EBN Cozy Mystery: Hare Today, Dead Tomorrow by Cynthia Baxter

A cozy mystery. I wasn't exactly sure what this was supposed to be. What is it that's supposed to make a mystery cozy. Turns out, "cozies very rarely focus on sex, profanity or violence. The murders take place off stage, and are often relatively bloodless (e.g. poisoning), while sexual activity (if any) between characters is only ever gently implied and never directly addressed.The cozy mystery usually takes place in a small town or village. The small size of the setting makes it believable that all the suspects know each other. The amateur sleuth is usually a very likeable person who is able to get the community members to talk freely about each other. There is usually at least one very knowledgeable, nosy, yet reliable character in the book who is able to fill in all of the blanks, thus enabling the amateur sleuth to solve the case."

http://www.goodreads.com/genres/cozy-mystery

So basically the book version of all those TV crime shows people watch. I actually really enjoy those type of shows. NCIS, Bones, Murder She Wrote,and Castle are some of my absolute favorites. I didn't realize this till I had already started one of the books on the library's suggestions list for this category. If I had, I probably would have chosen a different book. Probably an Agatha Christy or maybe a Lee Child. Oh well...

So, this wasn't that bad of a book. Parts of it were actually kind of funny. I liked that the book could stand alone even though it was in the middle of a series. A lot of the story line seemed contrived and a bit forced though, pretty typical of this style of novel. This is something I would firmly place under the category of "beach reading"; something that doesn't require much concentration, can still entertain, but won't distract you from supervising your kids at the park too much. 

My personal feelings for the book are kind of lukewarm. I enjoyed it well enough (the S&M dungeon party was pretty funny) but I didn't really feel much of a connection to the main character. She was just very into her pets (she is a vet so it totally makes sense). Don't get me wrong, I like animals well enough, especially my own giant beast of a puppy, Jazz. The sight of animals just doesn't seem to elicit the same feelings in me that the character has. Maybe if I had picked a book where the sluth and I have a little more in common I would have liked it better. Maybe a stay-at-home-mom, or English professor, or maybe even a couple of old-lady gardeners (e.g. Rosemary and Thyme). I think I'll make that a goal of mine. To find a cozy mystery series with a main character I can fall in sync with.