Mystery lover. Check. Quirky characters. Check. Animal lover. Double check.

These are elements that appeal to me and Dog Dish of Doom has all of them and more. This is a fun, engaging mystery with a cast of characters that are hard to forget. The heroine is a product of the stage, with parents who perform at resorts and on cruise ships. Deciding to break away from the family business, she graduates from law school and becomes an entertainment agent who represents animal actors. Kay bills herself as Agent to the Paws and is always on the lookout for that career-changing client. If she didn’t have to deal with the animals’ owners, her job would be nearly perfect.

But, deal she must. Enter Bruno…. a dog that is an entertainment agent’s dream. He is friendly, patient, smart and willing. Unlike his owners. One of whom ends up face down in Bruno’s dog dish, with a knife sticking out of his back. With her client’s welfare at stake, Kay becomes immersed in solving the crime, along with the help of her parents who are temporarily between gigs and have taken up residence in her home. Recruited by the detective in charge of the investigation to look at the case from the inside, Kay begins to learn about the various suspects and their motives and opportunities.

While this book could be considered a cozy mystery, it also has the elements of an old-fashioned whodunit. The premise for the story is fresh and unique - a welcome change for many readers. It is very well-written with a snappy dialogue. While it is fun to witness the relationship between Kay and her parents, there are enough suspects to keep the reader guessing until the end. Filled with quirky characters while not going over the top, the story carries the reader along to a satisfying conclusion with just a hint of what’s to come. This is a series that will be welcomed by readers who are looking for a new and unusual heroine who is smart, dedicated to family and career and has a genuine affection for her animal clients. I highly recommend it!

Dog Dish of Doom is the first in a new cozy series from E.J. Copperman (pen name for the writer Jeff Cohen). Copperman/Cohen is no stranger to cozies - from what I can gather, Agent to the Paws is his 4th cozy series. The main character, Kay, is a showbiz agent for animals. Sounds like a fun gig, if we're honest. 

I kinda hated, Kay, truthfully. She annoyed the crap out of me, and I thought she was a bad sleuth. Part of it might have been the fact that she seemed utterly uninterested in solving the murder. Part of it might have been that she was so BAD at what she was trying to figure out. Honestly, I liked her parents more than I liked Kay. I also wanted more Bruno, but that's kinda beside the point. 

Dog Dish of Doom was a relatively short read, but also kind of a boring one. Not much happened, and as I said, there was very little sleuthing. I also got tired of reading the same phrases over and over again. I didn't hate it, but I also have no desire to continue the series.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
I do like stories that have humour, especially when the humour is organic and not forced. This book is a lot of fun, with some screwball characters (but not so screwball as to become slapstick), a great dog (Bruno) and enough twists to entertain for hours.
Kay is an agent to the paws- that is right. She represents animals in show biz and her latest client is Bruno who is up to replace the current Sandy in the Broadway musical, Annie. He is a natural. Unfortunately, he is hampered by the humans who own him, especially the male who takes obnoxious to a new level. When said gent is stabbed in the back in his own kitchen, Bruno's career is threatened before it even begins. It is up to Kay to protect her client.
When it seems everyone wants Bruno and some are willing to go to extremes to do it, Kay cannot understand why he is such a hot commodity. It baffles the policewoman who is investigating the murder too. Kay tries to connect the dots between Bruno and the murder. Luckily she has her entertainer parents helping. The author succeeds in interweaving side stories to deliver a good mystery with lots of chuckles.
It's an easy and enjoyable read with lots of interesting characters.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

When famous Broadway director Les McMaster is auditioning dogs for the role of Sandy in 'Annie', Kay Powell - a talent agent for animals - has just the pooch for the job. Her client Bruno, a shaggy brown dog who looks like a hairy ottoman - is friendly, follows directions, and can cry on demand. Bruno is having a fine tryout - and would be a shoo-in for the job - if only his owner would shut his mouth.

