Title: Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass

Author: Heather Day Gilbert

Publisher: Lyrical Underground

Publication Date: June 25, 2019

Page Count: 194

My rating: 3 stars

About the book:

When exotic pet-sitter Belinda Blake moves into a carriage house in tony Greenwich, Connecticut, she’s hoping to find some new clients. Instead she discovers a corpse in the garden—and a knack for solving murders . . .  
 
Pet-sitter Belinda Blake doesn’t rattle easily, but move-in day has been eventful, to say the least. The python in her care tried to slither to freedom—just as she met Stone Carrington V, her landlords’ disarmingly handsome son. With the constrictor back in its cage, she heads out to the garden, only to discover a designer shoe poking out of the boxwood hedge—attached to a woman’s dead body.

The victim, Margo Fenton, was a Carrington family friend, and no one in their circle seems above suspicion. Between client trips to Manhattan and visits to her family in upstate New York, Belinda begins to put the pieces together. But though she’s falling for Stone’s numerous charms, Belinda wonders if she’s cozying up to a killer. And soon, daily contact with a deadly reptile might be the least dangerous part of her life . . .

Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass by Heather Day Gilbert is the first book in the new cozy Exotic Pet-Sitter mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries readers will get a fully solved mystery within each book with only a bit of character building carrying over to the next.

Belinda Blake has taken up a rather unusual job in pet sitting, but not only the average dog or cat, Belinda specializes in exotic pets so that she can expand her business. Along with her business Belinda has just rented a new home in Greenwich, Connecticut. The house is actually a carriage home on the estate owned by  the Carringtons.

While Belinda is out of her home with her latest pet in her care, a python, the snake  gives her a bit of trouble which leads to a run in with her new landlord’s son, Stone Carrington V. Belinda didn’t expect to find the man so sexy but she is quickly distracted from his  good looks when she finds a body in the garden outside her new home.

Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass by Heather Day Gilbert is another opener to a cozy series that I think has a lot of potential but wasn’t quite all the way  there yet. This one is fairly short so I would look forward to learning a lot more about Belinda and those around her as there wasn’t a ton of depth with also solving a mystery in such a short time.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

HEATHER DAY GILBERT, an ECPA Christy award finalist and Grace award winner, writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren’t afraid to protect those they love. Publisher’s Weekly gave Heather’s Viking historical Forest Child a starred review, saying it is “an engaging story depicting timeless human struggles with faith, love, loyalty, and leadership.”

Find Heather on Pinterest (heatherdgilbert), Instagram (@heatherdaygilbert), Twitter (@heatherdgilbert), and Facebook (heatherdaygilbert). You can find all her books at heatherdaygilbert.com.