Yappy Hour by Diana Orgain is a new cozy mystery novel. Maggie has just moved to Pacific Cove, California. Maggie was a financial advisor in New York. She has applied for a position with Riviera Cruise Line which is new to the area. Two reasons Maggie moved to Pacific Cove were her sister, Rachel, and her Uncle Ernest (aka Grunkly). Maggie gets a text message from her sister asking her to watch the bar The Wine and Bark for a few days. Rachel does not give her any other information (like who will be the bartender since Maggie has no experience, what type of food she serves, etc.). Maggie heads over to the bar and finds it open. She enters and finds Yolanda (a local woman who makes handbags shaped like animals and are extremely ugly but expensive) standing over a man on the floor. Dan Walters, manager of DelVecchio’s (the restaurant next door) is dead on the floor.

Officer Brad Brooks is the police officer assigned to the case. Since Rachel left town very suddenly (just broke up with Dan and he was trying to close down her bar), she is an immediate suspect. Maggie wants to prove that Rachel could not have committed the crime (and find out where she went). Will Maggie be able to keep Rachel out of jail?

I found Yappy Hour to be slightly idiotic. Maggie is a contradiction. We are told that she was in finance in New York (had a high paying job until the economy tanked), but she acts like a bumbling idiot (and I mean that she is lacking in intelligence and reasoning skills) throughout most of the book. The sight of a hunky man renders her speechless (several times throughout the book). The most interesting character in the book was Uncle Ernest. He was fun and entertaining. He keeps everything (a hoarder), likes to bet on horse races (horses that do not win), and is very friendly. I did, though, like the mystery in the book. We did not get a lot of clues (instead we got talk of food and romance), but I liked that the murder was not easy to solve (I did solve it, but not until I was about halfway through the book). I give Yappy Hour 3 out of 5 stars (satisfactory or okay). I just think it needs a little work (like not making Maggie—a college graduate—out to be moronic).

I received a complimentary copy of Yappy Hour from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

After a downturn in the economy brings Maggie’s New York financial business to an end, she returns to Pacific Cove, CA, in hopes of landing a job with a cruise ship line. When asked to step in at her sister’s bar, The Wine and Bark, Maggie encounters a body the first day she shows up to open shop. There are many mysteries in this story, not the least of which has to do with the dead body in the bar. Rachel’s disappearance, their uncle’s accident, local businesses in various stages of debt—red herrings abound while Maggie tries to help clear her sister’s name. And although Maggie admits to not being an animal lover, the Round-up Crew, with their furry little friends, make for some great secondary characters. I liked that they are diverse enough to be quite interesting, but not such a large group that you have trouble remembering which dog belongs to which crew member. With a handsome police officer at her beck and call, and an even handsomer chef next door, I will be curious to see if Maggie ever decides to leave Pacific Cove on a cruise at all. I think there will be plenty more story right at home for her and her new friends. ( )