals believable and to give each animal their own distinctive personality. Even when I laughed or shook my head at the animal assumptions, it made sense. There remains a thread of realism.
I don’t know how she did it, but Carolin Lennon provided different voices for the individual animals that fit their character and allowed me to enter an immersive world.
Now bring the gang back for another romp…they are the baaaadest detectives in the “field.”

Thank you, NetGalley/RBmedia | Recorded Books.

After solving a murder in their Irish village, shepherdess Rebecca takes her flock to France for the winter. They were offered a nice meadow for the sheep, and Rebecca thought a change of scenery would do them all good after what they’d been through. Her mother also insisted on coming, and Rebecca struggles with both of them in such a small space. But Rebecca’s focus it to take care of the sheep, to keep them well fed and healthy and to read to them.

Right next door is a herd of goats who have information that they think the sheep need. Once they start talking, the goats tell the sheep about the what’s been going on. The sheep had been trying to pick up the information from the humans talking, but Rebecca and her mother were the only ones they could understand. All the other humans just sound like they’re honking. But the goats can understand them, all the humans except for Rebecca and her mother. And they’ve lived in France longer, so they had seen things.

There were some deer who had been killed lately in the nearby forest. And after that, a human. In years past, there were sheep who had been killed along, and other humans, and other animals. No one had been able to figure out who was responsible, but there have been rumors that it was a werewolf. The sheep aren’t sure what to believe. All they know is that one of their own, Cloud, is missing. The vet came earlier to give them shots, and she had run away and not made it back to the flock yet.

A couple of the sheep go looking for Cloud, with the help of an excitable goat, and the sheep and the goats form an unlikely union in staying safe from whatever is out there in the snow wanting to end them. And the sheep do need the help of the goats. They’re new to the meadow. They don’t speak (or understand) French. And sheep have died there before. But these sheep are smart, for sheep. They’ve caught a killer in the past, and they think they can do it again. But they’ll have to work fast when Rebecca goes missing, and it’s up to the sheep to save her and save themselves.

Big Bad Wool is the much anticipated follow-up to Three Bags Full, the debut of these crime-solving sheep. Each sheep (and goat) in this book has their own personality, and getting to spend time in their heads is a lot of fun. The sheep have to figure out what is happening by their own investigation methods, like trying to stay safe by using silver to protect them (it was a foil wrapper from Rebecca’s sandwich) or eating some of her mother’s tarot cards to try to find the answers. They lean into their sense of smell to figure out friends from foes, and they work with the goats to set a trap for the killer, be it wolf or human.

Leonie Swann has created this wildly creative universe where sheep use their limited knowledge of the world to ask bigger questions than just when they’ll get fed. It’s clever and interesting, but with dark overtones, as these characters are sheep and only have so much control over their environment. The viewpoints vary from sheep to goats to humans, which means readers have to figure out how reliable each narrator is. The plot is a delicate balance, and Swann nails it. I adored this book. I loved thinking about what sheep might think about, and having the French goats in the mix also added even more humor.

I listened to the audio book, narrated beautifully by Caroline Lennon. Her Irish accent brings the sheep’s voices to life, and her French accent adds playfulness to the voices of the goats. I loved listening to this book, with all the twists and secrets, and trying to put together all the bits and pieces of information into a cohesive theory of the crime. Anyone looking for a crime novel with a fresh point of view will definitely want to check out Big Bad Wool.

Egalleys for Big Bad Wool were provided by Soho Press and a copy of the audio book was provided by RB Media, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

This book is such a delight! I loved the first volume, and this sequel adds even more furry characters. Despite being considered the most uniform of species, each sheep is as distinctive as the author can make them, with their own personalities and voices. Caroline Lennon is back as the audiobook narrator, and her performance is simply amazing. She recreates the same voices that she used in the first book so that it’s easy to know who’s talking. She also comes up with a menagerie of new critters, and it was just so easy to picture everything in my mind. The plot is maybe a little confusing, but I didn’t care. The sheep don’t understand humans well, and their interpretation is spot-on. They see everything based on their own experiences, so they compare people, things and situations to what they know. The writing is fantastic, and it fleshes out in detail the animals and people, the meadow, the castle and the woods. There was just one thing that bothered me, and it’s that there was so much animal death. Unfortunately, it makes perfect sense and was completely necessary to the story. It was still sad. If a genie ever granted me a wish, it would be to talk to animals. This is the next best thing. This book is a blaaaaaast!
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/RBmedia | Recorded Books.