Friday, March 4, 2022

A Nose for Mischief (Riverbend K-9s #1), by K.T. Lee (author), Ann Richardson (narrator)

Vertical Publishing Line, ISBN 9781947870192, January 2022

Zoey Butler is a material scientist, and she has landed her dream job. She's involved in working on improved storage batteries that will make a significant contribution to both energy conservation and protection of the environment. Unfortunately, in her testing, she's not seeing the results the development side is claiming. At first she assumes it's her testing that's failing. When she realizes that development is faking their results, it's right before the FBI walks in the door. Soon, she's cleared of any involvement in the fraud, but she's also unemployed. And, it seems, unemployable, anywhere in the industry.
But Zoey cooperated with the FBI, and helped them find answers, so, at the end of her rope, she reaches out to one of the few people who know she's innocent: FBI Special Agent Alexis Thompson. Alexis makes an unusual suggestion, and soon Zoey is at the FBI's Riverbend K-9 Academy, run now by Alexis Thompson.

Initially, the plan is that Zoey use her project management skills for the academy. However, Special Agent Liam Graham, an instructor at Riverbend, has dog who needs a new training partner. Tasha's original partner was discovered to have criminal plans, and is, obviously, out. Alexis suggests introducing Zoey to Tasha, and see if they might make a good team.

Now, at this point, you may be thinking that no, the FBI doesn't recruit agents that way. I know I was. But, just go with it. Tasha needs a partner to train with, she and Zoey are a good match, and when it turns out that the criminal activity at Zoey's former employer isn't over yet, there's a role Zoey is better suited than anyone else to play. She goes sort-of undercover at her former employer, with Tasha, Liam, and Liam's K9 partner, Tank, as backup. And back in her old company, with most of the workers being familiar, and those who like Zoey, were not found to be guilty of anything in the scandal that had knocked the company back on its feet. Yet an explosion in the development facility, a break-in at the apartment Zoey previously shared with her sister, and a free promotional thumb drive that Zoey had previously been giving by her supervisor that turned out to contain some nasty spyware, proves that some guilty people had been missed. It's tricky for Zoey, not knowing who she can trust and who she can't. She, Liam, Tasha, and Tank have some exciting experiences along the way to finding the solutions.

I'm not claiming this is great literature, but it's a lot of fun.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources.

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