I have been in the mood for light-hearted mysteries lately, I have even read some paranormal ones (I loved the Victoria Laurie Ghost Hunter series) but mostly I have read the funny ones. While looking for the latest Tamar Myers Penn Dutch book in paperback I saw Paws-itively Guilty by Cindy Keen Reynders. This is the second of the Lexie Lightfoot books. Having read the first book, The Saucy Lucy Murders, I knew that this would be right up my alley.

Lexie Lightfoot and her sister Lucy, co-owners of Moose Creek Junction’s Saucy Lucy Café, who don’t have an ounce of law enforcement training, find the body of Eleni, a friend who had gone missing, buried in the rose garden. The sisters are devastated. Always ready to jump into action, the sisters feel compelled to find the murderer. While doing, so they adopt an oversize canine partner by the name of Lurch who lends them a hand (actually a paw) in ferreting out the truth.

Due to her previous escapades, Lexie’s learned a thing or two about killers and their murderous tendencies. As luck would have it, she manages to rattle more than few old skeletons. The action really starts to heat up when Lexie and Lucy discover, to their horror, that Eva, Lexie’s daughter has been drawn into danger because of their digging into secrets that other folks would rather leave buried. It’s now entirely up to them to keep evil from coming home to roost in their own backyards. 

Paws-itively Guilty, the second Lexie-Lucy amateur sleuth, is a cozy whodunit with plenty of humor and sly little winks. Lexie begins with trying to sort the horde of greedy family members looking to inherit, all the while Lucy is trying to persuade her to let the cops do their job. Lurch the dog provides comic relief with his flatulent emissions. Adding tension to the drama is the possibility that Gabe, the hunky homicide detective, may be seeing someone else behind Lexie’s back.

Cindy Keen Reynders provides a tale of both mystery and family drama. She proves once again that the only people you can count on for both the bad and the good is family, and she has a hilarious time doing it.

Reviewed by Theresa
© June 2009