Friday 8 April 2022

The Fashion Hound Murders (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #5) by Elaine Viets

Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is on the hunt for a killer when a pet store employee mysteriously dies after blowing the whistle on possible puppy mill connections…

Josie’s latest assignment is one for the dogs—literally! Pets 4 Luv, a national pet store chain, has hired Josie to mystery shop its St. Louis suburban locations and she discovers possible puppy mill suppliers. When an employee tipster is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run, Josie’s job suddenly gets a lot hairier.

Posh pets are a million dollar business for puppy mills; even so, Josie is staggered to think that her sniffing around led to an innocent woman’s murder and may have put her own life at risk. But she’s not ready to tuck her tail and run just yet. Using every bit of her secret shopper savvy, Josie must follow the designer dog trail to expose the illegal breeders, shutter the puppy mills, and finally collar the vicious killer on the loose.  (Summary via Amazon)



Maybe because I am a huge animal lover, mainly cats, that I really enjoyed The Fashion Hound Murders by Elaine Viets.  This is the fifth book in her Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series and it is my favorite of the series...so far.

The Fashion Hound Murders, like the previous ones, is following main character Josie Marcus as she raises her young daughter, tolerates her mother who lives upstairs and tries to ignore the nosy neighbor next door.  Josie is a single mom, even though she tries her hardest to find a husband and father for her daughter Amelia, whose job is a very flexible one of mystery shopping for businesses.  Unfortunately Josie also seems to have a knack for getting involved in murders, not commiting them but getting in the way of the investigations and usually helping the police solve the case.

And in The Fashion Hound Murders Josie gets too close......  Josie's latest assignment in to mystery shop a chain of pet stores and inquire about the puppies they have for sale.  She is to ask questions specifically to see if they are certified pedigreed puppies or puppies from puppy mills.  While at one of the pet stores an employee tells her to meet her at the end of the evening and she will tell her what she wants to know.  Even though this is beyond what Josie is being paid for, she goes to meet the employee.  Unfortunately while meeting with the employee, she gets spooked and goes to leave and ends up getting hit by a truck trying to get to her car,.  Josie takes this death very hard seeing as she witnessed it first hand.  

The Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series is a great series to get lost in.  Readers will love Josie's job because every assignment, even though she is shopping, is always different and usually ends up with Josie getting in to some kind of trouble.  Readers will love Josie's family and friends and feel for Josie as she tries to navigate dating and try to find a good guy.....  This series has so much to love and enjoy !!  I hghly encourage you to get your copy and start reading.....



Review by Missi M.







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