ARC Review: Hounding a Killer by Kallie E. Benjamin

Hounding a Killer
Author: Kallie E. Benjamin
Series: A Bailey the Bloodhound Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Berkley (May 6, 2025)

Description: It’s chaos in Crosbyville when someone tries to swindle a large inheritance, but as Pris and Bailey start digging for the missing money, they uncover the wrong kind of bones….

Finally finished with the renovations on her new house, bestselling children’s book author Pris and her trusty bloodhound, Bailey, are finding more opportunities to join the community, including attending the annual town festival. But their efforts are paw-sed when David Townsend, volatile grandson of the late wealthy resident Edward Townsend, comes to fetch his inheritance.

After the new arrival riles up several other locals with petty arguments, the once sleepy town goes barking mad. Before long, the wealthy bachelor disappears without a trace, and the police suspect foul play. Bailey’s tracking instincts helped them collar the last criminal in Crosbyville, so the cops turn to Pris and her sweet hound to track down David.

But on their search-and-rescue mission, Pris and Bailey sniff out fraud, theft, and a body. Before they know it, both are hackles-deep inside another homicide investigation. Can the unlikely duo chase down the killer, or will they be left chasing their own tails?

My Thoughts: Pris and her bloodhound Bailey are back in their second investigation. It is time for the Crosbyville Fall Festival. This time the venue has been changed to the estate of Edward Townsend instead of the fairground. Townsend has recently died and the question of who will inherit the multi-billionaire's fortune is on everybody's mind. 

Edward was something of a recluse, but he did patronize Pris's Aunt Agatha's diner for his Sunday dinner. Agatha and Edward were friends. Edward had lost track of his descendants and hired a private investigator to try to track down his heirs. Edward's lawyer found David Townsend who is a grandson. The private investigator found a young girl who is a more distant related.

Pris and Bailey are demonstrating his tracking ability when she discovers the body of one of Edward's trustees in a garden shed. He was badly beaten and dies shortly later in the hospital leaving a vacancy in the trustees who include his lawyer and his accountant - two women who don't get along at all well. Their rivalry is only one of the many at the Townsend estate. 

Pris is more than willing to leave the investigation to her boyfriend who is the Chief of Police, but she keeps stumbling on clues. Things heat up when it is learned that Edward Townsend died of poison rather than of natural causes. Now, the Chief of Police has two murders to investigate. Besides the murder, there is also the matter of embezzlement from the estate and a backpack filled with $50,000 in cash which Bailey digs up. 

This was an engaging cozy mystery. Pris is not your usual heroine given that she is prone to fainting when the going gets tough. But she and Bailey along with her boyfriend to solve the mystery in the end. And Pris does get her second Bailey the Bloodhound children's book finished too. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.