Read “Lie to Her” and the other books in the series for these compelling murder mysteries. These once-beloved companions will end up in dog food cans or on the plates of Europeans who fancy horse meat steaks. It’s a heartbreaking reality that not many people know about - the fact that unwanted horses, often including winning, retired race horses who no longer earn their keep, end up getting shipped to Mexico for slaughter. In this novel, we watch as Bree and Matt visit a horse auction where animals who are not sold for riding or farming are sold for slaughter. Leigh’s own Ladybug acts as an emotional support dog for her other, high anxiety rescue. Like Leigh’s own rescue dog, Ladybug, main character Bree’s rescue dog with the same name is also a chubby friendly rescue who is exuberantly cheerful and affectionate to all creatures, big and small. In addition to writing a gripping mystery, Melinda Leigh is passionate in advocating for the rescue of homeless animals. We watch as she juggles being a caretaker with a full-time, very demanding career. And along with following the investigation, we see Bree’s interactions with her family and Matt and Dana. Leigh raises the suspense and the intensity of the action by making one of Bree’s family the target of the killer. I must admit, I completely made the mistake of falling for her red herring, even though the whole time I knew there had to be another suspect. We know why that person is targeting the men who are murdered, but we don’t know the identity of the murderer, and Leigh keeps that suspense going masterfully. We are encouraged to try to understand the killer’s thoughts and motivations because Leigh writes the killer’s narrative in first person.

In this mystery, Leigh adds to the suspense by introducing us immediately to the killer, the perpetrator of the dastardly deeds. She has overcome that fear and now has a rescue dog of her own. And they will understand the backstory regarding Bree’s former fear of dogs.

They will have met Matt, Bree’s boyfriend, and Dana, Bree’s former partner from the police force. But those who have read the previous five books will understand why Bree is living in this rural area and raising her sister’s two children. Such readers will still enjoy the twists and turns that Bree Taggert, the female sheriff in a rural upstate New York county, must unravel in her search for a serial killer. While the mysteries in Melinda Leigh’s “Bree Taggert” series all work as stand alone novels, those who start the series with the latest addition, “Lie to Her,” will miss out on some great backstories which are shared in the previous novels.

Lie to her melinda leigh