A Delightful, Fun FiRst Book in a New Series!

In Dog Dish of Doom by E.J. Copperman, Kay Powell, Agent to the Paws, represents Bruno, a gifted dog trying out for the role of Sandy in the new Broadway revival of Annie. The only problem? Bruno has an abrasive human who tries to dominate everyone around him, and the producer, Les McMaster, is determined to include in the contract that Trent and Louise Barkley are not allowed to attend any rehearsals, with Kay's being the one to take Bruno to all of them. This infuriates Trent, who blows up, but Kay copes with him. The next morning, Kay reads in the newspaper that Trent was found stabbed in the back, with his face in Bruno's water bowl.

Events transpire to convince Kay that the murder is somehow related to Bruno. People have been trying all kinds of manipulations to get hold of the dog. He's a nice dog, but why would anyone kill to get him? Detective Rodriguez refuses to admit the possibility that Bruno is the central figure in the case, so Kay feels the need to convince her of Bruno's involvement.

I had a thoroughly fun time listening to Dog Dish of Doom. The storyline had plenty of interesting turns, with the plot's holding fascinating details. The solution was really clever as well, with various details that seemed minor coming together to add up to a strong conclusion. It did a good job of making us keep changing our guesses about the identity of the murderer and who is trying to capture Bruno.

The book does a creative job of drawing the various characters and making us interested in them. We connect with Kay, who narrates the book, and want to see her succeed. Her parents are a lot of fun, being aging performers who particularly specialize in cruise ship entertainment. We also find ourselves questioning the other characters as to whom you can trust. The book does a good job of making us wonder about the nature of each character.

And Bruno, along with Kay's own two dogs, are very delightful. The dogs come across as real, legitimate characters who provide some comic relief and have significant roles in the book. Bruno seems so special and cute as he acts in the play and loves affection from those around him.

Christy Romano performs the audiobook of Dog Dish of Doom, doing a strong job of bringing this book to life. She seems like a realistic version of Kay, who serves as the book's narrator, using good accents, timing, and character voices.

I really enjoyed my experience listening to Dog Dish of Doom. This book was clever in its general premise of an agent for performing animals, offering a lot of promise for fun books in future books in the series. I really appreciated this delightful book and give it five stars!

4 people found this helpful

Another Good Series

Like Copperman's other books, Dog Dish of Doom is funny and entertaining with lots of twist and turns. The characters are realistic and well developed. The plot is well written with a steady pace and humor. I look forward to the next book.

8 people found this helpful

Animal Entertainment Agent Turns Amateur Detective

It was the title. It made me laugh and then I had to read the blurb which also pulled me in. I could tell this was going to be a fun, light-hearted mystery that wouldn't challenge me, but would entertain me highly. Dog Dish of Doom performed to expectation, for sure.

I have seen Angela from Simply Angela's blog reviews on a different cozy mystery series by this author so I was pleased to give Copperman's work a try in this new series start. What a fun theme for the series having the amateur detective being an animal entertainer agent. Kay is also accompanied in her efforts by her quirky show-biz parents, two rescue dogs, incomparable assistant Consuelo with son Diego, and potential flame and local coffee shop owner Sam.

Kay's an irascible and snarky, down to earth gal who is all about her animal clients even to the point of caring more about their well-being than their human owners or the humans they must work with. This story introduces her latest client, Bruno, who is up to co-star in an off-Broadway production of Annie.

The theater world was a neat backdrop for this mystery that had some nice twists. The story had two mysteries going on actually- the death of Trent and the malevolent interest in Bruno. It paced out slowly as Kay and the gang including a police detective followed the clues to a surprising end.

I listened to Dog Dish of Doom and enjoyed the talented narration of Christy Romano telling the story. This was not my first listen in with Christy. I enjoyed her work earlier this year. She's got a great wry, humorous tone that matched the story well.

In summary, this was vastly amusing and I can definitely recommend it to those who enjoy cozy mysteries. I definitely plan to read/listen to more of Copperman's work and this quirky fun series.

7 people found this helpful

Couldn’t finish

I have really enjoyed E. J. Copperman’s stories but this one was just not for me. I listened until she list the dog and then just couldn’t go on. It was just too predictable and just a little bit stupid.

1 person found this helpful

Unfortunately Riddled with Mispronunciations.

You know, I try to be kindly, even when I hate something. A lot of reviewers get their kicks by being as scathing as possible - but that's not my mindset.

I think it's fine if a narrator is ignorant of some words or subjects, but it's NOT okay if that narrator doesn't trouble to check his or her work - or hire someone smarter to do some proofing.

I was prepared to overlook weirdo pronunciations such as by OP ic for biopic, but since dogs and musical theatre are the cornerstone of this series, mis-saying the name of the dog, Eydie, all the way through is inexcusable.

Do your homework, Ms. Romano. Steve (the name of the other dog) and Eydie were a huge musical husband and wife team from the late fifties through the rest of the century. So - pronouncing it EYE dee instead of EEE dee, ruined the joke, the reference all the way through chapter 16, when I realized what I was (or wasn't) hearing.

Copperman does a nice job with the story itself. I prefer two of the previous series (Haunted Guesthouse and Asperger's Mystery), but I might have liked this one better if the narrator did better with the comedy - and the big words. It's a fun cozy niche and I hope to continue listening to the series as it becomes available. With any luck, with a different narrator.

3 people found this helpful

This was fun!

Perfect light listen to help me forget I'm exercising. Had not seen/heard any of this author's work before, glad that Audible nudged me here. The family reminded me just a bit of Lisa Lutz's wacky Spellman family (which was a plus). And it's about dogs, so that makes it pretty darn fine out of the gate. I enjoyed. I want more. Yeah, the narrator kinda blew it on the Eydie pronunciation, and I'm unfortunately old enough to notice, but beyond that, she was great for the characters. Going to explore more of this author whilst waiting for the next in this series.

pretty terrible

im glad this ones over. plot points were ridiculous and the narrator butchered the reading.

1 person found this helpful

I loved the dialog.

This was a totally entertaining Audio book. The narrator's delivery of the characters was great and the main character seemed like someone I already knew with all her foibles.

Delightful

After listening to a heavy psychological thriller I needed a light, humorous, entertaining story. This fit the bill. I’ll certainly look for more from this author when I want a comfort book.

Cute mystery.

Enjoyed while driving. Author has good sense of humor. Narrator could have changed her voice more for the male characters.