Trent Barclay and his wife Louise adopted Bruno from a shelter, trained him, and have plans for his show business career. Trent - an obnoxious loudmouth who thinks he knows best - interrupts Bruno's audition, calls McMaster a hack, and says he's a bad director. Thus, when Bruno gets the job his contract states that Trent and Louise can't attend Bruno's rehearsals.

Kay doesn't mind since she'd just as soon handle Bruno's career herself - and has the experience to do it. Kay's parents, Jay and El, were performers at a Catskill resort - and Kay joined their act when she was four (Jay, Kay, and El.....get it. LOL). Kay sang, danced, and did skits with her parents until she went off to college. Kay then went to law school to learn about contracts, and started her career as an animal agent. Meanwhile, Jay and El took their act onto cruise ships, where they traveled and had fun while getting paid.

Jay and El are between gigs right now, and staying at Kay's house in Scarborough, N.J. To pass the time, Jay is producing a revue for the Scarborough Senior Center, and he and his wife are auditioning the elderly talent in Kay's living room. This is pretty hilarious. To add to the foofaraw at Kay's place are her two dogs, Steve the dachshund and Eydie, the rescue greyhound - both of whom have big, endearing personalities....and a fondness for liver treats.

The day after Bruno's audition, Kay wakes up to shocking news. Trent Barclay has been found stabbed to death in his kitchen - with his face in Bruno's water bowl. Detective Alana Rodriguez of the NYPD - who's so stiff 'you couldn't get her to move a facial muscle without dynamite' - shows up at Kay's house to ask about the kerfuffle during Bruno's tryout.

Before long Lt. Rodriguez recruits Kay - asking the agent to sniff around the theater people and report anything suspicious. Rodriguez actually gets a 'threefer', because Jay and El want to be amateur sleuths as well. The trio of Powells get up to all kinds of mischief while they're investigating (can you say breaking and entering).

As the murderer is being sought, odd things start to happen. People keep trying to abduct Bruno.....and Kay gets threatening messages to hand over the dog. The agent has no intention of losing her client, and there's some desperate behavior on the part of Bruno's would-be abductors. Bruno gets to spend some time at Kay's house, where he becomes best friends with Steve and is (mostly) ignored by haughty Eydie.

Many secrets come to light before the murderer is exposed in a dramatic climax where Bruno shows his mettle.

The book is chock full of humorous scenes and zingy remarks that made me laugh. There's also an array of interesting characters, including:
- Sam Gibson, the owner of Cool Beans Coffee Shop. This potential romantic interest for Kay gives her free coffee and muffins, helpful advice, and dog-walking assistance when needed.
-Akra Levy, Les's ubiquitous assistant. Akra seemed to be 'seven hundred clones' because she's everywhere Les needs all the time - clipboard in hand.
-Consuelo, Kay's 'manager/assistant/entire staff' - who organizes Kay within an inch of her life. Consuelo is angling to be an animal agent herself.
-Diego (Dee), Consuelo's 22-year-old son, whose common sense provides vital clues to the mysteries in the story.
-Maisie, a macaw Kay took in lieu of payment. Maisie - 'a diva and a brat' - resides in Kay's office, and wants everyone to go away and leave her alone.

One of my favorite lines in the book is when Consuelo tells Kay, "You have an appointment with that parakeet at eleven-thirty, then a phone call with the bear cub and a callback for the calico cat." Ha ha ha

I enjoyed this well-written, cozy mystery and highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (E.J. Copperman) and the publisher (St. Martin's Press) for a copy of the book.

I don't read cozy mysteries all that often, maybe one or two a year and every time I read one I am reminded that I should read them more often! With a dog at the center of this story it appealed to me even more and when the first page opened to a dog named Bruno (not a German Shepherd) I was so excited to keep on reading!

