Murder at the Falls (Creature Comforts #3) by Arlene Kay

Murder at the Falls (Creature Comforts #3) Reviews

• 
  Jerri Cachero

  When Perri Morgan, a leather goods/accessories designer and part-time therapy dog trainer, & her friend Babbette volunteer to take their therapy dogs to a senior living facility, they have no idea a seemingly fun assignment may be deadly!
  
  I really wanted to get into this book. Perri is an interesting character (a military veteran with a difficult past) who has great possibility. I enjoyed the therapy dog aspects of the book and the interactions with the seniors. I thought she deserved a better boyfriend than Wing Pruett (a reporter who seems to get his best stories from Perri) and a more supportive friend than Babbette. The mystery was entertaining with twists and turns.
  
  I received an ARC from NetGalley and the opinions expressed are my own.
• 
  Toni

  4.5 stars
  
  This is the third book in the Creature Comforts series by Arlene Kay.
  
  I read the second book in this series and I have to say that the author is really just getting better and better. I like how she paired the leather making with the therapy dogs at the nursing home. I felt like that dynamic made so much more sense for these gals.
  
  I thought the nursing home mystery made so much sense in this day and age. I was enthralled with Magdalen’s fascination about being related to Oscar Wilde. Such a cool concept for a story that just had so much meat to it.
  
  Definitely enjoyed this one a lot. The main character was instantly relatable and the story just made me not want to stop turning pages. Definitely recommend this one.
  
  If you love a good cozy mystery, check this one out. What a fun read!
  
  I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.
• 
  Missi Martin (Stockwell)

  
  Murder at the Falls is the third book in the Creature Comforts series by Arlene Kay and I can honestly say that readers will be unable to stop reading it !!
  
  There is no way that readers will not like Persephone Morgan, Perri to her friends. She has an interesting life to say the least. She lives with 2 very protective and loving dogs, a finicky cat, a tempermental goat and a calming horse. She also owns her own business that she works out of right at home. She makes leather goods for horses, dogs and their owners. She has a complicated best friend, Babette, and a semi-complicated boyfriend, Wing Pruett. Semi-complicating because of Perri, not Wing. And Perri also seems to end up around murder investigations.
  
  In Murder at the Falls Perri, Babette, Rolf and Kate along with their dogs are visiting The Falls, a senior living facility, to provide dog related therapy to the residents. Perri and Babette make friends instantly with two of the female residents, Magdalen and Irene. While visiting with their new friends, Magdalen tells them about a long loss manuscript that was supposedly written by Magdalen's grandfather, Oscar Wilde. However, it is missing and it is also unclear if he was in fact her grandfather. Magdalen asks Perri for her help and Perri does find the story interesting and so does her investigative boyfriend, Pruett. Unfortunately before they can find out more about the missing manuscript, there is a murder at the Falls and Magdalen is the main suspect....of course right ??
  
  Things are not what they seem to be within the walls of the Falls and residents as well as employees may be at risk there. Perri, Babette, Pruett and Magdalen's attorney Micah decide to not only look into the missing manuscript and if Magdalen is related to the famous author, but they decide to poke around and see if they can solve the murder. Unfortunately they may be biting off more than they can chew when there is another murder and the death of a previous resident is also being questioned. These murders may all be linked.......
  
  Readers will be hooked as soon as they start reading this story !! Kay will draw you in until you are powerless to stop. It's like she casts a spell on you to block everything out and focus only on Perri and what is going on in her town, especially at the Falls.......but don't worry. The spell will be broken as soon as you read the last word.
• 
  Caitlyn Lynch

  Army vet Persephone ‘Perri’ Morgan has two Belgian Malinois dogs, former service dogs now turned therapy dogs. Given an assignment at an upscale nursing home, Perri meets Magdalen Melmoth, a sprightly old lady who might just have something of incalculable value in her possession. And then the murders begin…
  
  I wanted to like this because of the therapy dogs and the fascinating subplot of an undiscovered Oscar Wilde novel, but the execution is just terrible. We learn literally nothing about what Perri did in the army, for example. Why she has the two dogs who apparently retired uninjured after only three years of service. When and why she became friends with ultra-rich socialite Babette, nearly two decades her senior.
  
  I know this is the third book in the series, but as an author, you HAVE to give some backstory for readers who might pick this one up first. And if, for example, the author cut out just a few incidences of Perri going for a ride on her purebred Arabian mare Raza, there’d have been plenty of wordcount to do it. Seriously, Perri went for a ‘trot and canter’ on Raza nearly every chapter, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. Neither did the two dogs other than providing a reason for Perri to be in the nursing home, which was deeply disappointing. Every animal - and there are a lot - is a purebred something or other, including some rare and very valuable breeds, which only accentuated the rich, elitist feel of the characters. Perri’s supposed to be the ‘everywoman’ of the story but even she has two Belgian Malinois, a Maine Coon, an Arabian horse and enough property to keep them all on. With her love interest a wealthy journalist called Wing Pruett (yes, really) and not a single non-white person making an appearance in the story, this might be the most Rich White People story I’ve ever read. And unless you’re rich and white, I don’t think you’re going to find very much to relate to. Even if you do, you’ll definitely get bored of Perri going for a ride every few pages.
  
  Two stars for a plot which had some promise but is severely let down by the execution.
  
  Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.
  
• 
  Cathy Cole

  I really, really wanted to like Murder at the Falls, especially as I learned more about Persephone "Perri" Morgan. An orphan, foster child, and army veteran, her voice drew me right into the story. I also liked the working dog aspect and how Keats and Poe (both war heroes with the medals to prove it) could be retrained as therapy dogs to work with seniors and in such programs as Children Reading to Dogs. But... there were problems.
  
