Mar Preston

The Most Dangerous Species Mar Preston

"Humorous police procedural with a touch of romance and biting social criticism of small town life in a remote California mountain village." Caution: Cats yes, cozy no.

Murder in a cat rescue sanctuary splinters animal lovers and animal haters in a serene California mountain village. A village patrol officer, and animal activist, intrudes herself in the investigation to clear the name of the founder, a heroine among the animal rescue community. Hotshot homicide investigator, Dex Stafford, battles a cat allergy and a dislike for a place without a Starbucks-or even streetlights.

She does barking dogs. He does murder. An unlikely alliance: a murder cop from Bakersfield and a village patrol officer whose usual day is calls about snakes, fistfights, barking dogs and checking up on old people. That's the way she likes it. And she doesn't like the Bakersfield city slicker cop.

The second novel in Sierra Mountain Village furthers the story in a semi-hardboiled series with more odd human relationships than explosions and car chases.

Told with humor and a sharp observation of village life, the reader follows an unlikely pair of investigators in a prickly alliance through a case with a disturbing psychological twist.