Birds and Books: Book it for Friday Book Review: The Money Bird

I’ve been on a personal quest this year to find new mystery series to add to my must-read list. When I read the title of Sheila Webster Boneham’s latest mystery, The Money Bird, and studied the book

cover, I knew immediately it was a book I wanted to read. I ordered it from Sheila’s website and once I cracked the cover, I didn’t put the book down until I had finished it. Yes, it was that good.

Sheila's protagonist, Janet MacPhail, is a character after my own heart. She’s a photographer who specializes in photographing retrievers in training. While photographing the Northern Indiana Hunting Retriever Club’s training session, Drake, a friend’s lab, brings back a feather from what might be an exotic bird. Soon after Janet discovers the feather, she also finds out that several inexperienced folks in town are suddenly caring for exotic birds, a mysterious new spiritual renewal center has opened, and one of her young photography students is found dead at the site where the feather was discovered. When a suspicious thread connects all the events, Janet realizes that things aren’t always what they seem. The only problem is Janet seems to be the only one who is believes this. As the story unfolds, it becomes obvious to Tom Saunders, Janet’s love-interest (and Drake’s owner), that something is indeed foul in Allen Country and Janet is no longer alone in her quest to discover the truth.

Sheila has written an intriguing mystery amidst a setting that will appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, birders, dog lovers, nature photographers, and animal rights’ proponents. Add the series to your must-read list, too. You won’t be disappointed.

NBC’s Petside listed Sheila's first Janet MacPhail mystery, Drop Dead on Recall (Midnight Ink, 2012), as one of its Top Ten Dog Books of 2012. The sequel, The Money Bird, was released in August 2013. She has also written seventeen nonfiction books, six of which have won major awards from the Dog Writers Association of America and the Cat Writers Association.