Saturday, March 21, 2020

Left Fur Dead (A Jules & Bun Mystery #1)

Author:  J.M. Griffin
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496720573; 9781515937852
Kensington Publishing
300 Pages
$6.49; $23.64; $6.17 Amazon
June 25, 2019



Juliette "Jules" Bridge prides herself on the tender rehabilitation she provides for injured or abused rabbits on her New Hampshire rescue farm, but she has a very special relationship with one bunny in particular.  Bun is a black-and-white rabbit who happens to have the ability to communicate through mental telepathy.  Once she got over the shock, Jules found her furry friend had a lot to say.

One frigid March morning on their walk together, Bun spots a body.  The police identify the frozen stiff as Arthur Freeman, aka Arty the mime,  Jules and Arty knew each other on the children's party circuit, where he'd perform magic tricks and she had an educational rabbit petting pen.  With Bun egging her on, Jules decides it's time they hop to it and put their heads together to discover who silenced the mime.  But their investigation leads them down a rabbit hole of more suspects and lies, while a killer sets a trap for them...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Jules Bridge and her pet rabbit Bun are taking a walk one cold morning when the rabbit - whom can communicate with Jules through mental telepathy - spots a body.  When they call the police, Jules insists she doesn't know the man.  But almost minutes later her friend tells her it was Arty Freeman, and then she tells the police that she did, indeed, know Arty since they used to perform together.  But since she had a vocal argument with him, and he once tried to free her rescued rabbit from the heated barn where she keeps them, she thinks that she just might be a suspect.  When someone is still trying to free her rabbits, she wants to find out who - and why Arty was murdered...

I really wanted to like this book since it has a different premise, but I just couldn't get into it.  They find the body immediately, so we have no background at all on the man and therefore couldn't feel anything for him - not anger, not sadness, etc.  Then, I began to wonder why she could only communicate with one rabbit instead of them all.  Wouldn't that have made for a better book?  It was also odd that the rabbit's name was Bun - as in Bunny - which is pretty much akin to naming a dog Dog.  Plus, the rabbits were supposedly terrorized and abused by previous owners, yet she brings them to kids' parties where they can be mobbed by screaming children?  Who does this?  I've never known anyone who would bring rabbits to their kid's party.  Children get loud.  Probably not what these rabbits need.  Nope, not buying it.

Also, the officer intimated that she'd been involved in investigations before, but we're given no background on this, so how do we know?  Was she involved in previous investigations?  When and where?  Bun, for his part, is pretty self-centered and makes remarks that are snarky to Jules.  It's not the least endearing at all.  I also thought it was odd that he had his own room (when I first started dating my boyfriend he had a rabbit who wasn't caged and the rabbit ate the baseboards and anything else it could.  Rabbits eat wood, so it's probably not a good idea to allow them to roam around houses).

I also found it strange that there was no potential love interest.  Let's face it, cozies are known for certain things, and having a potential love interest is probably one of the things that makes them so fun to read.  But not in this book.  Not even an eligible male in sight.  I'm sorry, but reading about a woman and her rabbits just isn't interesting.  (FYI, the author writes romances, so you'd think she would have at least realized that there was something missing in this book).

When the ending comes and we're given the identity of the killer, I didn't even care anymore.  I also didn't think it was enough worth killing for.  I will say that this series has potential, but a few things need to change, and hopefully the author will do so, but I won't be reading any more in this series.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Left-Fur-Dead-Jules-Mystery/dp/1496720571/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3240039764

More on J M. Griffin's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/j-m-griffin/

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