The Case of the Roasted Onion

I found this book entertaining. I was previously unfamiliar with Ms Bishop's work. I bought the book because I thought it was a mystery involving horses. The story involves horses but only tangentially. Nevertheless, this book enhanced my Christmas vacation. I thought the carnage among large animal vets in upstate New York a bit far-fetched. Large animal vets are becoming an endangered species anyway without murdering off that many of them. I will try the next one in this series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with Dr. McKenzie, his wife and two assistants. They all play off each other in a way to keep you interested in what will happen next. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Although this is a new series, Claudia Bishop is no newcomer, so this book doesn't suffer from any of the new author problems found in other series firsts. This series features Dr. Austin McKenzie (Austin), his wife, Madeline, and two veterinary students, Joe and Ally. Austin is 72, recently retired from a lifetime of teaching and research, and forced by an unfortunate investment to take up a private large (and sometimes small) animal practice. His English is proper and a bit stilted, as might be true for an academic ole duffer, and the 2 youngsters are awfully competitive with one another, but that is to be expected of vet students because of the fierce competition for one of the very limited spaces in the vet program at Cornell (the vet school in this story). They also seem almost like children to the older childless couple, so some of the banter could be from sibling-like rivalry. The characters are well drawn, interesting people, revealing some of their backgrounds in this book. I'm sure we'll see a lot more in the books to come. The plot has enough twists to make it enjoyable, and the sleuthing is amateurish, but they are learning quickly, and it is fun. Think James Herriot meets Diagnosis Murder (Dick van Dyke), and you just about have it. There were a few typos, and this is the second author recently to confuse rifles with shotguns, but those were minor irritations. This looks like a fine series, and I'm looking forward eagerly to the next installments.

The Case of the Roasted Onion is a must read for mystery fans. Claudia weaves together engaging characters, twists, and clever dialog. Her writing is as smooth as butter melting off the page. Once I started the book, I couldn't stop, and now I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

After tenured professor Austin McKenzie retires, he and his wife Madeline move to their farm in Trumansberg, New York, just outside Ithaca. Due to a bad investment on Austin's part, he has a big loan that must be repaid so he opens up a big animal vet practice. He hires two assistants, Joe and Allegra who are competitive with each other but loyal to the McKenzies. After receiving an invitation to be the delegate at the Earlsdown Three Day Event from venture capitalist and horse owner Brewster McClellan, Austin accepts because the fee for his services is $15,000. Dr. Grazley who was in charge of the horse Brewster was running in the event is murdered as was Dr. Schumacher who preceded Dr Grazley. Austin believes Brewster is behind the murders because they both owned a piece of the horse and were partners in another business venture. Austin sets out to solve the homicides but it is only when a third member of the syndicate is murdered do the McKenzies and their two assistants concoct a plan to smoke the murderer out. The first mystery in "The Casebook of Dr. McKenzie" takes place in the same arena as the Hemlock Falls mysteries. This is a cleverly constructed who-done-it with so many layers to peel that the protagonists have to stay alert for any clue because the killer left almost no evidence behind. The love between Austin and Madeline permeates the whole storyline and uplifts the audience to see two passionate seniors care about one another and life in general. Harriet Klausner