Gwinny Tuffel has faced significant challenges in life. Having put her career as an actress on hold to care for her ill father, she now finds herself living alone in a house she can’t afford with a career that may be on permanent hiatus. She does have her friend Tina’s wedding to look forward to – but be careful of what you wish for.

Tina’s fiancé is an Italian businessman, Remy De Lucia. None of his family are coming to the wedding, except two salukis that his sister has sent the bride. No one really knows him apart from Tina – so when he’s found dead in the library, and someone resembling Tina is spotted entering the room before the murder, the police decide the easiest solution is the truth. Gwinny, on the other hand, with a pair of dogs and her new friend Birch, a retired policeman, is determined to prove her friend’s innocence.

You may recall that I read the third and latest in this series, The Dog Sitter Plays Dead, recently and absolutely loved it. There was one bit of the personal subplot that I thought was a little obvious, but the mystery, the characters and the humour were all absolutely spot on. Well for this one, you can remove the caveat about the personal subplot. This is absolutely marvellous.

It’s not something I mention very often, but I found myself admiring the quality of the writing here. It’s a very well-written tale. Gwinny’s world feels real, her personal struggles feel real. Her need to solve the mystery herself makes sense – we can see why she is certain Tina isn’t the killer, but we can also see why the police think Tina is guilty. Her friendship with Birch develops naturally and while we can see where this is going (after all, I’ve read Book Three) it’s never hammered home here. I’m reasonably convinced I’d enjoy reading about Gwinny, Birch and whatever dogs are passing by regardless of what the rest of the book was about.

And despite this falling under the cosy banner – shame on the publisher or Amazon for using the US “cozy” spelling – this is far more than that. It’s a really lovely read, with a plot that kept me putting the book down after a chapter to have a bit of a think about whodunit, but there is a darkness in the story. There’s a big question as to why certain events happened and while I didn’t guess the truth, it makes a horrible sense. This aspect really grounds the story in ways that many “cozy” mysteries don’t.

If you’re interested, yes, I did spot the murderer – one aspect of the solution signposted the killer more than I think the author intended – and there was a something of a similarity, in terms of plot construction, with Book Three. But hey, Agatha did it all the time, so why not? I think a lot of readers will be caught out.

I’m so glad I stumbled over this series – as I said last time, don’t be put off by the cutesy title and cover. This is streets ahead of most of the “BLANKETY BLANK DETECTIVE” books out there and is definitely one to look out for. Now to get my hands on Book Two…