cover image Whiskey with a Twist: A Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery

Whiskey with a Twist: A Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery

Nina Wright, . . Midnight Ink, $14.95 (312pp) ISBN 978-0-7387-1470-7

At the outset of Wright’s frothy fifth cozy to feature Magnet Springs, Mich., realtor Whiskey Mattimoe (after 2008’s Whiskey and Water ), Whiskey agrees to enter her thieving “diva dog,” Abra, in the Midwest’s Afghan Hound Show as the “Education Dog” or “Bad Example.” On the way to the show in Elkhart, Ind., breeder Susan Davies, who invited Whiskey and Abra, and Susan’s co-breeder are shot at in their car. Soon after Whiskey arrives, breeder Mitchell Slater is shot dead. Meanwhile, Whiskey copes with bouts of the flu (or is it, gulp, morning sickness?) and frets about her affair with her singer ex-husband, Jeb Halloran. Dog show fans will find much to grin about, but sometimes the action gets too silly, and some readers may wonder why the neglectful celebrity parent of Whiskey’s crime-solving eight-year-old sidekick, Chester, isn’t reported to Child Protection Services. (Aug.)