Fifty-Four Pigs
A Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
For readers of The Thursday Murder Club comes a lighthearted mystery with an incredible sense of place
A swine barn explodes near a lakeside town, putting veterinarian Dr. Peter Bannerman on a collision course with murder and a startling conspiracy.
Peter is an odd duck, obsessed with logic and measurable facts, an obsession he puts to good use in his veterinary practice. When a murder is connected to the swine barn explosion and his friend Tom becomes the prime suspect, Peter feels compelled to put his reasoning skills, and his dog Pippin’s remarkable nose, to use to help clear him.
The situation darkens with a second murder and a series of break-ins, including at Peter’s house and clinic, but Peter has a hard time knowing when he is out of his depth, despite warnings from his brother-in-law Kevin, an RCMP officer.
Ultimately Peter finds himself out in the middle of a frozen lake during a blizzard, fighting for his life and confronting a horrifying realization he had been blind to all along.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The first book in Philipp Schott’s amateur-detective series is a charming delight. After an explosion at his friend Tom Pearson’s pig barn, Manitoba veterinarian Dr. Peter Bannerman is first on the scene. But the farm accident quickly turns criminal when a human body is discovered in the wreckage and Tom goes missing. What starts as a quirky small-town cozy mystery—think a Prairie Provinces riff on Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series—gets even more interesting as we realize that the gentle, rigidly logical Peter is neurodiverse. He sees clues others miss but has trouble reading people’s emotions. Schott, himself a Manitoba vet, absolutely nails the chilly desolation and natural beauty of the prairies, and also does a great job creating entertaining supporting characters, like Peter’s endearingly nerdy wife, Laura, and his champion scent hound, Pippin. This is a perfect cup-of-tea read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veterinarian Schott (The Accidental Veterinarian) makes his mystery debut with this charming series launch Peter Bannerman, an amiable, introverted, tea-drinking, obsessive vet, who converses more with his dog, Pippin, than with his wife, Laura, or anyone else. When Peter's friend Tom Pearson's swine barn explodes near New Selfoss, Manitoba, 54 pigs and one human die. Tom, who's suspected of setting the fire that caused the explosion, has disappeared. Peter has assisted the police in the past and sets out to clear his friend. He believes the deductive skills he uses to make diagnoses of his uncommunicative patients can help solve the case. Some inexplicable break-ins follow, including into the garden shed of an elderly gentleman who turns to Peter because the police won't bother to investigate. Pippin's particularly sensitive nose proves invaluable to Peter's sleuthing, which Laura and her RCMP brother discourage because they fear Peter is putting himself in danger. A second murder raises the stakes, and the action builds to a dramatic showdown on icy Lake Winnipeg. James Herriot fans will want to check out this one.