Bruno is a dog that is headed to Broadway to be the dog in Annie and after a little drama during his audition his agent Kay is a little worried. She wakes up the next morning to read in the paper that Bruno's owner has been murdered and she must find out why and who and how.

I love a book with a amateur detective who I can follow her thought process. It is fun to see her by pass all the police procedural and just go ask questions and stumble upon answers! I say all of this, but there were a few times where I was a little lost as to who what where when, and had to reread a few parts, but it wasn't too many and I finally figured out where the facts went in place.

I definitely enjoyed curling up with this cozy mystery for a day and the big thing that I love about cozy mysteries that many others may also is the lack of gory gooieness - don't get me wrong I love a Swedish mystery with all the gore you can imagine, but sometimes it is fun to curl up with a mystery and try to figure out the puzzle but with minimal blood!

Kay is an agent to the furry stars and her biggest potential client has a big problem in his owners. They're overbearing. Helicopter dog-ownership. So much so that the director of the Broadway play considering signing Bruno (the client) wants a clause in the contract ensuring that Kay is the primary contact and the owners are not allowed in the theatre. When one of the owners is found dead, the other owner seems less than interested in Bruno and strange things start happening, Kay finds herself in possession of Bruno temporarily while trying to make sure he makes his commitments for the play and doesn't get kidnapped.

This was a fun read, but I felt like some of the threads didn't get fully followed up on (what's the deal with Horatio and Bruno???) and overall it didn't seem up to the standards of the author's previous works (particularly the Haunted Guesthouse series). How did Kay and the police detective develop such a friendly relationship so quickly? And why, oh why, would anyone want to be involved in show business?

Regardless, I'd give another book in the series a shot even if this one wasn't a favorite.

Kay Powell is a theatrical agent representing animal actors. Her biggest client is Bruno, an intelligent and talented dog. His owners, however, leave much to be desired. They are annoying. Irritating enough that Broadway Director, Les McMaster, wants it written into the dog's contract that he doesn't have to deal with Trent and Louise. Just as Kay is feeling optimistic that Bruno will be cast as Sandy in the new revival of Annie, his owner Trent is murdered. His body is discovered face-down in Bruno's dog dish with a rather large knife sticking out of his back. Between her parents holding auditions for a senior citizen center show in her living room and a client's owner dead in a water bowl, Kay is not having the best week. When it appears that Bruno might be somehow central to the motive for the killing, Kay steps in to investigate, with the help of her parents (despite her vehement objections to their involvement, of course).

This book is a great blend of humor and light-hearted, cozy mystery. I absolutely adore Kay's parents. They are hilarious and really add to the flavor of the book. Kay is a great main character. She's funny, intelligent, and manages to handle chaos quite well. I guess you have to handle chaos if you represent animal actors!

This is a great start to a new series! Dog Dish of Doom is definitely full of E.J. Copperman's usual wit and humor. I always end up laughing out loud when I read one of Copperman's books. Always an enjoyable story!

E.J. Copperman is a pen name of author Jeff Cohen. He is the author of several series, including the Haunted Guesthouse series and the Asperger's Mystery series (which Copperman/Cohen co-writes with himself -- yes, he co-authors a book with himself...love it!) For any reader who likes well-written, humorous mysteries, I recommend any of his books. For more information on the author, check out his website: http://www.ejcopperman.com/

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from St Martin's Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Cozy mystery readers who love animals should lap up this first in a new series by E.J. Copperman (alter ego of author Jeff Cohen). Not only do they get to share Kay's clients with her, but Kay's own pets as well-- Steve the dachshund and Eydie the greyhound rescue.

Dog Dish of Doom has a solid cast supporting Kay, including her showbiz parents who are trying to bring their long careers to a close and Kay's more-than-capable assistant, Consuelo. The pace is fast and sure, the humor is pure Cohen, and there's a solid mystery to solve. I'm looking forward to discovering the identity of Kay's next client.

