This is a cracker of a story. Our nameless narrator is a professional dog walker with a nice little business in the Derbyshire town of Ripley. I’ve never been there, so have no idea if everything is in the place it’s meant to be, but it doesn’t matter if it is or not, because Barry’s books are always about the characters and this one is no different.
Between those he walks dogs for and those who frequent The Thorn Tree pub, there are plenty of characters to enrich the story. But this is also a mystery and that side of things ramps up quickly with a missing person, arson, and a suspicious suicide. There are suspects, of course, and none more so than Vince Catton, a local developer with his eagle eye once more fixed firmly on the woods he’d once wanted to develop, and our friendly dog walker, who has more of a backstory than you’d ever imagine.
There are moments in this story that had me holding my breath, the descriptions vivid and, frankly, at one particular point, decidedly bleak. The pages turned rapidly in my eagerness to find out if all would come out as I wanted it to. Or not. Because I’ve read this author’s work before and you never quite know how it’s going to go, but then this is a cosy mystery, so there is a certain expectation. There is also an enticing promise at the end that The Dog Walker will return in 2025. I’ll be first in line.
Sounds good. Great review.
Thanks, Darlene. I appreciate you stopping by. 🙂
I like Ripley , Georgia, but I love this review. I did say I wasn’t going to buy any more books ( I have so many still to review and read!) but. ..
Ahh you can never have too many books, Judith!! Thanks for reading.