  One resident at The Falls, the upscale senior living facility, described what Perri and her friends were doing as "Murder, She Wrote with dogs." That's a superficial fit all right, but Jessica Fletcher wouldn't write such a disjointed story. Too many aspects were trotted out and then disappeared for many chapters. Magdalen Melmoth? Here for a few chapters and then gone. The hunt for the Oscar Wilde manuscript? A hot topic, and then it, too, disappears. The whodunit wasn't particularly difficult either once I began tallying up which characters vanished for a while and which ones didn't.
  
  However, when all is said and done, there are two things that got right up my nose more than the disjointed plot: the characters of Wing Pruett and Babette Croy. Wing Pruett did help out from time to time, but his main function seemed to be window dressing-- as if Perri was supposed to have a handsome boyfriend so-- ta dah!-- here he is. As for Babette Croy... I'm afraid that, once I get started on her, I won't know when to stop. Suffice it to say that she's a "diva-Zilla," the one type of character guaranteed to make me want to throw a book against the wall. Southern-deep-fried, beauty pageant winner, Miss Congeniality winner, she calls in airstrikes on any gray hair or wrinkle that comes within ten miles. Naturally, her clothes and makeup must always be perfect. It goes without saying that she must also be the center of attention at all times, and... gack! Consider that subject closed, y'all!
  
  This is the first Creature Comforts mystery that I've read, and although there are things about Murder at the Falls that I liked, I won't be returning. I'm afraid of what I would do to Babette.
  
  (Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
• 
  Tari

  Well-written and plotted as with all the books so far in this series. I really liked the idea of the therapy dogs going into the assisted living. Perri and her friends were in for more than just a dog-hugging session when one of the residents ended up being suspected of murder not once, but possibly three times. With reporter Wing Pruett on board, readers are always guaranteed a good sleuthing team. This time they added his friend, an attorney named Micah.
  
  I liked the assisted living resident characters of Irene and Mags a lot. Mags knew her way around tech like a teen and blew away Perri's preconceived idea that older folks wouldn't be tech smart. Well played, Mags. Everything led to an exciting showdown making Perri grateful that her friend Babette was such a drama queen.
  
  I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.
• 
  David Gardner

  Arlene Kay’s “Murder at the Falls” is a canine-intensive mystery.
  
  No surprise, because Ms. Kay’s dog, Lord Byron, is an American Kennel Club grand champion.
  
  Perri, the protagonist, is a thirty-something army vet suffering from her tour of duty in Afghanistan and scarred by her early years as an orphan. Perri’s best friend is the fun and flaky Babette. Other participants are therapy dogs, a hunky journalist boyfriend, cops and lawyers and a pigmy goat named Zeke.
  
  The mystery begins with an elderly woman in a senior living home who believes she possesses an unpublished manuscript by her grandfather, Oscar Wilde. Is either true? Perri investigates, and soon gets entangled with multiple murders, a poisoned nurse, a disappearance, and the host of suspects who populate any good mystery.
  
  The dialogue is crisp and often humorous.
  
  This is the third in a series. It’s hoped this is not the last.
  
• 
  Mary

  This is the 3rd in the Creature Comforts mystery series. Perri Morgan is a former army vet who now makes leather goods for pets and training therapy dogs. Perri goes to a senior facility with her therapy dogs with her over the top best friend Babette. A lot is going on at the facility, thefts and missing items and one senior Magdalen is afraid for her life. Perri bounds with her and feels a connection. A nurse is found dead after eating chocolates meant for her and a doctor is also murdered, and Magdalen is missing so Perri asks for her boyfriend Wing Pruett who is an investigative journalist for help. Along with the dogs and her friends they work to unravel what is going on and who is the killer. Enjoyed this mystery and lots of possible suspects.
  
  
• 
  Jan

  I couldn't pause while reading it! Perri is over thirty, a US army vet, orphaned and fostered, a leather worker and therapy dog owner, and prone to amateur sleuthing with her journalist boyfriend and also with her over-the-top BFF. While working with their dogs at a nearby ritzy retirement home, they meet a delightful octogenarian, Magdalen, who bonds immediately with Perri. The next thing they know someone is murdered and while it is not Magdalen, she has disappeared! And so the sleuthing begins! Talk about plot twists, misdirection, and red herrings! There are plenty here. I loved it!
  I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
• 
  Laura Salas

  My sister has a therapy dog, and I really wanted to like this book more than I did. But the writing is only okay in this (for me, anyway). The characterizations feel over the top (Babette, seriously? I don't think Perri could ever be best friends with Babette.), and the resolution feels...a little ridiculous. And there are way too many mentions of restraint being Perri's superpower. We get it, already. So I liked the set-up, but the writing just felt clunky to me.
  
  Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Valerie

  I mostly enjoyed this book. I didn't get into the characters too much although I liked the main character. The secondary characters are a bit simplistic. I enjoyed the dogs. I think the story line is interesting, searching for a long lost manuscript. Although the murders ended up not having anything to do with that. I was surprised by the ending, I didn't suspect who the killer was or the reason why. #MurderattheFalls #NetGalley
• 
  Annarella

  First book I read in this series and won't surely be the last.
  I enjoyed and think it's quite engrossing. I appreciated the setting and the mystery but I think it needs some more character development.
  It's recommended if you want a fun read.
  Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
• 
  Kristin

  Murder at the Falls is an engaging cosy mystery with several red herrings to throw you off a bit. I liked Perri and her dogs, but I felt some of the other characters could need a bit of depth to them. To me, some of them were a bit simplistic and one-dimensional at times.
• 
  Barbara Tobey

  I like Perri and her dogs. The story line kept me intrigued. The culprit is caught, but there some areas there are left undone. Some of the names amuse me. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley.