I love Philipp Schott's mysteries that are always entertaining, engaging and informative.
This is one is excellent and full of surprising twists. Had fun and it kept me hooked and guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Another wonderful addition to the series,Dr.Bannerman solving another mystery.Well written engaging a series I highly recommend.# netgalley #elevenhuskies

I received a review copy of this book from ECW Press via NetGalley for which my thanks.

This third in the Dr Peter Bannerman Vet Mystery series by Canadian veterinarian and author Dr Philipp Schott is rather different from the first two in that it sees Dr Bannerman and his family head out for a vacation, canoeing and camping in Manitoba, but while even before they start their holiday a mystery, in fact two have cropped up, the mysteries stay somewhat on the sidelines as they take their trip, another source of danger becoming far more threatening than even the murderer. But that isn’t to say that the murderer doesn’t intend further harm!

The story opens with Peter travelling to the Dragonfly Lodge where he with his wife Laura, brother-in-law Kevin and Kevin’s partner Stuart are to vacation in a few days as the Lodge’s husky team has suddenly taken very ill, some of them serious. Alongside a plane has gone down in the lake but this turns out not to have been an accident as the pilot was shot. Who could have done this? While Peter starts off the dogs’ treatment, sending the more serious ones on to his clinic, he finds the only possible cause of their illness to be poisoning. Could it be that the killer and poisoner are the same? His mind begins to work on the puzzle and there are some suspicious happenings at night.

Nonetheless he returns with Laura, Kevin and Stuart (and Pippin the dog of course, now famed for his tracking skills) and the four head off for their two-day canoeing and camping trip. Forest fires have affected areas at a distance but the Dragonfly and its surrounds were safe enough, yet right amidst their trip, the fires catch up with them trapping them and putting them in danger of their lives. But that isn’t the only danger for the murderer too is lurking.

This was an enjoyable entry in the series and in its setting and the vacation plot takes us into the Canadian wilderness as Peter and the others enjoy some time out under the stars (with some very beautiful views of the sky) in the midst of First Nations Territories. I enjoyed these descriptions and their holiday though it doesn’t last long for them with the forest fire catching up and they having to escape. Pippin plays a hero’s role here by helping them find a safe path, but getting back o the lodge itself isn’t so easy.

The mysteries or the actual sleuthing as a consequence takes more of a backseat, with Peter’s mind going to them off and on, and some discussion with Kevin and it is only in the later part of the book that it comes front and centre again. There are plenty of suspects but we don’t really get to know them or possible motivations here so it is mostly Peter working out the puzzle from the information he collects. Pippin plays his part here too, with his tracking skills leading them to answers.

It was fun catching up with the characters from the previous books including from the clinic (even Peggy and her dog Emma find a mention—these two I always remember because I too have dogs called Emma and Peggy) as also Laura’s knitting of LOTR and Potter themed things; there’s also some exploration of their town New Selfoss’s Icelandic heritage as some tourists are guided by Laura, keen to be in touch with her own roots. We also get to see Kevin and especially Stuart more closely. Introduced in this book are some mushroom-hunting (morels, specifically) Belarussians staying at the Lodge who make friends with Peter; and some other guests we don’t really get to know.

While I would have liked the mystery/mysteries to be a little more prominent in the book and one part of the solution felt a bit of a letdown, I still thought the book made for a very good read, with plenty of excitement, nature and animals and of course, the characters we now know and feel like old friends.

p. s. While this may count as a spoiler, I will reveal that the huskies themselves come through ok. There are mentions of hunting trophies, hunting and also some taxidermy which may bother some readers, but nothing that is dwelt upon too much.

I love this series!
Peter Bannerman is called up to Dragonfly Lake where a team of huskies are ill. He realises that they have been poisoned and sends the worst of them down south for treatment. He is back at Dragonfly Lake with Laura, Kevin and Stuart for their summer canoeing and camping holiday.
However, there is a murderer lurking and the imminent threat of wildfire as it has been a very dry season.
Will Peter and Pippin, his wonder dog, solve the mystery?
An enjoyable read and has several nods to other books. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Peter Bannerman, veterinarian and amateur detective, is called to a remote lodge in Northen Manitoba where the lodge’s team of sled dogs has been poisoned and, in the same timeframe, a floatplane crashed into the lake, killing the pilot and both passengers. While Peter works to save the huskies, it's discovered that the plane crash wasn’t an accident. A few days later he and his wife and her brother and his partner return to the area for a long-planned fishing and camping trip.

