Instagoner: A Bark and Blog Mystery

Emily Dalle’s apartment is above her best friend Fitzwilliam (Fitz for short) Warner’s Longbourn Café in Eliot Hill, New York. Emily would be the first to admit that she wouldn’t have been on a bike ride that morning (especially at that hour) about to have a calamity with a raccoon of the worst kind – the worst kind being Emily seconds from sailing over the handlebars kind of worst - if it hadn’t been for her friendship with Fitz. Little did she realize that the most memorable aspect of this bike ride wouldn't be the raccoon incident, but rather her shocking encounter with a lifeless body.

I loved the opening of this new mystery series. The character relationships shine particularly in the friendship between Emily and Fitz, show more Fitz and his brother Noah, and Fitz’s reactions to the sparks between Noah (excuse me, Sheriff Warner) and Emily. As a social media influencer, Emily’s schedule is fluid, so it’s easy to accommodate her desired sleuthing with multiple suspects, keeping Emily busy and the reader guessing. Descriptive writing favorites, as the descriptions are so relatable, are:

"…the hints that I should get busy had started coming faster than rain pellets in a May storm."
"…felt like a kid nervously watching their mom’s reaction to a homemade breakfast on Mother’s Day."

I’m looking forward to Book 2, as I’ll be following this social media influencer and her dog Murray, who is so popular on Emily’s blog that some sponsorships are just for him.

Thank you to Sydney Leigh, Level Best Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC of this book.

Reviewer’s Note: I do not know if the publisher plans on marketing it as a cozy mystery, but readers should be aware that it cannot be marketed as a clean cozy due to Emily’s vocabulary, although she is on a profanity diet (Fitz’s description) as Emily’s mom and southern belle has her trying for improvement. show less