Saturday 18 July 2015

Jo's Review - Monty and Me by Louisa Bennet


What They Say:

The first book introducing loveable dog detective Monty!

You might think that dogs can’t understand us…but you’d be wrong.

Apart from an obsession with cheese, Monty is a perfectly rational animal. So when his beloved master is stabbed to death, Monty decides to use his formidable nose to track the killer down.

Luckily he manages to find a home with Rose Sidebottom, the young policewoman who’s investigating the case. But with her colleagues turning against her, and the wrong man collared, she’s going to need a little help…

What I Say:

I would like to thank the publisher and Alice at Lightbrigade PR for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

When I first heard about this book I wasn't sure what to make of it as in parts it is written from the POV of Monty the Dog.  I will say that I really enjoyed this and the experience of Monty and his friends.  I love that dog's communicate via 'weemails' and that a dog is able to read and access a laptop.

Monty is very lucky to be rescued by trainee Detective Rose Sidebottom after his master is murdered, both Rose and Monty are determined to find his killer.  Rose is a lovely character who is determined win the respect of her colleagues,  Rose can also tell when someone is telling a lie and it is so much more than instinct.

I love how this book is written from both POV's and this makes the books so much better and I for one can't wait to read more of Monty and Rose's adventures.


5 out of 5 Stars


Exclusive Extract

Something tells me we’re going to get along just fine. 

I walk back to the house, so close to Rose she almost trips over me. She unlocks the stable-style kitchen door. It scrapes the worn yellow and brown, diamond-patterned lino floor. I am hit by a smorgasbord of smells: some very old indeed. What better place to inhale the house’s history than the

kitchen? Rose’s scent is the newest: vanilla and honey, peppermint and the sea. She must’ve spent her childhood near the ocean because the sea is part of her make-up now. But her clothes carry the odours of her work: bitter coffee, stale cigarettes, plastic chairs in over-heated rooms and someone else’s sweat that’s tinged with the vinegary smell of fear. Ever wondered why your dog sniffs you when you come home? He wants to know where you’ve been and who you’ve met.

There’s a loud ringing coming from Rose’s pocket. I feel her body tense. She answers.

‘Sir?’ Her hand trembles.

I look around, searching for the threat, ready to defend her.

A man yells down the phone. ‘Sidebottom, get in here now!’ 


Chapter Two

If you asked Rose Sidebottom to describe herself she would say she was of average height with a forgettable face, had average mousy hair tied back in a plain ponytail, and graduated from police college with an average pass.

However, there were two things about her that were far from average. One was her embarrassing surname. She’d heard every single bottom joke ever invented. Her school days had been plagued by taunts, police college with practical jokes, and it was now proving a handicap in her struggle to be taken seriously as a trainee detective constable. The other unusual thing about Rose was her instinctive ability to know when somebody was lying. A tingling feeling, much like pins and needles, would spread from her hands and feet all over her body. As a child, it had sucked big time. Rose knew from a very young age that there was no Father Christmas or Tooth Fairy, that thunder wasn’t God moving His furniture, that at twelve her best friend had betrayed her secret crush on a boy to a gang of girls who hated her, and that her father was cheating on her mother. Life would have been so much easier simply not knowing.

However, as a police officer, her in-built lie-detector had sent her conviction rate through the roof, and at one domestic incident, she’d saved the life of a woman whose polite and helpful boyfriend had claimed all was well, as the woman lay bruised and bloodied in the back room. Her skill for ferreting out the truth helped her earn a coveted position on the Major Crime Team, much to the surprise and envy of her uniformed colleagues.

But it hadn’t saved her from committing the mother of all cock-ups earlier that evening, which is why she now stood in front of DCI Craig Leach, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. Her boss sat behind his messy desk; his shaved snooker-ball head welded to a heavy-set, bull-like body without, so it appeared, a neck.

Rose tried not to fidget.

About The Author:

British-born mystery author, Louisa Bennet, studied Literature at the University of London and went on to learn Canine Linguistics from her golden retriever, Pickles, which is how she discovered what dogs really get up to when we're not around. 

Truth be told, Pickles came up with the story for the Monty And Sidebottom Mysteries, and Louisa just transcribed it. She's faster on the keyboard and less easily distracted by food and passing squirrels. 

Louisa worked in magazine publishing and climate change consulting before focusing on novel writing. She divides her time between London and Sydney, Australia, and runs courses on crime fiction and creative writing. Pickles runs courses on wee-mailing, duck toppling and drool management. 
To stay in touch with Monty, the sniffer super-sleuth, please go to www.MontyDogDetective.com



www.facebook.com/MontyDogDetective








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