This is the 3rd book in this series featuring Dr. Peter Bannerman but can be read as a standalone. I didn't read either of the others. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a cozy mystery but it isn't a genre I normally read. It sounded cute and just what I needed after some pretty intense books so I requested it from Netgalley and was approved.

I enjoyed the book but probably wouldn't go back and read the first two. I liked the characters and the setting, a part of Canada I've never visited. There are some pretty tense moments as Peter and his family try to escape a large wildfire, a very real threat in this area. There were so many suspects that I couldn't even make a wild guess at who was responsible for all the mayhem. At one point near the end Peter goes into an reverie about matter and atoms and elements and I'm not sure what the point of that was although he is mildly autistic and his mind is always active. Supposedly the daydream helped him take a guess as to who was behind the murders but I didn't get the connection. The poisoning of the huskies may discourage some people from reading the book but everything works out in the end plus it isn't even a large part of the story despite the title. I thought the little sketch of a husky dog to separate passages within the chapters was adorable.

The book contains an excerpt from what I assume is Book 4, "Three Bengal Kittens" but no publication date. I'll keep an eye out for it though.

Thanks to ECW Press via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Veterinarian Peter Bannerman is called to an upscale fishing/hunting lodge on Dragonfly Lake in Northern Manitoba after the owner's champion sled dog team is poisoned. His float plane flight in is also carrying two Transportation Safety Board investigators who are coming to investigate the recent crash of another float plane, which killed all aboard. A bit of an amateur detective himself, Peter wonders whether the two incidents are related after the crash is deemed murder, but his focus is on treating the dogs. When he returns a few days later with his wife and other family, as well as his own dog Pippin, for a long-scheduled canoeing and camping vacation, Peter finds himself in the middle of the action of the murder investigation as well as a fast-moving wildfire. The characters are quirky and interesting, the plot is well-paced, there are many suspects to keep the reader guessing, and the detailed descriptions of the Northern Manitoba landscape brought the setting to life. I haven't read the first two books in the series, and while those plots are referred to (in relatively vague terms), I didn't feel like I needed to have read them to enjoy this book.

Unfortunately, this was a flop for me. The writing isn't awful. I did like the premise of how it was going to play out. It just missed the mark for me in the end.

In Eleven Huskies by Philipp Schott, Peter Bannerman, Veterinarian, ends up at a fly in lodge in Manitoba to find out why the lodge owners dog team is sick. With the addition of a fatal plane crash and a canoe trip with family, (and of course his dog Pippen) a forest fire almost ends everything. The descriptions of the fire and it's movements is frightning and the final denouement in the midst of the fire is very well done. This series just gets better and better and the lives of the characters are well thought out.

Eleven Huskies is the third book in the Dr Bannerman Vet Mystery series by Canadian veterinarian and author, Philipp Schott. Shortly before he is due to go there on a family canoeing trip, veterinarian and part-time sleuth, Dr Peter Bannerman is called to Dragonfly Lodge to examine some very unwell huskies.


When he arrives, he learns that a float-plane has gone down on the lake that morning, with the loss of three lives and, as he puzzles over what is ailing the dogs, the RCMP report that the pilot was shot, making this a triple murder. As he organises transport to New Selfoss for the sickest dogs, apparently poisoned, he wonders who might have wanted to harm John Reynolds’s prize-winning dogs, coming up with theories that range from credible to utterly outlandish as he uncharacteristically indulges in wild speculation with no basis in fact.


Before returning home, he observes the interplay between Lodge staff, notes a pre-dawn canoe crossing the lake, and is shot at when he visits an old friend at the Dragon Lake First Nation settlement. He can’t help wondering who might have been the target of the plane crash: aside from the pilot, there were a flashy entrepreneur and a local indigenous politician on board; and, not believing in coincidence, he wonders if the poisoning is somehow related.


