{"id":2389,"date":"2017-09-29T12:08:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T19:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2389"},"modified":"2017-09-29T12:08:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T19:08:11","slug":"e-j-copperman-dog-dish-of-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/e-j-copperman-dog-dish-of-doom\/","title":{"rendered":"E.J. Copperman: Dog Dish of Doom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"E.J. Copperman \u2013 I\u2019ve said this before, and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 is one of the best cozy writers working at the moment. This is the introduction of yet another series from this talented writer, this one about an \u201cAgent to the Paws,\u201d i.e. a showbiz agent who works with animals. Kay Powell lives in New Jersey, sometimes with her aging vaudevillian parents (who are, happily for this reader, en residence<\/em> in this novel). As the book opens she\u2019s trying to snare a gig for agreeable shaggy dog Bruno to play Sandy in an Annie<\/em> revival on Broadway. She thinks the audition might be a disaster, thanks to loud remarks made by Bruno\u2019s owner about the ineptness of the director casting the part.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a good and bad outcome: Bruno gets the part, but unfortunately, his owner is not so lucky. He\u2019s found dead with his face planted in Bruno\u2019s water bowl the day after the audition. Kay makes no pretense to being a detective but she is naturally nosy and loves to gossip, and she\u2019s smitten with Bruno, who, she feels, is not being properly looked after by his owner\u2019s grieving widow. Asked by the police to use her showbiz \u201cin\u201d and report back to her, Kay reluctantly goes undercover.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a series of miscommunications, Kay ends up with Bruno sharing her home and taking him to auditions, with his loopy remaining owner alternatively insisting Kay has kidnapped him and agreeing that she can take care of him for the moment. Copperman is expert at creating an entire universe \u2013 here, the one of backstage showbiz, infighting, and happy dog ownership. Kay\u2019s parents are really icing on the cupcake \u2013 their gigs on cruise ships are starting to dry up and they\u2019re trying to figure out what\u2019s next for them while also being very inappropriately involved in Kay\u2019s life. They\u2019re pretty hilarious and also seem pretty realistically parental.<\/p>\n

I think Copperman\u2019s special talent is balancing this kind of normal life with a look at a more specialized environment (here it\u2019s working animals). While there\u2019s a fair amount of caper-ish goings on and of course the death that launches the story, none of it is too upsetting and Bruno is such a sweetie you\u2019ll want to find out his ultimate fate. Great first in a series, and I\u2019m looking forward to more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E.J. Copperman \u2013 I\u2019ve said this before, and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 is one of the best cozy writers working at the moment. This is the introduction of yet another series from this talented writer, this one about an \u201cAgent to the Paws,\u201d i.e. a showbiz agent who works with animals. Kay Powell lives … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-2389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-americancozy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2391,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2389\/revisions\/2391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}