Shepherd’s Crook

Shepherd’s Crook by Sheila Webster Boneham

I grabbed this book from my current library’s “new books” shelf on a whim, not realizing it was the fourth in a new series I hadn’t yet heard of. The main character, Janet McPhail is a fifties-ish woman who divides her time between her photography career, and her dog’s herding, tracking and agility pursuits. Jay, the Australian shepherd, is Janet’s canine counterpart. Other characters include a couple of cats, and various friends and their dogs.

Janet also seems to find herself stumbling into solving the occasional mystery.

This book begins with the curious case of some missing sheep, and the situation then snowballs into one involving much murder and mayhem, including a devious councilman intent on passing a law to limit the number of pets his neighbors can own, and also some annoying antics from a local animal rights group.

The adventures take place around a backdrop of dog training classes, a new puppy, and wedding preparations, and it all makes for one very interesting and action-packed story.

I love discovering new “dog-themed” mystery series. I very much enjoyed reading Shepherd’s Crook, and am looking forward to picking up the first three books in the series.

Jennifer Casula, group fitness instructor, personal trainer and native Texan, currently resides in Oklahoma, where she teaches step aerobics, cardio kickboxing and water aerobics, in addition to subbing Pilates, indoor cycling and senior fitness classes. She shares her home with two cats, two turtles, an Australian Cattle Dog/Australian shepherd cross, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, and another Australian Cattle Dog mix. In her spare time, she volunteers with Texas Cattle Dog Rescue, responding to various dog training/behavior emails and fostering litters of ACD mix puppies.