A few days later, Peter arrives for his trip, this time accompanied by his wife, Laura, his RCMP brother-in-law, Kevin and Kevin’s partner, Stuart, and of course his champion scent dog Pippin. And while Kevin is on vacation, he and Peter can’t help discussing both of the so-far-unsolved mysteries, postulating that everyone at the Lodge, staff and guests, are potential suspects.

In this instalment, Schott subjects his characters to a terrifying ordeal when a natural disaster cuts short their canoeing trip, gives Laura’s seemingly bumbling brother a chance to shine, deprives Peter of a classic locked-room denouement, and has Pippin using his sensitive nose on three occasions, one of which saves the lives of four people.

Peter eventually figures out who the killer is: “This process was always mysterious to him. His mind would meander somewhere that was pleasant but felt irrelevant, and then it would leap across a void to an unseen path that had been running in parallel all along. He wished he understood it so he could harness it properly, but at least it existed at all.” Or does he?

As usual, the prologue is from the perspective of the creatures requiring Peter’s veterinary expertise, and there is a preview of the fourth book in the series, Three Bengal Kittens. This is an entertaining and very enjoyable cosy mystery series, and more of quirky Peter Bannerman, Pippin, and their support characters, is eagerly anticipated.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and ECW Press

Fans of quirky amateur sleuths will love the Dr. Bannerman series. Peter Bannerman is a veterinarian, practicing in a small Manitoba town, close enough to Winnipeg for day trips. He has developed a reputation for being an amateur sleuth (see books 1 and 2 in this series). In Eleven Huskies, he is called to northern Manitoba to see about some very sick huskies. It seems they’ve been poisoned and no one can figure out why. At the same time, a small plane is shot down nearby on Dragonfly Lake. Again, no one can figure out why someone would do that. Coincidentally, the location is where Peter and his wife are scheduled for an upcoming canoe and camping vacation (Peter has friends in the area, and has enjoyed being there before.)

There are some very frightening scenes as Peter and his friends and family are caught in a wildfire while on their camping and canoe vacation, which elevates this story from a “typical” cozy mystery. (The author notes that this was written before the horrific wildfires of the summer of 2023.)

There are a wide variety of people in this story, including visitors from Iceland (Peter’s town has a solid Icelandic heritage), his Nigerian friend Stuart, some mushroom-hunting men from Belorus and First Nation people, including Peter’s friend Lawrence. Peter’s dog, Pippin, plays a large role in the story, with his excellent sense of smell and tracking capabilities.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. Miles Meili narrates the audiobook and does an excellent job with the many voices and accents.

Thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book and to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

🔥Exciting action, baffling happenings in Manitoba wilderness setting👨‍⚕

The Eleven Huskies had me hooked throughout, with memorable main characters and a fast-paced plot.

I love the Dr. Peter Bannerman, DVM, character with all his quirks, especially his love for LOTR, mathematics and unusual facts, the way he has to push himself in social situations and how he interacts with his tolerant wife and his boastful RCMP brother-in-law Kevin. He's a pretty unique and appealing amateur detective.

But it's the mysterious illness of a team of huskies and murder and mayhem in the backwoods that really cinched my appreciation of the story. Dr. Bannerman finds himself in the thick of mystery, danger and drama even on his canoeing and camping vacation, and takes his family into it with him. I couldn't stop reading even before the action and danger in the woods! I liked the mix of suspects and how the author kept shifting suspicion around and build the tension.

I never did guess whodunit but I had a great time speculating along with Bannerman. Recommended.

Thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

This one didn't hold my attention the way that Six Ostriches, the second book in the series, did. Of course I was worried about the poisoned dogs, but the actual murders? Those were felt like an isolated event that had little to do with Peter and his wife's canoe trip. What did pull me in and keep me turning pages was a harrowing scene about halfway through the book. Suddenly I was very interested in what was going to happen next. I love the characters and the way they feel more like real people than your usual cozy mystery protagonists, but I can barely remember who died or why they were killed.

