Unleashed

June 29, 2015
In Brady’s amusing, well-plotted second Kate Turner mystery (after 2014’s Muzzled), the Oak Falls, N.Y., veterinarian gets
investigates the death of Claire Birnham, whose Cairn terrier was treated at the local veterinary hospital. Claire appears to have
committed suicide, but it begins to look like a case of foul play after various pet owners reveal details about the woman’s
life. When Kate’s brain-damaged assistant, Eugene Spragg, is arrested for Claire’s murder, Kate sifts through a number of suspects, including Claire’s alcoholic mother, Beverly; Beverly’s abusive boyfriend, Buzz; Gilda Tremont, the owner of the art gallery where Birnham worked; up-and-coming artist Andrei Roshenkov; and Claire’s rocker ex-boyfriend, A.J. Janssen. Meanwhile, Turner treats a pot-bellied pig and a smelly cocker spaniel, besides getting chased by
a flock of geese. Readers will eagerly look
forward to Kate’s further adventures.

June 1, 2015
Now that curiosity has killed the cat, will it kill the veterinarian? Dr. Kate Turner is working as a relief vet in a charming Hudson River town. With her assistant, Mari, she travels the countryside treating everything from cats and dogs to llamas and pigs. When one of her clients, Claire Birnham, is found dead, an apparent suicide, Kate immediately suspects that all is not what it seems. Claire, who'd left her precious cairn terrier, Toto, at Kate's office after he was bitten by a rat, had seemed very happy with her new job in a Manhattan art gallery and had been eager to move to the city. The romance that always seems promised by Kate's friendship with police officer Luke Gianetti is forestalled once more when she calls him with her theory that Claire was murdered. Even her grandfather, a former arson investigator, warns her to mind her own business. But Kate thinks talking to people won't hurt and may turn up some suspects. Indeed, many more people might have wanted Claire dead than Kate imagines. Her alcoholic mother stands to inherit a pile of money from an insurance policy, and her abusive former boyfriend is a handsome rocker with a jealous new girlfriend. Claire herself, a talented artist, was leaving a job at a local gallery whose owner may be involved in selling fraudulent artworks. When Kate's kennel assistant, a young man with brain damage, is arrested for the crime, she redoubles her efforts to find a calculating killer. Kate's second (Muzzled, 2014) is a treat for animal lovers. The plethora of suspects keeps you guessing.

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August 1, 2015

Dr. Kate Turner is happy to fill in for a veterinarian in Oak Falls, NY, who is on a yearlong sabbatical. But she is devastated when her friend, artist Claire Birnham, is found dead. First the police think it's suicide, but then they arrest the mentally challenged young man who works at Kate's clinic. Kate knows Eugene would never hurt anyone, especially Claire, since he adores her tiny Cairn terrier, Toto. Who would want to kill Claire, who was on the verge of moving to Manhattan with its thriving art scene? Was it Gilda, the selfish gallery owner? Or Claire's violent ex-boyfriend? VERDICT Brady's sophomore effort (after Muzzled) is an appealing mix of murder and medicine. Kate is an amiable heroine with lots of spunk. Not willing to leave well enough alone, she joins the list of cozy amateur sleuths such as Laura Childs's Theodosia Browning and Jane Cleland's Josie Prescott.

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