Dog Dish Of Doom
An Agent To The Paws, Book #1
E.J. Copperman
5 Stars

Synopsis:

Cozy fans and animal lovers alike won't be able to keep their paws off Dog Dish of Doom. Laugh-out-loud funny, E.J. Copperman's series debut is "lots of fun" (Library Journal, starred).

Kay Powell wants to find that break-out client who will become a star. And she thinks she's found him: His name is Bruno, and he has to be walked three times a day.

Kay is the Agent to the Paws, representing showbiz clients who aren't exactly people. In fact: they're dogs. Bruno's humans, Trent and Louise, are pains in the you-know-what, and Les McMaster, the famous director mounting a revival of Annie, might not hire Bruno just because he can't stand them.

This becomes less of an issue when Trent is discovered face down in Bruno's water dish, with a kitchen knife in his back. Kay's perfectly fine to let the NYPD handle the murder, but when the whole plot seems to center on Bruno, her protective instincts come into play. You can kill any people you want, but you'd better leave Kay's clients alone. (Goodreads)



Review:

I really like the premise of this book, Kay being a talent agent for animals. What a great job that would be. This book has everything I look for in a cozy: great characters, a great mystery, humor and animals. What more could you ask for when reading a book?

The characters were well rounded and well developed. Kay is a hardworking woman who own a business and she will do whatever she has to do to be sure her business succeeds. She loves the animals she represents and is willing to do anything to keep them safe and happy. I really enjoyed the relationship between Kay and her parents. Much of the time Kay seemed to be the parent and her parents the children. Her parents were quirky and crazy but I enjoyed them anyway. I loved meeting Steve and Eydie, Kay’s dogs. They were funny and adorable and acted just like dogs should act. And Bruno stole the show (or play or commercial or whatever he would star in thanks to Kay’s negotiations)!

The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and through much of the book, I felt like I was right there, watching all the action taking place around me and listening in on conversations. The mystery was carried on well throughout the book and there were enough suspects to consider and clues to sift through that it was difficult to determine the culprit before it was revealed at the end. One thing I found refreshing was that the detective was a woman and was not in the least romantically interested in Kay. In so many of the cozies I read, the protagonist and the lead detective fall in love. This was a nice change from the normal.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. I have read other books (in other series) by this author and I can tell that she is great author. I cannot wait to read more books in this series.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange of a honest review. I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

How can any animal lover pass on a mystery titled Dog Dish of Doom? The very concept brings forth a smile.  E J Copperman has a gift for capturing the personalities of animals as well as their human counterparts.  The story has just the right blend of humor, sass and seriousness.  Kay Powell is a showbiz girl who has moved on to become an agent to the stars - the four legged kind.  Her newest client, Bruno, shows real talent, but his casting as Sandy comes with conditions - including keeping his phlegmatic owner Trent from interfering. Ends up that it won't be an issue, Trent is found dead, face down in Bruno’s water dish.  The last thing Kay expects is for the detective on the case to ask for her help questioning the theater crowd.  Admittedly she is curious and she wants to make sure Bruno doesn't end up with a murderer.

I loved Kay’s canine companions, Steve and Eydie.  Eydie is just like our retired racing greyhound - one part diva, one part social butterfly and one part pain in butt (utterly lovable).  The animals in Dog Dish of Doom have real personalities and play a vital role in the story.  For anyone who loves animal mysteries this is a distinct plus. When you throw in the fantastic fast-paced story you have a definite winner.  If the series continues to be this good, I can easily see Copperman’s novels  becoming  bestsellers.

5 / 5

I received a copy of Dog Dish of Doom from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Out next month is Dog Dish of Doom, the first “Agent to the Paws Mystery” starring a theatrical booking agent whose clients are animals.

It’s written by E.J. Copperman, who also writes the Asperger’s Mystery series and the Haunted Guesthouse series. Last year, he launched the Mysterious Detective series, in which a mystery writer’s fictional detective shows up at her door. (There are even more under his other name, Jeff Cohen.) This writer knows his mysteries, in other words, and he usually tosses in a good bit of welcome humor. This new series is no exception.

