For readers of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series comes a lighthearted mystery with an incredible sense of place A swine barn explodes near a lakeside Manitoba town, putting veterinarian Dr. Peter Bannerman on a collision course with murder and a startling conspiracy.

Peter is an odd duck, obsessed with logic and measurable facts, an obsession he puts to good use in his veterinary practice. When a murder is connected to the swine barn explosion and his friend Tom becomes the prime suspect, Peter feels compelled to put his reasoning skills, and his dog Pippin’s remarkable nose, to use to help clear him. The situation darkens with a second murder and a series of break-ins, including at Peter’s house and clinic, but Peter has a hard time knowing when he is out of his depth, despite warnings from his brother-in-law Kevin, an RCMP officer. It becomes increasingly clear that something extraordinary is behind all this, possibly international in scope. Ultimately Peter finds himself out in the middle of frozen Lake Winnipeg during a blizzard, fighting for his life and confronting a horrifying realisation he had been blind to all along.

‘Original, well-constructed, with a cast of interesting characters - I hope this isn’t the last we’ll read about Dr. Peter Bannerman and Pippin.’ - Ian Hamilton, author of the Ava Lee series

‘With Dr. Peter Bannerman, Philipp Schott has created a unique brand of amateur detective, one who is as amiable as he is enigmatic, as inquisitive and old-timey as Sherlock Holmes, yet thoroughly modern, and believes that detective work and veterinary medicine are a perfectly logical pairing. The reader can’t help but be entranced and embraced by Schott’s charming and saucily unusual first book in what should be a long-running series.’ - Anthony Bidulka, author of the Russell Quant Mystery series