Stolen: A Kieran Yeats Mystery

Set in Victoria, British Columbia, this superb series kickoff from Wright (the Caitlin Reece mysteries, as Lauren Wright Douglas) introduces Kieran Yeats, a former Crown Counsel, who has left practicing law to work as an investigator of crime related to animals. She’s drawn into a complex case after Jen, her 13-year-old goddaughter, confesses that 11 Bengal kittens have mysteriously disappeared from the cattery where Jen was hired to keep watch. Though Jen insists that all the doors were locked and the alarms set, someone managed to enter and abscond with the valuable felines. From what Jen says, Kieran gets the sense that the crime was an inside job. The inquiry broadens after Kieran learns that others in the area have also had their pets stolen. Kieran uses both high tech (she has a friend hack into the alarm system at the residence housing the cattery) and old-fashioned shoe leather to crack the case. Wright, who has been involved in animal advocacy for 30 years, combines her passionate commitment to animal rights with a riveting whodunit that’s not dependent on murder to sustain interest. (BookLife)

Correction: the main character’s name was misspelled in a previous version of this review.