Dog Dish of Doom opens with Kay Powell trying to place her terrific new client, Bruno, as the new Sandy on Broadway in the Annie musical. The director likes him, but Bruno’s owners, a married couple, are terrible. Just when she’s about to finish the deal, the husband turns up dead — with his head in the dog’s water bowl.

There’s plenty of entertainment here for those who love animals, obviously, but also those who love behind-the-scenes stories. Kay grew up the daughter of a couple of old-school troupers, but she gave up being part of their act in favor of working with non-human performers. Between Bruno and her own pets, a dachshund and a greyhound, there’s plenty of adorable dog behavior described.

Copperman is good at description in general, setting the stage admirably for the various New York City settings, from Broadway to the Jersey suburbs. Most of the story takes place through conversation, among Kay, a Broadway director, his assistant, the police detective investigating the murder, the dead man’s wife, or her parents. Copperman also does a good job with their voices, although I admit some of my favorite chat comes when Kay is talking to her dogs.

Dog Dish of Doom is a pleasant start to a mystery series featuring an unusual career with plenty of appeal.

This was a really fun start to a new series. It has a unique sense of humor and over the top characters, which may not appeal to everyone, but I loved them. The mystery was well written, and it had a nicely paced plot.

I love dogs and dog stories, so I had high hopes for this one. However, this book just did not do it for me. The story line was interesting, though not as fast moving as I would have liked. I felt it dragged as I got further into it. As can be expected, Bruno, the dog, was well done and endearing. Nevertheless, I had difficulty with Kay, his agent, his owners and Kay’s parents, the other characters. Kay was born into an actor family, and disappointed her parents when she wanted first to go to law school then to vet school instead of following them into the theater life. They naturally felt better when Kay became an agent for animal actors, since the profession was sort of close to acting. In this story, her parents are between gigs on cruise ships, their latest venue, looking for more work, while preparing to do a production for a senior center to tide them over, while staying with Kay. At times in the story, Kay’s father, who obviously played many roles during his years in the theater, became a “lawyer” for her at one time and a “detective” at another—neither of which was very well done and really added little to the plot. In fact, I found Kay and her family, as characters in the story, as flat as the other characters. The story involved the mysterious death of Bruno’s owner, which Kay felt the authorities were not handling as well as they could and in which she involved herself, while, at the same time, representing and working with Bruno in a production of Annie, where Bruno had a role. Somehow, this all just did not go together for me. As I said, I love dogs and stories involving dogs, so this was not a total failure. Bruno along with Kay’s other two dogs were cute and endearing. I just wish the rest of the book had been as good. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

This was a cute cozy that I mostly enjoyed; there were just too many parts that made me roll my eyes and go "seriously", which can happen when you read as many cozies as I have.
I did like the main character and most of the peripheral players [though there seemed to be a lot of them and keeping everyone straight was a pain at times] and I would have liked her more if she had not reminded us of some of the same things over and over A N D O V E R again. I really tried to look past that as there were parts [and lines] that were seriously laugh-out-loud, but there [for me] were a lot of moment of just a ton of eye-rolls and not a ton of interest on my part. In fact, by the time I got to the end [which did seem to take quite awhile AFTER you hit the middle of the book, which says to me that the whole story could have easily been 50 pages less], I almost didn't care who committed the murder. I just needed the book to be done.

All that said, I would be willing to read the second one; there was enough good in this one to make me curious about a second book.

I have a friend that I buddy-read this with and she liked it way more than I did, so it really just may be preference. I guess we will find out if the author writes a second on in this series.

