Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble - Senior Sleuths Mystery #2

 

Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble is the second cozy mystery featuring Aunts Peg & Rose written by Laurien Berenson. Released 25th July 2023 by Kensington Books, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 2nd quarter 2024 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The first book in the series, Peg & Rose Solve a Murder, is also currently available on KU.

This is a nice sequel and a delightful cozy which has a distinct Odd Couple vibe, mixed with a little bit of Golden Girls thrown in for good measure. The plot is fun; late middle aged sisters-in-law with decades of unpleasantly fractious interactions. They couldn't be more different, one's a former nun who renounced her habit to marry a priest, the other is a pragmatic professional purebred dog show judge who generally has little time for what she considers distractions and non-practicalities. Rose (former nun) has convinced Peg (no-nonsense professional show judge) to try out online dating. Potentially disastrously funny encounters actually lead to a promising match, who soon turns up dead (yikes!). Peg & Rose are soon on the case.

As with most of the author's oeuvre, there is a surprisingly educational amount of minutiae and interesting behind-the-scenes nuts and bolts info about the dog show world and especially poodles. Additionally, the characterizations are subtly rendered (especially for a cozy mystery) and the mystery itself is well written and clever.

Four stars. Recommended for fans of cozies, and especially for fans of the author's other work. This series lightly ties in to the author's Melanie Travis canine mysteries, although they certainly can be read independently of one another, there are some occasional mentions or crossover cameos.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.