Review by Lorie Lewis Ham
Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it.
If you love cozy mysteries with a dog you won’t want to miss Neil S. Plakcy’s Golden Retriever Mystery Series. The latest book, Dog Grant Me, came out in January of 2025 and you don’t have to read the previous books to enjoy this one—though it does help you know and enjoy the characters better if you have. A lot has happened to semi-reformed computer hacker Steve Levitan and his clue sniffing dog Rochester in the first 19 books before this one.
After turning his life around, Steve moved back to his hometown of Stewart's Crossing, PA, was rescued by Rochester, took a job at his alma mater Eastern College, and recently married his long-time girlfriend Lili. These days Steve only uses his hacking skills to help his police detective friend Rick, or in the case of this book, Lt. Tony Rinaldi.
Eastern College is launching its first ever winter intersession program and they will be hosting a course on Caribbean cuisine at Friar Lake Conference Center, which Steve’s wife Lili will be co-teaching with her friend, prominent food anthropologist Dr. Yesenia Ubeda. It isn’t long before Steve is worried about how controversial Yesenia is and how she seems to like stirring the pot to get more attention. Before they even serve the first meal, his concern grows because of threatening notes left for her, old documents that surface with explosive implications for US-Cuba relations, and a student with a hidden agenda who is found murdered.
Could Yesenia be behind this herself to get her more
attention as she tries to get a show on the Food Network? Steve and Rochester
work to untangle a web of long-buried secrets and dangerous obsessions to find
the killer—though Steve has to be a bit more subtle when helping Rinaldi than
he is when helping his friend Rick. As if that wasn’t enough, a brutal winter
storm isolates the campus and Steve must hurry to find the killer before they
can strike again.
Not only did Dog Grant Me provide the usual fun of Steve solving crimes with
the amazing Rochester, but this one is also a foodie mystery with lots of
wonderful food descriptions! While I missed Rick being involved, I still very
much enjoyed the latest Golden Retriever Mystery—Steve, Lili, and Rochester make
the perfect crime solving trio as she was more involved in this one than usual
which was fun. You can always count on Neil for great characters and a good
mystery! Can’t wait for the next one!
To enter to win an ebook copy of Dog Grant Me, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "dog grant,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 17, 2025. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.
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You can click here to purchase this book.
Lorie Lewis Ham is our Editor-in-Chief and a contributor to various sections, coupling her journalism experience with her connection to the literary and entertainment worlds. Explore Lorie's mystery writing including her latest mystery novel One of You, the latest Tower District Mystery, at Mysteryrat's Closet.
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.
I think I read the first book in this series. Count me in!
ReplyDeleteAnother new to me series today. Working for a university makes this extra appealing to me.
ReplyDeleteLove books featuring dogs, would like to read.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com