Howdy, howdy! It’s the last Wednesday of 2020. Just a couple of more days and we’ll get to see what fresh new hell 2021 can rain down upon us! I mean… 2021 will be better? I don’t know what you want to hear. But yeah, 2021 is coming. Before that, let’s squeeze in one last book review. This month I decided to request the first book in a cute new cozy series, A Chatty Corgi mystery series. Jennifer Hawkins’s To Fetch a Felon was released yesterday (December 29th) from the Berkley Publishing Group. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get on with it!

To Fetch a Felon follows Emma and Oliver, her corgi, as they move from a fast paced city life in London to a small village life full of nosy neighbors and drama in Trevena. The goal? To start a tea shop complete with homemade treats. The problem? The village witch (read that with a b instead of w) owns the shop Emma really wants to rent, along with most of the rest of the village. After a brief altercation over Oliver getting in the woman’s garden, Emma loses hope of getting the space unless she can smooth things over with the woman. The bigger problem? Emma and Oliver find the woman dead when bringing her some reconciliation scones. Now, Emma feels compelled to help solve the murder with the assistance of Oliver’s superior sense of smell. It helps that he can tell her everything he knows (yes, she and Oliver can understand each other), but sometimes she has to interpret his doggy views of the world, which can be tricky. But together they can take on any case!

I admit that I’m a sucker for stories with cute puppers, so I was excited to dig into this one. The plot was nice and twisty, adding new layers every few chapters. Every time I figured things out, a new puzzle popped up. That helped keep me invested even when no one in the story had put things together. Whenever things started dragging, something new happened. The inclusion of the decades old disappearance subplot was nice as well. I also enjoyed that we got to see some of the story from Oliver’s point of view. Those were probably the chapters I enjoyed the most.

As far as the characters go, I loved most of them. Emma was interesting and well rounded, but I kept reading her as younger than she’s supposed to be. I don’t really know why. It’s probably just me, so I’ll just say she’s young at heart. Oliver was completely adorable. He deserves all the cuddles. I felt like Taite was too obviously a greedy, sneaky dick. I had zero attachment to him and certainly no sympathy. But I liked Victoria (the village witch). She didn’t get a chance to grow as a character, but the snippets from her past made her likeable in the end. Louise and Jimmy and the rest of the characters were also intriguing people. And the other animals were great as well.

The writing was smooth and made for a quick read. It’s a relatively short book that’s broken down into 53 chapters. I actually prefer this to longer chapters because it’s easier to find a stopping point for the night (or to squeeze in just one more chapter). But there was a nice balance between description and dialogue that made the reading experience pretty pleasant.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed To Fetch a Felon. I’ll definitely be getting the second book in this series when it comes out next year. Have to get my cute pupper fix somehow and what’s better than reading about an excitable little corgi?

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Some of it’s a little predictable, but it’s fun and full of adorableness. If you’re looking for a quick cozy with cuddly animals, I definitely recommend checking this one out.