The world of fiction is full of amateur sleuths from every profession and walk of life, but Peter Bannerman is the only crime solving vet that I'm aware of - certainly the only one doing it in the setting of rural Canada. Philipp Schott serves up another slice of 'cosy crime' in the forests and lakes of Manitoba, this time starting with the poisoning of a team of sled-dogs. Bannerman arrives at the isolated setting of Dragonfly Lake to treat the animals on the same day that a small plane crashes into the lane, killing all three on board. The incident is soon found to be murder, leaving the local police busy and Bannerman free to do his usual amateur sleuthing on the case of the dogs. But perhaps the two crimes are linked,,, Once again our veterinary hero might have unwittingly got involved in something much more dangerous than it initially seemed.

This is the third in the series of Bannerman mysteries and I would say it's the best - and I did like its predecessors. It's very gripping with an extended period of 'peril' that lasts for most of the entire second half of the book, thanks to the characters getting caught up in a wildfire. The sections describing the fire are frightening and feel very realistic and make you realise just how dangerous and unpredictable these fires are. With more and more such fires occurring all over the world - including in Canada - it is very topical. I think for people who haven't experienced such a thing first hand, it's quite hard to comprehend the scale and nature of these fires - how fast they move, how they can 'jump' and change direction. Certainly I feel like I have a better understanding now of why these fires are so dangerous and hard to manage.

The book balances the 'mystery' and 'action' elements well, with the mystery working quite nicely and I wasn't able to guess 'whodunnit' until it was revealed. There is an element of the 'country house' murder mystery setting towards the end, when the suspects and sleuths are all trapped together in a lodge surrounded by the fire. It's fast paced but still manages to retain the twistiness of plot needed for a story of this nature and despite the drama, it felt less far fetched than the average 'cosy-crime' (of course, all such stories have an element of unreality about them, which is part of their appeal). I like the characters, including the wonderful Pippin the dog, and it's nice to 'catch up' with them again.

Fans of the cosy crime genre should definitely get into this series - it isn't essential to read them all in order, but it would be better to do so if you can. Often with series of this kind I start to feel by the third book that they're running out of steam, but in this case it feels like it's just getting into its stride. I'm looking forwards to the fourth already.

Pro
* The animals 💜💜💜
* Tolkien and No 1 detective agency reference
* Classic locked-room mystery, complete with Agatha Christie reference
* Love Peter with his big heart and all his quirks
* Love the setting
* Very good pacing
* The series is really hitting its stride

Con
* Really dislike the audiobook narrator. He has a nasal tone and an odd inflection that fails to follow the storyline. Terrible accents.
* Very similar to Christi Lefteri’s Book of Fire. Coincidental.

Thank you to Philipp Schott, Miles Meili, ECW Press, and NetGalley for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had the pleasure of both reading and listening to the audio of Philipp Schott's latest addition to his veterinarian Dr Peter Bannerman, an on the spectrum amateur sleuth series set in Manitoba in Canada. The audio is once again ably narrated by Miles Meili, with clarity, with the ability to keep me immersed in the gripping mystery from beginning to end, it is approximately 7 hours and 30 minutes long, and includes the start of the next in the series at the end. Peter finds himself called to a remote fishing lodge in the beautiful Canadian wilderness, where John, the owner, has had his 11 husky sled team poisoned, with the leader of the pack suffering the most, with serious liver damage. As it happens, a seaplane has come down, with the pilot and his 2 passengers killed.

It turns out it is a case of murder, Peter is planning to come back here for a break, first returning home to his wife, Laura, and, along with RMCP police officer and brother-in-law, Kevin, and his Nigerian partner, Stuart, pack for a kayaking and hiking holiday, staying at the Lodge, accompanied by beloved smart, well known sniffer dog, Pippin, Peter, being the curious soul and lover of puzzles that he is, cannot help but investigate, thinking the poisonings and the seaplane murders are probably connected. While the landscape is breathtaking, the group unfortunately find themselves caught in the terrifying firestorms, so intense and harrowing that even the lodge comes under threat, a dangerous lodge that harbours a killer amongst its guests and staff. Matters worsen with the increasing chaos as the fire storms come closer, and with the lack of power and no communications. Will Peter be able to sift through the host of suspects to arrive at the truth?

