Review: Woof at the Door by Laura Morrigan

Blurb: Animal behaviorist Grace Wilde keeps her ability to psychically communicate with furry and feathered critters under wraps. But when a Doberman turns out to be the only witness to a crime, Grace will have to let the cat out of the bag in order to catch a killer.

Grace Wilde’s job is anything but normal. When she’s not helping out at the zoo by comforting agitated lemurs, she’s listening to the woes of annoyed house pets. Grace’s life gets even more complicated, though, when the cops summon her to a crime scene to help deal with the murder victim’s terrified Doberman.

The pooch turns out to be the only one who saw what happened the night of the shooting—and only Grace can get the information out of him. The problem is, how will Grace tell the distractingly gorgeous Sergeant Kai Duncan that it’s the dog who’s giving her the intel without spilling her big secret or sounding crazy? Left on her own, Grace will have to follow the pup’s lead to track down the killer. But she’ll have to be careful—or curiosity may end up killing the cat whisperer.

My Review: Several years back there was a TV show on Animal Planet called Pet Psychic about an animal communicator. I remember watching every episode and thinking what a gift it would be to be able to "talk" to the animals. This is why I've been so excited to read the first Call of the Wilde Mystery with animal behaviorist Grace Wilde. Grace is a woman after my own heart; much more comfortable in the presence of animals, distrustful and insecure around humans.

Trouble begins for Grace when she's called to the murder scene of a Jacksonville Jaguars football player (and son of the Governor). His Doberman Jax is the only witness to the crime and the police are having a hard time getting him under control. Grace is instantly able to calm the dobie down and takes him home with her to recuperate. When Jax starts sharing information with Grace about what happened that terrible night, Grace doesn't know how she's going to clue in the police without revealing her secret psychic ability. She has no choice but to become involved when she discovers the main suspect is another football player that Grace knows well because she has helped to train his pet jaguar Charm.

A couple of the secondary characters stood out for me: Moss, Grace's part wolf companion, and her sister Emma the event planner. Grace and Emma couldn't be more different, but her shrewd insights into humans nicely compliment Grace's more pet-centric mindset.

This is a very enjoyable series debut with an exciting cast of 2-legged and 4-legged characters that I look forward to reading more about as the series progresses.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher with the request for a review.