A fun cozy mystery written with an obviously skilled hand. The premise and characters are engaging, and there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments in the narration. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

I like author E.J. Copperman’s two other mystery series just fine: one featuring a guesthouse owner who finds herself haunted by two very different ghosts (which begins with Night of the Living Deed) and one featuring an autistic sleuth with an exceedingly patient female Watson (which begins with The Question of the Missing Head,). So when I discovered that Copperman was stepping out with Dog Dish of Doom, the debut in a series featuring a wisecracking talent agent who represents only animals, I couldn’t wait. I was fortunate enough that I was able to get an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.

I was enthralled! Agent Kay Powell has managed to land her fluffy brown client Bruno a plum job playing Sandy in an Annie Broadway revival; Bruno’s great, but his owner Trent Barclay? A nightmare! The day after the audition, Kay could just about kill him, but she can’t. Because he’s already dead, literally stabbed in the back and left with his face in Bruno’s water dish. Kay — assisted by her parents, Jay and Eleanor (aging cruise ship performers), Kay’s ever-efficient office manager Consuelo and Consuelo’s 22-year-old son Diego, a recent CCNY grad — seeks to protect Bruno and, incidentally, suss out Trent’s killer. Copperman has done a doggone good job.

I had high hopes for this first in a new series by E.J. Copperman, but it completely fell flat. The characters were one dimensional, the plot was flat, and the mystery was predictable. Even efforts at adding quirk with the characters of the parents felt forced. Unfortunately, this cozy did not do it for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dog Dish of Doom is the first book in E. J. Copperman’s An Agent to the Paws Mystery. The storyline is well plotted and the characters relatable and well developed. There are lots of twists and turns, plenty of suspects, and lots of laugh out loud moments in this cozy.

Kay Powell is the owner of a talent agency specializing in animal actors and has an amazing office manager/assistant, Consuelo, who wants to be an agent. She grew up in a showbiz family but her heart wasn’t in it and when she grew up, she wanted to be a veterinarian but ended up in law school. Kay has no problem negotiating contracts for her clients but is better dealing with animals than with people. She owns two dogs, Steve, a dachshund, and Eydie, a rescued greyhound. Jay and Eleanor Powell, Kay’s parents stay with her when they aren’t performing on cruise ships and Sam Gibson, the owner of Cool Beans, wants to purse a relationship with her. Kay’s newest client is Bruno, a brown shaggy dog with a natural talent for acting, and Kay has negotiated a contract for him with Broadway director, Les McMaster. Bruno will be the replacement dog in the production of Annie but his owners, Trent and Louise Barclay, will not Les will not allow them to be on the set. Early one morning, Louise finds Trent stabbed in back in the kitchen of their apartment. NYPD Detective Alana Rodriquez is assigned to the case and she asks Kay to help in the investigation by asking questions at the theater and report back to her. Kay ends up getting more involved than just asking questions and ends up in some sticky situations.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I found this book to be really good. Kay Powell is an agent to the stars, well the animal stars anyway.
Landing Bruno a gig in the new Annie would be a huge coup for Kay.
Unfortunately for Bruno, his humans can't keep their mouths shut and that could cost him the gig.
When one of Bruno's owners winds up dead, it's up to Kay to dig deep and find the answers.

This book had an interesting topic and I enjoyed the story. The characters were believable and I found myself cheering for Bruno.
I definitely give this 4 paws up.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

A fun new mystery featuring a likeable protaganist in Kay Powell who grew up in a show business family and now has an unusual job as a talent agent representing animals who are hoping for a show business career. Kay is representing Bruno, a new client, who is auditioning for the role of Sandy in the musical "Annie". Bruno's owners, Trent and Louise, are also at the audition and Trent is acting as loud and obnoxious as any stage parent, saying nasty things about the director. The next morning Kay reads in the newspaper that Trent has been murdered and because of her relationship with Bruno, she gets involved in the investigation. The characters in this book are all down to earth, and the relationship between Kay and her parents is very special. The plot moves along swiftly and, as an added benefit, you will learn about what goes on in casting a Broadway show. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all mystery lovers.