Review: Who Sleuthed it? Edited by Lindy Cameron

Title: Who Sleuthed It?

Published: 1st September 2021, Clandestine Press

Status: Read October 2021 courtesy Clandestine Press

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My Thoughts:

Who Sleuthed It? is an engaging anthology of nineteen short stories where pampered pets and animated animals help each other, or their human sidekicks, solve crimes.

There are fact-finding felines and clever canines including British Shorthairs, Sherlock and Watson, in Fin J Ross’s ‘A Rascal in Academia’, and a ‘smiley, loyal, obedient Golden Retriever’ in ‘When the Chips Are Down’ by Louisa Bennett (aka LA Larkin). Scotland Yard’s finest, Reggie Starling, flies into action when the Crown Jewels are stolen in a tale by Kat Klay; CJ McGumbleberry (a non de plume) writes of a Great Horned Owl who is bamboozled by a clever chipmunk; and a motivated magpie helps a policewoman to solve both a murder and a massacre in ‘The Tidings’ by Tor Roxborough.

I’m familiar with the work of several of the contributing authors, including Kerry Greenwood who offers a tale of theft featuring the indomitable Phryne Fisher and her pets, Ember and Molly, in ‘La Gazza Ladra’; Meg Keneally’s ‘The Flotilla’ is set at the turn of the 20th century in and around the quarantine station on Sydney Harbour, near a colony of Little Penguins; and a retired police dog is a protective watchman in ‘The Tiger Mothers of Bethlehem Maternity’ by Vikki Petraitis.

Most of the authors contributing to the anthology are Australian, while a few are from the UK or USA. The settings vary in period and place, including Victorian London and modern day Melbourne. Humour is common to most of the stories, while a few have a supernatural element.

Whimsical, inventive and canny, Who Sleuthed It? offers an eclectic collection of mystery tales that are sure to delight animal lovers.

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