For me, it is Peter's quirky obsessive personality that often struggles to understand other humans, along with the animals that come with his profession that make this such a delightfully engaging crime series. The sense of location here is marvellous, and we get an all too real feel for the horrors of the damage and fear that fire storms bring to the local area and its population. This is a wonderfully entertaining and compelling mystery series with an appealing protagonist and I recommend both the book and the audio to readers and listeners interested in the series. Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC and ALC.

Veterinarian Peter and his family are taking a camping/canoeing vacation in northern Manitoba, where he learns that some champion sled dogs have been poisoned, and a floatplane has been shot down, killing three people. Are the two incidents related? Then the vacation is marred by a large forest fire, and someone else is shot when everyone is trapped by the fire. The power goes out., and Peter is sure the murderer is trapped with them. The title is kind of misleading since the huskies aren't really the focus of the story. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Dr. Peter Bannerman, the vet-turned-sleuth, is back in this third mystery of the series. Peter received a call to attend the sick sled team of huskies (eleven of them) belong to a fishing lodge in northern Manitoba, where Peter and his family planned to spend summer holiday on a canoeing trip. It turns out to be a poisoning case. Who would do that, and why? Was there a connection between the dog poisoning with the plane crash which had happened at the same time?

Three people were dead from the plane crash. It was caused by a shot aimed originally to the pilot. As usual, Peter is involuntarily wondering what is the motive? But, of course, his main attention right now is in the huskies. That, and the upcoming canoeing trip with Laura (his wife), Kevin (his brother in the police force), and Stuart (Kevin's boyfriend). Last but certainly not least, Pippin the dog, Peter's great sniffer who has helped him in previous cases, will accompany Peter in this trip, which would be one they'll never forget!

It's an entertaining cozy mystery. The murder mystery itself isn't too intriguing. Something the murderer had said several chapters before last instantly told me who the murderer most probably be, and I wasn't wrong. In fact, we didn't get to know the suspects very well to be able to guess, and but for that "revelation" I wouldn't have any clue. But it's a cozy anyway, and I guess I'm more interested to know whether the lead dog of the eleven huskies would make it at the end or not, then who the real murderer was.

Not read any of the authors other works. I requested this solely because it was about huskies and i live with one.

This is the story of vet detective Peter. He gets a call from someone in canada that their huskies have all been poisoned. Peter suspects foul play and begins to investigate. At the owners lodge he is staying in a few people get murdered and Peter has to try and figure out who the culprit is.

I enjoyed the story, i am glad that Atlas was okay in the end.

Manitoba veterinarian Dr Peter Bannerman makes an urgent house call to a remote fishing lodge in the north of the province, to the owner’s eleven huskies who have varying degrees of liver damage. Suspecting they have all somehow ingested a liver toxin, he sends the three sickest dogs to an animal hospital for intensive treatment, knowing that he’ll be returning to the lodge for his annual family vacation in two days time and can then keep an eye on the other dogs. Also on the morning he arrived at the lodge, a seaplane trying to land crashed into the lake, killing the pilot and both passengers. As one of the passengers was a crypto-currency magnate, so Peter wonders if the crash was in fact an accident.

After they arrive at the lodge, Peter and his wife Laura, her brother Kevin, a Canadian Mountie, and his partner Stuart along with Peter’s dog Pippin, are all looking forward to taking an overnight camping and kayaking trip. On their first day kayaking they notice a forest fire and pray it won’t come their way and interfere with their trip or come anywhere near the lodge.

This is another excellent addition to this series featuring Dr Bannerman. As always, I enjoyed the descriptions of the landscape, this time in the wilderness in northern Manitoba. It was also great to see all the characters, Peter with his quirky personality, Laura helping to keep him calm, while knitting up LOR and Star Wars characters into jumpers and toques as well as jokey Kevin and his more sensible partner Stuart. I did miss seeing Peter with his patients at his practice, but even vets deserve to take a vacation. Without giving spoilers, there is plenty of action, danger and threat both outdoors and inside the lodge and it’s far from the relaxing outdoors vacation they had planned. Peter and Pippin do less sleuthing than in the previous two novels, but rest assured his brain is still actively thinking about the huskies and the plane crash and eventually all the pieces will fall into place.

Another complex and interesting crime to be solved by Dr Bannerman. Love this series set in Canada. Thanks #netgalley for the advanced copy.