Playing Dead by Peggy Rothschild

Playing Dead
by Peggy Rothschild

ISBN-13: 9780593437117
Hardback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Released: February 7th 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Molly Madison has barely had a moment to catch her breath after moving to the sleepy beach town she now calls home. But as a former PI, she can’t help but notice the odd chemistry between members of Playtime Academy on the first day she and her loyal Saint Bernadoodle, Noodle, and golden retriever, Harlow, visit. A body is found on-site. When Molly’s friend is arrested for the murder, Molly knows it’s her duty to put her ex-police skills to use. She can’t say no to temporarily taking in the deceased woman’s dog, either.

Relationships at the training facility are not as clean as the prize-winning agility runs, making it difficult for Molly to get a leash on potential suspects. And her personal life is just as messy—her boyfriend is hiding something, her agoraphobic neighbor needs help, and her number of four-legged friends keep growing as she agrees to dogsit a wriggly local French bulldog.


My Review:
Playing Dead is a cozy mystery. It's the second book in a series. You don't need to read the previous book to understand this one, but this story gave pretty strong clues about whodunit in the previous novel.

Molly's an ex-cop and retired private investigator, and she still has access to P.I. research tools. She's currently training dogs, mostly her own on agility runs during this story. The details about what goes into dog agility training was interesting. Molly's scent dog found a murdered woman near a scent-finding course. She stayed out of the investigation until a new friend was arrested for that murder. Then she looked around and asked questions, then passed this information on to the police so that any evidence could be properly collected. You can guess whodunit from the clues, and Molly generally understood the clues as quickly as the reader might. The main characters were engaging and acted realistically. I love the young, smart girl, and there's plenty of dogs.

There were no graphic sex scenes (implied but not shown). There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this engaging, interesting mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.