Sniffing Out Murder is the first in a pleasurable new cozy mystery series by Kallie E. Benjamin, who also writes mysteries under the names Valerie Burns (Murder Is a Piece of Cake) and V.M. Burns (Bookclubbed to Death).
Priscilla "Pris" Cummings returns to her "nothing much happens" hometown of Crosbyville, Ind., to care for a beloved aunt. Choosing to stay on, Pris takes a job as an elementary school teacher. The 28-year-old, feeling unfulfilled, writes and publishes a middle-grade mystery novel that becomes so successfully received that Priscilla decides to leave teaching and devote herself to writing full-time. Her crime fiction series features a pet detective--stories spun from the inquisitive antics of her own three-year-old bloodhound, Bailey, a registered therapy dog.
Just as Priscilla is gladly wrapping up her last day at school, a parent-teacher conference unexpectedly escalates. A parent storms out after receiving feedback on her daughter's progress and--being an insecure, bullying school-board member--she threatens to cut off a reading program that would impact Pris, Bailey, and their books.
The next day, while Pris is walking Bailey at the park, the dog digs up a corpse: the body of the bullying parent. This shocking discovery implicates Pris and Bailey, and leads them to solve a real-life murder mystery.
Benjamin's suspenseful cozy will charm mystery fans who enjoy small-town characters and culprits--and enough red herrings to throw pet detectives and readers off the scent of a killer. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines