Review: Welcome to an uncozy, cozy mystery. It’s not all tea and crumpets, or coffee and doughnuts in this installment of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.

Linda Pirtle says she write cozy mysteries.

And usually she does.

The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma has all the right ingredients for a cozy.

Small town.

Women sleuths.

Eccentric characters.

Memorable little poodles

But this mystery has a definite edge.

The dogs are missing.

They haven’t run off.

They’ve been kidnapped.

Of such plots, lovely cozy mysteries are made.

But wait.

A friend is also missing.

She’s disappeared.

The ladies of the Round Table, headed by librarian Carline McCluskey, fear the worst.

They will find Esther regardless of the consequences.

The police can’t.

Neither have the FBI.

The ladies are Esther’s only chance.

But how many must die before their quest ends.

And die they do.

The lust for diamonds lies at the bottom of the mystery.

Who has them?

Who wants them?

Who will kill for them?

 

Review by CW Hawes:

Esther Williams is missing. Has been for months. Now her dog is stolen right in front of Caroline McCluskey, Esther’s friend and neighbor.

Caroline decides she has to do something. The police aren’t getting anywhere, and somebody needs to find Esther.

So begins The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma by Linda Pirtle. The 10th book in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.

So what does Caroline, our friendly librarian, do to find her friend? She calls together the Friends of the Round Table: her buddies Magnolia Nadine and Daphne.

The trio start gathering clues and paying attention to gossip. And then things start happening. Heads get whacked. Bullets are flying. And bodies are falling.

Will the Friends of the Round Table be able to solve the problem of their missing friend? Or will they end up as numbers in the body count?

The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma is an uncozy, cozy mystery. It’s not all tea and crumpets, or coffee and doughnuts in this installment of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles.

While keeping the feel of a cozy mystery, Linda Pirtle has infused plenty of thriller elements into her book. The result is an intriguing and exciting hybrid of thrills and spills, along with warmth and love, and plenty of sleuthing.

Recommended reading pleasure.

Review by Richard Palmacci:

I am an avid fan of the Magnolia Bluff series. Each story features the same setting, but individual authors interject their own personality, their own twist on characters, and their own uniquely inspired plot. This makes for some great reading. I enjoyed the first of Linda’s books in the series, The Dewey Decimal Dilemma, and this follows nicely on the same lines. Love the poodles!

Linda’s plot is unique – friend Esther has been missing for months. The main character Caroline gathers her cohorts and they set out to find Esther. That’s when trouble begins, of course. Dig your paws into The Doggone Diamond Dilemma – and if you haven’t tried any of the other Magnolia Bluff stories, go back and start at the beginning.

Review by Joe Congel:

Author Linda Pirtle’s THE DOG GONE DIAMOND DILEMMA is the first Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles book to hit the shelves for 2023. It is the 10th book overall in this wonderful crime fiction series. Last year we were introduced to the town librarian, Caroline McCluskey. Caroline, along with a few of her closest friends, had their homes broken into. But instead of the burglar stealing money, electronics, or jewelry, the culprit left behind a small puppy without explanation.

This year, the women—who remind me of a younger, more southern version of the Golden Girls—find themselves in the middle of another baffling mystery. Caroline’s friend, Esther, has been missing for six months. No one has a clue about what could have happened to her. The local authorities have made no progress, and the FBI has been no real help at all.

Last year, having success solving a string of murders that were somehow connected to the puppy mystery, and since the law can’t seem to do so, Caroline believes it’s fallen upon her shoulders to find and rescue Esther.

She enlists the help of her girlfriends to investigate and gather whatever clues they can find that will lead them to answers about their friend’s disappearance. They quickly discover they are on a dangerous mission and the stakes are high enough for murder. It becomes a race against a blinding snowstorm to locate their friend and try to save her life without ending up as victims themselves.

Ms. Pirtle is a master at writing the cozy mystery. She is the award-winning author of The Games We Play cozy mystery series, and she brings that same wealth of talent and experience to that little town in the Texas Hill Country called Magnolia Bluff.

Please click HERE to find The Dog Gone Diamond Dilemma on Amazon.