A Deadly Tail and a Challenge Wrap-Up

TITLE: A Deadly Tail (Whiskey, Tango & Foxtrot Mystery #4)
AUTHOR: Dixie Lyle
PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Paperbacks
PUBLISHING DATE: February 2, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: Foxtrot has seen a lot of strange things as assistant to billionaire Zelda Zoransky at her wacky mansion. And that includes her telepathic cat Tango and ectoplasmic pooch Whiskey. So it's no surprise to find a horde of zombies lurching across the lawn-even if they are just actors in a horror movie that's filming on the mansion grounds. The special effects look pretty convincing. But all that fake blood doesn't fool Whiskey, who quickly sniffs out the truth: one of those corpses is real...

A DEADLY TAIL
Before you can say, "Lights, camera, murder," Foxtrot and her furry partners-in-crimesolving are caught up in the drama of who-killed-who...and why. With a crazy cast of characters including a neurotic director, a star-hungry diva-even with an appearance by Lassie's ghost-it's bound to have one hell of a twist ending. But first, Foxtrot and her supernatural sidekicks have to find a killer amongst them-before the whole case is a wrap......from author Dixie Lyle.

MY THOUGHTS: 
This was another fine addition to the Whiskey Tango and Foxtrot Mysteries. In this one, a movie crew is filming a new Sherlock Holmes/zombie flick at ZZ's mansion when both the director ends up dead and star ends up in the hospital. One is found on the menagerie property without their head and hands and the other is harmed in an explosion in the mansion estate. Foxtrot quickly jumps into action and starts solving the mystery. All of the usual crew are still present, but they weren't as prevalent in this edition as in the previous ones which left me missing the interaction with ZZ and Ben.

I found the primary mystery to be well done, but in this novel, it was all the secondary happenings that interested me more. Tango is convinced that she can direct an animal film with a feline star and makes a bet with Whiskey to do so. She then starts writing a screenplay and casting the animal spirits who live in the Crossroads Cemetery which is adjacent to the mansion. During the tale, she meets the spirits of Benji and Trigger, as well as some other notable famous characters. Her play is eventually sabotaged and Whiskey actually puts in his investigative hat to determine who is out to get his arch nemesis/best friend Tango (she is a cat after all).

My only real complaint is that I noticed several typos in this book which was not the case in the previous ones. I don't exactly know the reason, but overall it didn't distract from my enjoyment. I love Lyle's writing and as far as cozy mysteries go, this series is rather unique. There is supposed a 5th book supposed to be out, but it hasn't been released yet so I don't know what exactly is going on. This one does end on a tad of a cliffhanger which takes us back to some of the plot line of Book 3, so I hope I learn something of its release soon.

RATING: 4 PAWS

This book wraps up my "Can you read a series in a month challenge" and I just barely squeaked by in the nick of time.  I'm really glad I participated in this challenge and that I chose this cozy mystery series because I loved all the books so much.  Plus, it's nice to be caught up on another series I regularly read.  Thanks to Michelle at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life for hosting this challenge because without her, I am sure these books would still be on the TBR challenge.  You can find the reviews for the previous book here:

A TASTE FUR MURDER (#1)
TO DIE FUR (#2)
MARKED FUR MURDER (#3)