Prowl

Coble’s second mystery featuring Alabama veterinarian Paradise Alden (after Ambush) is a mixed bag. At the outset, Paradise is ambivalent about her recent decision to buy the Pawsome Pets vet clinic, given her passion for treating wild animals over domestic ones. She’s also navigating a budding romantic relationship with Blake Lawson, owner and head zookeeper of a local wildlife preserve. Paradise’s personal concerns get sidelined when Blake finds Ivy Cook, one of his employees, mauled to death near a large white tiger’s enclosure. Authorities initially assume Ivy died during a feeding gone wrong, but an autopsy determines that she was shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart before her death. Since she was killed on Blake’s property and attacked with his supply of tranquilizers, he becomes a person of interest, but Paradise is sure he’s innocent. Then she starts receiving eerie text messages from an anonymous assailant and launches an investigation to ensure she’s not the next to die. The plot swiftly gathers momentum, and the romance between Paradise and Blake is suitably tender, but Coble fumbles the climax, relying on a few too many contrivances to tie everything up. Still, there’s enough here to satisfy the author’s fans. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill Assoc. (Nov.)