Brenda H. (booksinvt) - , reviewed on 1/7/2018 + 458 more book reviews

Pick and Chews is the fourth installment in the Bakery and Biscuits Mystery series located in the small town of Knobcone Heights and featuring baker and vet technician Carrie Kennersly. Things are going well for Carrie; both her human and pet bakeries are doing a brisk business, her part time job at the veterinarian hospital is keeping her close to boyfriend Reed Storme and her joint adoption events with the Mountaintop Rescue have been very successful.

With the retirement of Dr. Angela Regles from the vet practice, Dr. Arvus "Arvie" Kline is interviewing applicants and the two forerunners are former coworkers of Reeds from San Diego. Suddenly Dr. Raela Fellner appears - also a former coworker of Reeds who hints at more than just a professional relationship with him. It quickly becomes apparent that there is no love lost between the doctors and realizing that she will not be offered a position with the group she threatens to open a competing veterinary practice in the small community. With her nasty attitude and threats to ruin the other doctors it comes as no surprise when she's found dead; killed by a dose of pentobarbital.

With Reed and the other vets as well as herself considered suspects, Carrie sets out to find Raela's killer. Main characters of the series return including Carrie's brother Neal, the bakery staff, Detectives Wayne and Bridget and Councilman Billie Matlock. Carrie's adorable dog Biscuit and many new furry friends are featured throughout.

I enjoy this series but this latest was my least favorite. The relationship between Carrie and Reed is not a warm and fuzzy one that will have readers rooting for the two to make a permanent commitment, the way that Carrie treats her "assistants" at the bakeries is also not normal, instead of recognizing them as employees that have been with her since day one she continues to treat them as if it's their first days on the job. Also, as a part time vet tech she definitely oversteps her boundaries bossing other people around. The grammatical and typographical errors were very distracting (but I will chalk those up to being an advanced reader copy with the hopes they are corrected before the book goes to publication) and there just seemed to be a lot of unresolved loose ends. I'm not going to give up yet on the series and will look for the next adventure of Carrie and Biscuit.

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